Sweden's MEPs just broke ranks over the EU snus letter — from both left and right
Eight EU governments asked Brussels for power to ban nicotine pouches. Sweden didn't sign, and now Swedish MEPs from the Sweden Democrats and the Left party are saying why: age limits yes, broad flavour bans and member-state ban powers no.
Sweden hasn't signed the eight-country letter asking Brussels to let member states ban nicotine pouches outright — and now Swedish politicians from opposite ends of the spectrum are saying so out loud.
On 9 October, two Swedish members of the European Parliament gave their response to the letter, which ministers from the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, France, Hungary, Latvia, Slovenia and Spain sent to EU health commissioner Olivér Várhelyi.
What happened
Charlie Weimers (Sweden Democrats) warned that a pouch ban could undo Sweden's smoking record: "Sweden has achieved major public health successes because people have left cigarettes for snus and other smoke-free nicotine products like nicotine pouches. If the EU now opens the door to banning nicotine pouches, we risk turning the clock back."
He framed the stakes bluntly: "If more people smoke, more people will get cancer and die prematurely. The EU should learn from Sweden's success at reducing smoking, not risk undoing it."
His delegation went further in a written response from Richard Byfält, its press and policy chief. The core problem, he argued, is that "the letter writers blur the decisive differences in health risks between smoking and smoke-free nicotine products." Regulation should follow actual product harm: age limits and rules protecting minors are reasonable, and flavour names clearly aimed at children (he named Hubba Bubba) can be justified — but "the letter writers' proposal for a broad flavour ban and far-reaching marketing bans goes too far."
Even the Left party agrees on who should decide. Jonas Sjöstedt (V): "We think the snus question should be decided nationally."
Why it matters
The letter is aimed squarely at the tobacco directive review now underway in Brussels, and it asks for a lot: national bans on white snus, flavour bans, nicotine caps, neutral packaging, a freeze on new nicotine products, and identical hard rules across all allowed products so users can't simply switch. Sweden — where snus is widely credited with the EU's lowest smoking rates — didn't sign, and today has an exemption for tobacco snus while white snus falls entirely outside the current tobacco products directive.
For pouch users and the industry, the politics now cut both ways. Eight governments want member-state ban powers written into EU law. Sweden's MEPs, spanning both the right and left, are the first on record opposing that direction — and the Swedish position matters disproportionately, because Sweden is the counterexample the harm-reduction argument is built on.
The Commission hasn't responded to the letter. The tobacco directive proposal is expected to be the real battlefield.
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