A Greek peninsula that bars women and holiday homes in Denmark: unusual exemptions to EU law

Would you rather keep your sommerhus or your snus? Spend enough time looking, and you’ll come across some interesting exemptions countries have secured from European Union law to account for a national quirk. There’s a peninsula in Greece on which women are barred from setting foot and an Italian town in the Alps that doesn’t charge VAT. Denmark has a law preventing outsiders from buying holiday homes, known as a sommerhus, in the countryside. When Sweden joined in 1995, it secured an exemption from an EU ban on the sale of oral tobacco to protect its culturally cherished snus, a tobacco pouch placed between the gum and upper lip or cheek. Sweden is the only member state in the EU where snus can still be produced and sold, though one of the main producers, Swedish Match, which is owned by tobacco giant Philip Morris, has fought to overturn the export ban. READ MOREPerhaps the most unusual carve-out was secured by the Greeks in the early 1980s. They insisted on preserving the special status of Mount Athos, a self-governing community of about 2,000 Orthodox monks in the north of the country. For more than 1,000 years, women have not been allowed to enter the Athos peninsula. The religious ban, called the ávaton, extends to pets, except cats. At first glance, this type of arrangement should run up against EU rules protecting the free movement of people or legislation preventing gender-based discrimination. But the treaty covering Greece’s accession into what was then the European Economic Community was accompanied by a declaration recognising the “special status” of Mount Athos, as laid out in the Greek constitution. [ Europe rearms: files reveal extent of plans for a new ‘defence union’Opens in new window ]In another quirky historical holdover, Italy does not charge VAT on purchases in Livigno, a town in the Alps near the Swiss border. The peculiar duty-free status has its roots in efforts by authorities centuries ago to encourage people to live in the isolated mountain region. Today, it’s one reason why Livigno has become a holiday spot popular for skiing and shopping. Denmark leads the field when it comes to opt-outs and exemptions.Copenhagen has historically been sceptical about deeper EU integration. It kept its own currency, the Danish krone, rather than adopting the euro. It negotiated what became an “opt-out” from common policy covering justice and defence, which meant laws and regulations agreed in Brussels in those areas would not apply to Denmark. However, it is part of the Schengen zone that removed border checks across much of Europe and must follow changes decided by other EU states on that front without being able to vote. Public attitudes on EU defence co-operation shifted when Russia invaded Ukraine. The Danish people decided to stop opting out of the common security policy by a two-thirds majority in a 2022 referendum. It is also very difficult for residents of other EU countries to buy a holiday home in Denmark, if not impossible, thanks to a special exemption. A lot of Danes have a second home in the countryside, a “sommerhus”. [ ‘Made in Europe’ rules should not ‘undermine’ UK relations, Britain’s new envoy tells EUOpens in new window ]Fearful of neighbouring Germans or other wealthy outsiders buying up property, Denmark has a law that dates to the postwar years restricting the purchase of second homes to Danish residents, or people who can prove a close connection to the country. Denmark negotiated for a line to be tagged on to the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, allowing Copenhagen to maintain its existing legislation on the acquisition of second homes, firming up the status of the sommerhus exemption in European law. EU officials hate anything that undercuts the union’s single market and its free movement of people, goods, services and capital. There are unlikely to be any national exceptions made for new members who join the 27-state bloc in the coming years. Ireland has a unique “opt-in” when it comes to legislation covering justice and migration. The Government can decide on a case-by-case basis whether it wants to sign up to new reforms coming from Brussels. For example, Ireland chose to join the EU migration pact overhauling asylum procedures. [ Why is the tobacco industry celebrating Sweden’s anti-smoking success?Opens in new window ]The UK had the same opt-in on justice matters when it was a member state, along with opt-outs such as protections for the pound. Andy Burnham’s kite-flying about being open to going “all the way” and someday taking the UK back into the EU caused surprisingly little chatter in Brussels. In fact, Brexit is hardly mentioned at all over here any more.A future British government beginning negotiations about rejoining might find the terms on offer to be less advantageous to the set-up the UK enjoyed before it left.