Sweden is expected to oppose the EU's proposed minimum taxes on nicotine pouches when finance ministers meet on Nov. 9, according to an EU official cited by Law360. EU tax law requires unanimity, so one country voting no is enough to block the proposal in its current form.

The pouch levy is where Sweden has dug in hardest. Per Tobacco Reporter, Sweden has objected particularly to minimum taxes on tobacco-free nicotine pouches. Its argument is that member states should keep the ability to set their own tax rates according to differences in product risk.

What the EU proposal would do to pouches

The European Commission's July 2025 proposal would substantially raise minimum excise duties on cigarettes and other traditional tobacco products. It would also introduce EU-wide minimum taxes for nicotine pouches, e-cigarettes and heated tobacco, and create new tax categories for e-cigarette liquids and heated tobacco.

For pouches, that means a tax floor that doesn't exist at EU level today. A country could still tax pouches above the minimum, but it couldn't go below it. Sweden's objection is aimed at exactly that: it wants to decide the rate itself and to be able to tax products differently based on risk.

The proposal excludes traditional tobacco snus. So the product category most closely tied to Sweden stays outside the new regime, while tobacco-free pouches are inside it.

Where the talks stand

Bloomberg Tax reported on Oct. 22 that EU countries were close to finalizing a plan to more than double tax rates on cigarette sales and add new levies on products including nicotine pouches, despite determined opposition from Sweden. Per people familiar with the matter, most countries hoped to settle the deal by the November meeting, while Sweden preferred the tobacco bill not be on the agenda at all.

Swedish delegates told a meeting of EU ambassadors that they weren't in a position to adopt the bill, Bloomberg reported. EU ambassadors discussed a revised compromise in October, and finance ministers are scheduled to take up the package on Nov. 9.

So the situation is lopsided. Most member states appear to want a deal, and one country can stop it.

The numbers behind the fight

The EU Presidency's latest compromise, circulated after an Oct. 26 working-party meeting, cuts the proposed pouch minimum from €80/kg to a phased-in €30/kg starting in 2028, rising to €40/kg in 2030 and €50/kg in 2032, according to trade outlet Pouchforum, which cited Bloomberg. The alternative 50% ad valorem minimum floor is unchanged.

Even the reduced number sits well above what Sweden charges today. Sweden currently taxes nicotine pouches at SEK 209/kg, versus SEK 435/kg for traditional tobacco snus, per Pouchforum — so the EU's 2032 endpoint would still mean a large increase on pouches specifically.

Sweden's negotiating position is also unsettled at home. The country has had no new government since its September election: Centre Party leader Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist abandoned talks on a centrist coalition on Oct. 26, leaving the outgoing centre-right administration in a caretaker role. Any Swedish position in Brussels has to be anchored in parliament's EU Affairs Committee, and sources familiar with the talks told Pouchforum that Sweden had already rejected a €50/kg offer before the election.

What's next

The Nov. 9 meeting of EU finance ministers is the next checkpoint. If Sweden votes no, the directive can't pass as written. Pouch makers and retailers across the EU will be watching whether the pouch minimums survive any revised text, since those are the provisions Sweden has singled out.

Pouchforum also flags a possible wrinkle: France, which has banned nicotine pouches domestically, has little stake in pushing high EU minimums for a product it doesn't allow on its own market — a dynamic that could make Paris an unexpected ally for Stockholm, especially with Marine Le Pen campaigning to freeze French tobacco prices ahead of the next presidential election.

Want to see how the brands in this fight are positioned? Check PouchFinder.

SOURCES: Tobacco Reporter, "Sweden Opposes EU Tobacco Tax Increase Ahead of Meeting" (https://tobaccoreporter.com/2026/10/29/sweden-opposes-eu-tobacco-tax-increase-ahead-of-meeting/); Law360 Tax Authority, "Sweden Set To Block EU Push To Raise Tobacco Tax Floors" (https://www.law360.com/tax-authority/articles/2542273/sweden-set-to-block-eu-push-to-raise-tobacco-tax-floors); Bloomberg Tax, "EU Nearing Tobacco Tax Deal Despite Resistance from Sweden" (https://news.bloombergtax.com/daily-tax-report-international/eu-nearing-tobacco-tax-deal-despite-resistance-from-sweden); Pouchforum, "Tobacco Tax Compromise: Sweden Likely To Stand Firm on Risk-Based Taxation" (https://pouchforum.eu/2026/10/27/tobacco-tax-compromise-sweden-likely-to-stand-firm-on-risk-based-taxation/)