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If there’s one factor Swedes really feel protecting about, it’s their snus — a tobacco pouch that’s positioned underneath the lip and delivers a robust nicotine punch.
So when Aftonbladet, a Swedish tabloid, lately printed a report suggesting that Brussels was planning to double taxes on snus, the response from Swedes was predictably explosive.
The hashtag #Swexit, shorthand for Sweden exiting the European Union, started trending on Twitter, whereas livid Swedes lit up social media with over-my-dead-body memes touting their attachment to the stuff, which is just authorized in Sweden.
Becoming a member of different outraged Swedish politicians, the nation’s new finance minister, Elisabeth Svantesson, referred to as the proposal “unreasonable,” and Ylva Johansson, Sweden’s European commissioner, informed a nationwide radio station that she had defined to the colleague behind the proposal, the Italian Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni, why it didn’t make sense.
“We might deal with straight cucumbers, however snus is one thing else,” quipped one Swedish official, referring to a debunked British tabloid story suggesting the EU was going legislate on the straightness of cucumbers.
Skit inte i det blå skåpet EU #Swexit pic.twitter.com/yYNzicBj1Y
— Victor “WaltherIV” Valtersson (@WaltherIV) November 27, 2022
Even the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, who’s main a delegation from the chamber to Stockholm on Wednesday, was caught up in snus-gate. “Very popular situation within the household,” Metsola, whose husband is Finnish, informed Swedish information company TT forward of her journey.
This was a step too far for the EU.
Breaking with a practice of not commenting on leaks, the European Fee addressed the Aftonbladet story this week, saying the EU had no plans to double the tax on snus as a result of the stuff has been unlawful exterior of Sweden since 1995, and was subsequently exempt from bloc-wide taxation guidelines on tobacco merchandise.
“Sweden will maintain its full freedom in deciding on its taxation and excise obligation on snus,” a spokesperson stated earlier this week.
That went a way towards soothing Swedes’ fears. “The furor has died down,” stated one Swedish EU official.
However not everybody is able to transfer on.
Charlie Weimers, an EU lawmaker for the far-right Sweden Democrats celebration, stated he wouldn’t be glad till the European Fee offered a written assure that it wouldn’t be taxing snus. “Nowhere is it written that Sweden is free to set its personal taxation ranges on snus,” he informed Swedish Radio.
Within the meantime, Sweden stands able to defend its most well-liked under-the-lip tobacco product in opposition to any future challenges.
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