Almos Molnar
This page was last edited on at
Almos Molnar worked as European Union (EU) Corporate Affairs Manager at Imperial Tobacco from 2014 to 2016.
In April 2016 he took up a position as Account Executive at public relations firm Instinctif Partners in Brussels to work on environment, energy and tobacco issues.1
Lobbying on EU Tax Directive
In June 2016, when Philip Morris UK was a client of Instinctif Partners,2 Molnar put in a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the EU Commission directorate Taxation and Customs Union, requesting information on the Expert Group on the Classification and inclusion of (new) products in the scope of excisable tobacco. Molnar requested:
“… all available documents related to the work of “F2020 FPG/050 _ PG_Classification and inclusion of (new) products in the scope of excisable tobacco products (E03296)”, such as agendas and minutes taken at the meetings of this Commission Expert Group.”3
This FOI request was made a few months before the Commission directorate Taxation and Customs Union started a public consultation on revising Directive 2011/64/EU which regulates excise duties for tobacco products.4
Revolving Door
In 2015 Molnar was a trainee at the Communications Unit of European Parliament Political Party the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).5 It is unclear what policy portfolios he worked on.
Molnar’s previous role in the European Parliament makes him a ‘revolving door case’; a civil servant who takes up a job as lobbyist or consultant, and who can continue to use their government network to influence policy.