Sweden rejects EU plan to fund budget with tobacco tax

Swedish Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson has strongly opposed an EU proposal to use revenue from higher tobacco taxes to help fund the bloc’s next long-term budget, calling it “completely unacceptable”.

The proposal, referenced in a document from Germany’s International Affairs Liaison Office in Brussels and submitted to the German parliament, suggests new EU revenue sources for the 2028–2034 budget could include levies on electronic waste and tobacco.

Though not yet officially confirmed by the European Commission, the idea adds to growing pressure from at least 15 EU member states to raise excise duties on tobacco products.

As Euractiv reported last month, the European Commission is considering a 139% tax hike on cigarettes, along with steeper levies on alternative products such as e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches, and heated tobacco.

Sweden now joins Italy, Greece, Romania, and Bulgaria in opposing the move, primarily to defend snus – a moist tobacco pouch banned in the EU since 1992 but legal in Sweden under an EU accession treaty exemption, which allows domestic sale only if it is not marketed elsewhere in the bloc.

In a post on X, Svantesson called the proposal would result in “a very significant tax increase on white snus,” and that the Commission wants the tax revenue “to go to the EU and not to Sweden.”

She said she had raised the issue with Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth, Wopke Hoekstra, who is also responsible for EU tax matters and pledged to “continue to fight for Swedish snus.”

Sweden has positioned itself as a model for tobacco harm reduction, citing a smoking rate of just 5% and a decline in smoking-related cancers.

But public health advocates and countries like Belgium warn that nicotine pouches may act as a gateway to addiction, particularly among younger users. Long-term independent studies on their health effects remain limited.

(de)