Sweden only country in EU where climate is top issue

A new poll from the EU parliament shows that Sweden is the only country in the bloc where the climate is considered to be the most important issue for the upcoming EU elections – a position Sweden shares with young voters across the EU.

The poll also revealed that interest in the EU elections appears to be higher than ever – in 24 of 27 EU countries, more of those polled said they were going to vote than in the same period in the run up to the last EU elections in 2019.

In 16 of these countries, the increase was as much as ten percent or more, which would result in the highest turnout in 30 years, if not longer.

Much of the increased interest has been put down to the worsening global situation after the pandemic and following the war in Ukraine, which has put security and defence high up the agenda for many EU citizens, especially those in eastern and northern Europe.

Looking at the EU as a whole, the most important issues for the upcoming elections were fighting poverty and social exclusion.

Swedish vocabulary: klimatfrågorna – climate issues (literally: climate questions)

Migration Agency asks for more money for deportation centres

Sweden’s Migration Agency has told the government it cannot meet its goal of finding accommodation in deportation centres for 1,000 more people if it does not receive more funding. 

“To reach the goal of 1,000 new places requires both additional economic support and a clear and early decision so we can start planning for a greater building out and localisation of capacity in good time,” the agency’s director-general Maria Mindhammar said in a press release. 

The agency has presented a plan for how 750 of the requested places can be established with the current level of funding from the government, as well as how the other 250 can be established with further funding. 

The agency has designated Stockholm’s Arlanda airport, Malmö and Luleå as the three places best suited for the new centres. 

Swedish vocabulary: ett besked – a message or decision

Patient catches fire during operation at Karolinska hospital 

A vocal cord operation using laser surgery went badly wrong at Stockholm’s Karolinska hospital, when something around the patient’s mouth caught fire, causing burns to their lips, nose, cheeks, chin and parts of the oral cavity.

After the accident, the patient needed long-term intensive care, the hospital disclosed, according to report submitted under the “Lex Maria” law on medical transparency. 

The fire was smothered with wet towels, which covered the patient’s face during the operation.

Swedish vocabulary: stämbanden – vocal cords

Low support for new legal gender law among voters for government and Sweden Democrats

Only six percent of those who would vote for one of the three government parties or the Sweden Democrats, the so-called Tidö parties, support the new law on changing legal gender, a new opinion poll from Demoskop for the Aftonbladet newspaper has found.

“Six percent is an extremely low number when it comes to the share of the Tidö bloc who are in favour of making it easier,” Johan Martinsson, head of opinion at Demoskop told Aftonbladet. “It’s more or less what we expected to see but it’s an unusually low level of support for a new law.” 

When asked whether it should be possible to change legal gender without a medical examination, fully 85 percent of voters for the so-called Tidö parties said ‘no’ in the poll,  

When voters for all parties were taken together, 20 percent are in favour, 60 percent against and the remainder unsure. 

Swedish vocabulary: ett förväntat mönster – an expected pattern/picture