The battle for white snus is heating up in the EU, at least when it comes to taxes on the popular Swedish nicotine product. A current EU proposal would increase the tax and thus the price of a can by SEK 25. And now Sweden's finance minister Elisabeth Svantesson (m) is speaking out.
"The proposal being circulated is completely unacceptable to the Swedish government." writes Elisabeth Svantesson in a post on X.
As previously reported by Vejpkollen and other media, the The European Commission to come up with a proposal In the past, only cigarettes and smoking tobacco were subject to EU-wide excise duties. However, following demands from several Member States, smokeless nicotine products, such as e-liquid (vapes) and nicotine pouches (white snus), will also be included in the framework in the near future. And according to the Swedish government, which has a markedly different approach to smokeless nicotine than other EU countries, the EU is on thin ice. Not least because Sweden recently chose to make a clear distinction between smokeless nicotine use and smoking in order to achieve the tobacco policy goal - reducing harm from tobacco smoking and nicotine use.
"The government wants it to be up to each EU country to tax tobacco and nicotine based on their relative harmfulness." writes Elisabeth Svantesson on X.
Swedes use nicotine smoke-free
At present, Sweden has the lowest proportion of smokers compared with other European countries. This is despite the fact that the price of cigarettes is relatively low, both in relation to average income, but also in relation to other countries. The fact that as few as 5 per cent of the population smokes (the EU average is 20 per cent) is explained, in the view of the government and many others, by the fact that the use of smokeless nicotine, mainly snus but also more recently nicotine pouches and vapes, have simply replaced smoking in large parts of the population. Elisabeth Svantesson also points out that taxes on tobacco should be set in and used by, individual countries so that they can be adapted to the situation there.
"For us, it goes without saying that the tax revenue from tobacco should benefit Sweden and not go to EU bureaucracy." she writes on X.
Sharp price increase with EU proposal
In the leaked proposal, which has been circulated in several media, not only are taxes on cigarettes and smoking tobacco to be raised to record levels, but the rapporteur also proposes that the EU jointly introduce an excise duty on e-liquids, which would also apply to nicotine-free liquids. For nicotine portions, the white snus, the rapporteur proposes a minimum tax of EUR 143, equivalent to SEK 1,560, per kilo. For Swedish consumers, this means an increase of 650 per cent compared to the current tax of SEK 207 per kilo. Almost SEK 25 (2,5 EUR) per can.
"Fighting for Swedish snus"
The European Commission is expected to meet next week to decide whether the new excise duties should be included in the next long-term EU budget. However, if the Commission approves the proposal, both the Parliament and individual countries will have to approve the new framework.
"Leaks suggest that next week the European Commission will propose a new Tobacco Tax Directive. I have previously spoken to Commissioner Hoekstra about the government's objections. When the Commission makes its proposal, I will continue to fight for Swedish snus." writes Elisabeth Svantesson.
The unimportant debate on snus is given an unreasonable amount of space in the media and is similar to the debate on cigarettes a few years ago. Let snus disappear in the tobacco debate, it is not useful for anything and is missed by few. The lobby's angry arguments in favour will fade away in step with the market. Health care and the environment can breathe easy.
Missed by few? Do you know how many Swedes use snus (traditional and white)? Nearly one and a half million...
The white nicotine pouches have helped me quit smoking
I completely agree with Gösta, how about we stop lobbying for the nicotine and tobacco industry and instead let the proposal go through. If we stopped giving special treatment to these products, we might be able to get fewer - not more - young people to take up snus in the long term!
The problem with this line of reasoning is that there is a clear relationship between cigarette sales and sales of smokeless products (which, according to all available research, have actually been shown to be significantly less harmful than smoking). Studies show here that when smokeless products become more expensive relative to already expensive cigarettes, cigarette sales increase, especially among young buyers. So it becomes a gamble, which cannot ignore the fact that nicotine use is already widespread among young people, but can be steered from most harmful to less harmful. So it's certainly not straightforward or simple 😉