Mark Mardell's Euroblog

Could Finland snuff out the Lisbon Treaty?

• Mark Mardell
• 12 Mar 08, 07:58 AM

Those who want to stop the Lisbon Treaty may be in the mood for grasping, not at straws, but snus.

This is what’s known as “moist oral snuff” but is basically chewing tobacco in a sort of tea bag. It seems that Finland is so exercised about a European Union ban on the product that there is a suggestion that they could reject the treaty.

Or at least the Aland Islands' government could reject it. The islands are a semi-autonomous province of Finland, which voted separately to the rest of Finland to join the EU and have special exemptions from certain European Union rules.

Now it wants more... or else.

Snus ban

Although snus was banned in the European Union in 1992, an exception was made for Sweden when it became an issue in their 1994 referendum about joining the EU.

Ships from the Aland Islands want to be able to sell it in Swedish waters. Although the Aland government could vote against the treaty and simply be outside its scope, YLE news reports that Finnish government ministers don’t find this acceptable.

I can’t see the European Commission risking the treaty over the issue, and it looks very much as if the Finns are playing hardball to get concessions, but interesting nonetheless.