Starting from the case of the fight against smoking, this paper shows that the European Union is now a major explanatory variable in the "management of the body" in European countries. The paper reveals two mechanisms through which the European Union exerts its influence in this area. One consists of a normative European mechanism through which the European Union imposes the management of the body by law. The second is a mechanism of cognitive Europeanization through which–“and based on the dissemination of information–“the European Union exerts influence on the management of the body through persuasion or coercion.