Eight countries want pouch bans. Four Swedish parties said no.

Last week, eight EU health ministers asked Brussels for the right to ban nicotine pouches. Sweden didn’t sign.

Since then, MEPs from four Swedish parties have weighed in. All four say the same thing: wrong call.

Moderates. Jessica Polfjärd says the letter “starts from completely the wrong premise.” Different products carry different risks, she argues, and the EU should regulate them that way.

Social Democrats. Johan Danielsson calls it “completely unreasonable” to ban white snus while other products can still be sold. He’s open to common EU rules, as long as they’re proportionate.

Sweden Democrats. Charlie Weimers says Sweden’s health gains came from people leaving cigarettes for snus and pouches. Open the door to bans, and “we risk turning back the clock.”

Christian Democrats. Alice Teodorescu Måwe says snus is a big reason Sweden is ahead of the rest of the EU on smoking. Pushing the EU to ban and regulate it is “completely the wrong way to go.”

But it isn’t only politicians. Livs, the Swedish food workers’ union, has asked the government to look into what the eight countries’ demands could mean for Swedish jobs. A ban wouldn’t only hit the adults who use pouches. It would hit the people who make them.

Left and right. Parties that rarely agree on anything agree on this.

And they have the numbers on their side. Sweden has the lowest smoking rate in the EU. According to CAN, Sweden’s own alcohol and drug research body, just 3.7% of Swedes smoked daily in 2025. That’s below the 5% line for a smoke-free country.

The Commission is rewriting the TPD right now. So the question for Brussels is simple: why listen to the eight countries asking for bans, and not the one that actually got smoking down?