Following Aftonbladet’s revelation that the EU is seeking a tax increase on snus, the European Commission spokesperson has responded.

The EU Commission’s spokesperson for taxation, Daniel Ferrie, said at a press conference in Brussels that Sweden itself has the right to set the level of tax on snus, Direkt Börs wrote on Twitter. He recalled that Sweden has an exemption from the EU ban on the sale of snus. “The bill we are working on now will not change this situation. Sweden will therefore retain its full freedom to set tax regimes and excise taxes for snus,” Ferrie said, according to Direkt Börs.
The document, seen by Aftonbladet, contains proposals for a new excise tax on tobacco products. When applied on Sweden, the price of a can of portioned snus would have increased by about SEK 34 (USD 3.25). The price of a can of loose snus would have increased by about SEK 62 (USD 5.95). Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson responded to the news on Twitter. “We have not seen the Commission’s proposal in its entirety, but the government will of course stand up for Swedish snus. What is described here is an unreasonable proposal. We will of course oppose these increases,” Svantesson wrote. Following the revelation, the hashtag “Swexit” has been the talk of Twitter. Swexit is an acronym for Sweden Exit, which means Sweden’s exit from the EU. The president of Sting Free AB and founder of the EUforsnus movement, Bengt Wiberg, called it a “total madness” and hoped that the Swedish government can easily stop this proposal by using its veto in the EU.