The free-market think-tank IEA (Institute of Economic Affairs), has updated The Nanny-State Index for 2017 and one thing that hasn’t changed is how sovereignly Finland tops the list.
The index compares EU-countries in their restrictiveness when it comes to the consumption of alcohol, nicotine and food & soft drink — to determine which are “the worst countries to eat, drink, smoke & vape in the EU”.
Out of 28 European countries, Finland is ranked number one with 51.6 points while the UK, in second place, had a mere 37.4 points.
The Czech Republic, Germany and Slovakia were found to be the least restrictive states.
2016 was a particularly bad year for vapers as eleven countries now forbid the use of e-cigarettes wherever smoking is banned, after Finland, Luxembourg, Hungary and Poland joined the fold.
Finland now has the most restrictive legislation when it comes to e-cigarettes, and also tops the list when it comes to alcohol, with Sweden right behind. On the other hand, Finland discarded its tax on confectionery, chocolate and ice cream in January 2017.
With ratings like these, absolutely no one is particularly surprised that the proposed and previously agreed upon reforms to Finnish alcohol legislation now seem to be dead in the water as well.
The main and supposedly only cause of rift? A group of Centre Party members could not accept the idea of drinks with 5,5% alcohol content being available in grocery stores and corner shops.
Some politicians try to maintain hope that some sort of deal may yet happen, while others, such as local microbrewery owners, are pretty grim — the latter were expecting to finally obtain the right to sell directly to consumers and the fate of that regulatory change is now up in the air as well.
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