Swedes threaten ‘Swexit’ over snuff tax declaration – POLITICO
If there’s anything Swedes feel protective about, it’s theirs snuff — a tobacco pouch that is placed under the lip and delivers a powerful nicotine hit.
So when The evening papera Swedish tabloid, recently published a report suggesting that Brussels planned to double the tax on snus, the response from the Swedes was predictably explosive.
The hashtag #Swexit, short for Sweden leaving the EU, began trending on Twitter, as furious Swedes lit up social media with over-my-dead-body memes celebrating their attachment to the stuff, which is only legal in Sweden.
Along with other outraged Swedish politicians, the country’s new finance minister, Elisabeth Svantesson, called the proposal “unreasonable”, and Ylva Johansson, Sweden’s EU commissioner, told a national radio station that she had explained to the colleague behind the proposal, Italian commissioner Paolo. Gentiloni, why didn’t that make sense.
“We could handle straight cucumbers, but snus is something else,” said a Swedish official, referring to a debunked British tabloid story that suggested the EU would legislate on the straightness of cucumbers.
Don’t shit in the blue cupboard EU #Swexit pic.twitter.com/yYNzicBj1Y
— Victor “WaltherIV” Valtersson (@WaltherIV) November 27, 2022
Even the president of the EU Parliament, Roberta Metsola, who leads a delegation from the chamber to Stockholm on Wednesday, was caught by the snuff port. “Very hot problem in the family,” Metsola, whose husband is Finnish, told Swedish news agency TT ahead of her trip.
This was a step too far for the EU.
Breaking with tradition of not commenting on leaks, the European Commission addressed the Aftonbladet story this week, saying the EU had no plans to double the tax on snus because the stuff has been illegal outside Sweden since 1995 and was therefore exempt from the bloc. -comprehensive taxation rules for tobacco products.
“Sweden will retain its full freedom to decide on its taxation and excise duty on snus,” a spokesperson said earlier this week.
It went some way towards calming the Swedes’ fears. – The rage has subsided, said a Swedish EU official.
But not everyone is ready to move on.
Charlie Weimers, an EU lawmaker for the far-right Sweden Democrats, said he would not be satisfied until the European Commission provided a written guarantee that it would not tax snus. – Nowhere is it written that Sweden is free to determine its own tax levels on snus, he says to Sveriges Radio.
In the meantime, Sweden stands ready to defend its preferred tobacco product against any future challenges.