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GREEN PARTY

Greens call for 35-hour working week

The Green Party voted at its annual congress on Saturday to include demands for a 35-hour work week in its manifesto for this September’s general election.

Greens call for 35-hour working week

The party’s governing board had left the issue vague, arguing only for a shorter working week, but delegates in attendance pushed through a concrete proposal to limit the amount of time spent at work.

Board member openly opposed the move in a debate preceding the vote, arguing the cost to the exchequer would be excessive and would undermine further investments in the welfare system.

But the party’s dual spokespersons, Peter Eriksson and Maria Wetterstrand, rejected the notion that the vote represented a defeat for the party leadership.

“It’s exactly what we’ve proposed and the only question is why we didn’t include it in the first place,” said Wetterstrand.

By way of explanation for the omission, she added that calls for a 35-hour working week could seem unclear in light of the fact that the party’s long-term goal remains to legislate for a 30-hour working week.

Wetterstrand also underlined that the first step in the proposed reform would provide support for parents with young children wishing to cut their working hours on a temporary basis.

The party also voted in favour of introducing an amnesty for illegal immigrants, reiterated its opposition to joining the eurozone, and called for the EU to become more democratic and less centralized.

With the Greens seeking to form a coalition government with the Social Democrats and the Left Party, the heads of both coalition partners put in an appearance at the congress on Sunday morning.

Social Democrat leader Mona Sahlin received a standing ovation when she and Left Party chief Lars Ohly took to the stage in Uppsala.

“When I look at our congress, yours, and the Left Party’s, I see hope for the future, belief in the future and willpower And we dare to say what we want ahead of the election,” said Sahlin.

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POLITICS

Joint leader of Sweden’s Green Party announces resignation

Märta Stenevi, the embattled leader of Sweden's Green Party, has said she is resigning to focus on her mental health, her children and her partner.

Joint leader of Sweden's Green Party announces resignation

The decision comes less than three weeks after Stenevi took an indefinite period of sick leave, saying that she needed time to recover after a bruising period that saw the party launch an internal investigation into complaints about her management style.

There has also been extensive press coverage over the alleged conflict she has with Daniel Hellden, the man chosen as the party’s other leader at a conference in November. 

“This is a very difficult decision,” Stenevi told the Aftonbladet newspaper. “I put myself forward for reelection and received a renewed mandate from the congress, but I don’t believe I can be my best self right now and I don’t really know how long it will take to get back on my feet.”

“The party deserves better than to be in some kind of limbo, where one of the spokespeople [as the party calls its leaders] cannot fully carry out the role. And I need to focus on getting better again, being a good mum and a pleasant partner.”  

Writing on Instagram, Stenevi’s joint leader Daniel Helldén said that he was sorry to see Stenevi go. 

“I have respect for her decision, but personally I think it’s a real shame. I have very much enjoyed working together with Märtha,” he said. 

Stenevi said that the leaks to the media about complaints about her management style in the autumn had been difficult for her to handle. 

“It put me under enormous pressure. It wasn’t the media attention: I understand that you are going to be continually criticised and investigated, but what happened in the autumn was that there was a lot of anonymous briefing, so you didn’t know who you could trust or where it was coming from, and that made it much more difficult and much more draining.” 

When Stenevi went on sick leave last month, the party’s secretary, Katrin Wissing, told TT that her relationship with Daniel Helldén had not played a role in her departure.

“On the contrary, Daniel has been giving Märta extremely good support,” she said. 

Although Stenevi is resigning as party leader, she intends to remain in parliament is an MP, and has not decided to give up her career in politics. 

“When I’m back on track, I’ll see what happens, but I don’t feel completely finished with politics,” she said. “But this is the right decision, both for me, my family and my party.” 

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