Snus law

It is nothing short of delightful to contemplate the possibility that, when the history of the European federal project's downfall is written, the projectile that socked into the forehead of Goliath will prove to have been a wad of Swedish chewing tobacco, and the David of the scenario will have been the duck-hunting, jumper-wearing, snus-chewing, freedom-loving people of a small Baltic archipelago of Aland in the Baltic Sea.

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Aland, a unique, autonomous, Sweedish speaking, island region of Finland, is about to teach Brussels a lesson in democracy it will never forget.

Thanks to a quirk of early 20th-century history, Aland's 26,000 people are essentially sovereign co-rulers of their home nation. (Somewhat simular to the more ancient status of the Balliwicks of Jersey and Gurnsey - officially 'Oddities of the British Crown')

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The Aland's elected representitives can veto any international treaty that Finland wants to enter, including EU treaties. The independent islanders are threatening to do just that when the European Commission attempts to revive the moribund EU constitution later this year.

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Last week the archipelago's head of EU affairs, Britt Lundberg, travelled to Brussels - a day-long trek - to deliver a warning that dismally low public opinion on Europe could mean Alanders prevent Finland from ratifying the constitution.

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The islanders' revolt has been brewing for some time. First, this community of Swedish-speaking Finns lost the right to fish at sea with traditional nets. Then Alanders saw their beloved spring duck hunting virtually abolished. To the Alanders' final outrage, local laws on consuming "snus" or Swedish chewing tobacco, are about to be quashed by the European Court of Justice.

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Brussels is trapped in a "Catch 22" situation of the EU's own making. Snus, a form of chewing tobacco, has been outlawed by the EU in every nation except Sweden, which secured a -special opt-out as a condition of its joining the EU, and in every region - except Aland.

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The EU Commission recently took Finland to court (The European Court of Justice) to quash Aland's snus law. But Finland has no power to change that law. Finland does not control laws covering health in Aland; Aland does. Amazingly Aland is not allowed to defend its law before the justices in Luxembourg because the court recognises only nations. So the court is set to convict and fine Aland, without allowing the island's government to plead its case. A ban on snus threatens serious financial harm to the capital, Mariehamn.

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The head of the Aland government, Roger Norlund, admitted to The Daily Telgraph last week that he did not even like snus. To him, the row is philosophical. "Aland finds small-scale solutions to its problems. But the EU model is one of large-scale solutions, and harmonisation."

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The EU Commision in Brussels, having failed to get its ducks in a row, now really does have something to chew on.