background: Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are often promoted and used to assist with cigarette smoking cessation, including by the National Health Service in England and by Public Health Wales. methods: We used cross-sectional logistic regression to analyze the association between being a former smoker and e-cigarette use in the 2014 Eurobarometer survey of 28 EU countries controlling for demographics. We ran a separate analysis of the same associations in Great Britain. results: Among all ever-smokers, any regular ever-use of nicotine e-cigarettes was associated with lower odds of being a former smoker (unadjusted OR = 0.34, 95%CI = 0.26, 0.43; adjusted OR = 0.43, 95%CI = 0.32, 0.58) compared to smokers who had never used an e-cigarette. In unadjusted models daily use (OR = 0.42, 95%CI = 0.31, 0.56), occasional use (OR = 0.25, 95%CI = 0.18, 0.35), and experimentation (OR = 0.24, 95%CI = 0.19, 0.30) of nicotine e-cigarettes were all associated with lower odds of being a former smoker compared to having never used nicotine containing e-cigarettes. Similar results were found in the adjusted models (daily use: OR = 0.52, 95%CI = 0.36, 0.73; occasional use OR = 0.33, 95%CI = 0.23, 0.47; experimentation OR = 0.32, 95%CI = 0.25, 0.41). There were similar results in Great Britain alone. conclusions: These results suggest that e-cigarettes are inhibiting rather than assisting in smoking cessation. On the population level, the net effect of the entry of e-cigarettes into the EU (and Great Britain) appears to be depressing smoking cessation of conventional cigarettes.