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Sweden’s controversial December Agreement collapses

The Christian Democrats' decision to pull out of the controversial December Agreement has led to all of Sweden's centre-right Alliance opposition parties nullifying the accord in a decision which some fear could lead to a snap general election.

Published: 9 October 2015 16:41 CEST
Updated: 10 October 2015 15:18 CEST
Sweden's controversial December Agreement collapses
The Swedish prime minister, Stefan Löfven, and Anna Kinberg Batra, leader of the main opposition party, the Moderates. Photo: Henrik Montgomery / TT

Sweden's mainstream parties struck the December Agreement to avoid unexpected opposition to future government financial plans, following a political crisis sparked by the nationalist Sweden Democrats last autumn, when they sought to prevent the coalition's budget getting through parliament.

Christian Democrat bosses, including leader Ebba Busch Thor, had wanted to keep the hotly debated deal, but were voted down by party members at a party conference on Friday afternoon.

READ ALSO: Why the December Agreement matters

“The December Agreement is a parenthesis in Swedish politics,” said a triumphant Sara Skyttedal after the vote, head of the party's youth wing and who had campaigned for the deal to be scrapped.

“We are not prepared, during this and the next term of office, to be some supporting troops to Stefan Lofven,” said Christian Democrat Anders Andersson, who championed ending the accord at the party's annual convention.

“We don't accept that a left-wing, socialist policy is pushed through the Swedish parliament even though it lacks support.”

As a result, the Moderates and the Liberal People's Party also immediately announced that they were abandoning the accord.

“The Liberal party wants to avoid Sweden being thrown into political chaos, but unfortunately that cannot be excluded,” party leader Jan Bjorklund told Swedish news agency TT, while Anna Kinberg Batra, leader of the Moderates, simply said that if one party pulled out of the deal, all parties would have to.

In a written statement late on Friday night, the Swedish prime minister, Stefan Löfven, said: “It is outrageous that they have violated an agreement that they signed and defended to the voters.”

“Sweden is facing some of the toughest challenges in modern times. The crisis in schools, high unemployment and the refugee crisis must be addressed forcefully. There are now demanding that these parties account for their new promises and not to create another parliamentary deadlock.”

The December Agreement was struck in late 2014 after Prime Minister Stefan Löfven's Social Democrat-Green coalition called a re-election after his budget fell in parliament when the nationalist Sweden Democrats instead of abstaining backed the centre-right opposition's budget.

The snap vote was later scrapped after secret negotiations with the four Alliance parties led to the December Agreement, designed to prevent future similar crises and cut the Sweden Democrats' influence by agreeing to let future government budgets through parliament.

But many of the centre-right parties, including the Christian Democrats, have faced internal criticism over the controversial deal and its bosses were defeated on Friday with 151 members voting for a motion to pull out of the agreement while only 103 voted against.

Some observers warned that the collapse of the accord might lead to a snap general election. 

“This means a much more volatile and unstable situation,” Gothenburg University Political Science Professor Ulf Bjereld said. “The risk of snap elections has increased, but most parties don't want that.”

With Sweden expecting a record number of asylum seekers this year as Europe deals with its biggest refugee crisis since World War Two, the right-wing nationalist Sweden Democrats have been the only party to make significant poll gains since last year's election.

One opinion poll in August had them as the largest party, with a quarter of respondents favouring them, although another poll on Friday put them at just 19.5 percent.

“They (the Sweden Democrats) are the only clear winners of a snap election,” said Bjereld.

However, most experts agreed on Friday that the decision would have little practical implication when parliament votes to agree on a budget this October. The four Alliance parties have previously said they will put forward four separate proposals, which on their own will not enjoy enough support to overrule Löfven's bid.

“It's only if the Alliance parties put forward a common budget and vote for that that the government would be able to lose a vote. But the other parties have not agreed on that,” political scientist Magnus Hagevi of the Linné University told Swedish newswire TT.

But the move could still cause trouble for the mainstream parties, with Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson welcoming the decision and announcing on Twitter that he would push for a vote of no confidence next week in an attempt to oust Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson.

 

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FACT CHECK: Has the EU really banned Swedes from lighting bonfires?

Claims that a new EU law had outlawed lighting fires in private gardens have hit the headlines recently, with outraged Swedes accusing Brussels of banning Sweden's traditional spring fires. But how true are they?

Published: 19 April 2024 10:39 CEST
FACT CHECK: Has the EU really banned Swedes from lighting bonfires?

What’s happened?

On April 6th, TV4 Nyheter published a story claiming that burning twigs and leaves in private gardens has been illegal since the beginning of the year, due to new EU rules.

“A common habit for gardeners during their spring cleaning is now banned. An EU law which came into force at the beginning of the year demands that all food and garden waste are sorted separately,” the article states, quoting Milla Sundström, an administrator from the waste and chemicals unit of the Environmental Protection Agency (Naturvårdsverket) as saying this “indirectly” bans spring fires.

Sundström added that the ban is enforced by local councils, so rules may differ.

Wait… why is it so important for Swedes to burn twigs in their gardens?

It’s a common way of getting rid of the leaves and branches that have accumulated over the last year, with the ashes often used as fertiliser in the garden. It’s usually only allowed for a couple of weeks a year in spring and again in the autumn, and during Valborg at the end of April, when it’s traditional to light a spring bonfire.

Quite a lot of people in Sweden live in pretty remote areas, so it’s much easier for them to get rid of bulky garden waste by burning it rather than having to drive it off to the nearest recycling centre.

So has burning garden waste been banned by the EU?

Technically, no.

The EU law says that member states should “encourage the recycling, including composting and digestion, of bio-waste”, as well as encourage home composting and promoting the use of materials produced by bio-waste, but it doesn’t say anything about banning fires.

“This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” Center Party MEP Emma Wiesner wrote on X, before blaming the government for interpreting the law incorrectly.

“Banning tidying up in your own garden has clearly NOT been the EU’s intention. The inability of the government and authorities to implement the simplest of directives is embarrassing and adds to the contempt for politicians,” she added.

So who has banned fires on private property?

In a regulation from December 22nd, 2022 signed by Environment Minister Romina Pourmokhtari, the government writes that exemptions “from the prohibition on the incineration of separately collected waste” may be granted in the case of public events. 

This refers to a separate law governing waste, which states that “waste that has been collected separately to be prepared for reuse or recycling should not be incinerated”.

This regulation came into effect on January 1st, 2024.

Wait… what does that even mean?

Admittedly, the regulation isn’t particularly clear. Having said that, the new rules on bonfires appear to stem from Naturvårdsverket interpreting this regulation as an outright ban.

“The new regulations mean that garden waste must be composted on-site, left at a recycling centre, or collected by the council,” it writes in a post on its website dated April 11th. “In practice, this means that it is no longer permitted to burn branches, leaves and other garden waste”.

Naturvårdsverket claims that this is “part of the introduction of the EU’s waste directive, which means that bio-waste should primarily be recycled”.

It does, however, add that local councils are able to grant exceptions, “for example if it’s a long way to the closest recycling centre”.

So whose fault is it?

Energy and business minister Ebba Busch, who is head of the climate and business ministry, seemed to indicate in a post on X that the confusion was due to the badly-worded rules introduced by the government at the beginning of the year, which were designed to coincide with the EU’s waste directive.

“I want to be clear and say that the government has not introduced a new ban against burning garden waste,” she wrote, alongside a picture of her standing in front of a fire in her own garden.

“There are new rules, but not any huge changes compared to how it’s worked in the past. We can see that these can be interpreted in different ways. For that reason, the rules will be clarified,” she added.

Can I burn twigs in my garden then?

Maybe.

Despite politicians sharing posts telling you to “Keep calm and keep lighting fires,” you should check with your municipality before you do so.

Some, like Halmstad, have interpreted the new regulations as meaning that you can still light a fire in your own garden, while others require you to apply for an exemption (which usually includes paying a fee), whether you’re applying for a May bonfire or just want to burn some leaves in your own garden.

Others, like Värmdö municipality, allow you to burn things like twigs and small branches in your garden, while stating that grass and leaves should be composted.

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