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POLITICS

Sweden announces ‘historic’ 100 billion kronor budget to revive pandemic-hit economy

Sweden's government has allocated more than 100 billion for its 2021 budget in a bid to give the economy a needed boost amid the coronavirus crisis.

Published: 27 August 2020 15:27 CEST
Sweden announces 'historic' 100 billion kronor budget to revive pandemic-hit economy
Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson noted that the budget was not "free money". Photo: Claudio Bresciani/TT

“Our starting point is that we are going to put forward a budget that is historic in its scope,” Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson told a press conference on Thursday afternoon.

She did not go into details as to how the 100 billion would be allocated, with the full budget set to be presented in September.

“We will do it through strong investments in more jobs in welfare, care, schools, and of course in the climate,” she said. 

There was also tentative positive news as the government adjusted its forecasts for how the Swedish GDP will develop.

It is still expected to decline by 4.6 percent this year, with a predicted growth of 4.1 percent in 2021. That's a significant improvement on the previous forecast of a 6 percent drop in 2020 and 3 percent growth in 2021.

“The assessment is that activity in the Swedish economy reached its bottom in April-May, and we have seen a certain recovery. We are now looking a little more positively at the economic situation compared to in June. There is still continued great uncertainty, and obviously it depends how the pandemic develops,” said Andersson. 

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate was projected to reach 9 percent by the end of 2020, to further rise to 9.5 percent next year. This is a slight improvement on the previous forecast of 9.3 percent this year and 10.3 percent in 2021.

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POLITICS

Swedish PM won’t end Sweden Democrats collaboration over ‘troll factory’

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has no plans to break off the government's collaboration with the Sweden Democrats, he told a press conference, after an undercover investigation revealed that the party had been running a so-called "troll factory".

Published: 22 May 2024 17:24 CEST
Swedish PM won't end Sweden Democrats collaboration over 'troll factory'

During a press conference following a party leader debate in parliament, Kristersson, from the Moderates, was asked whether he, as prime minister, would put any pressure on the Sweden Democrats to stop using the anonymous accounts, which had been used to spread content of benefit to the party and degrade its political opponents.

He replied saying that he cannot make demands or take responsibility for the actions of the Sweden Democrats’ communications department.

“If your real question is: ‘Do you want to stop working together to solve Sweden’s major problems because I have strong objections to smear campaigns in Swedish politics’, then the answer is no,” he said.

He did, however, say that he had discussed the issue with Åkesson both in public and in private.

“[I’ve told him] that I dislike smear campaigns, that they need to answer legitimate questions put to them by the media, political opponents and coalition partners. And that I dislike anonymous accounts.”

He added that the Sweden Democrats should “moderate their tone”.

The Sweden Democrats had not only been using the accounts to smear opposition parties, but also the governing coalition of the Liberals, Moderates and Christian Democrats, which the party provides its support to under the Tidö Agreement, named after the castle where it was drawn up.

The Tidö Agreement includes a clause requiring all four parties to “speak respectfully” about each other.

In one clip from the Kalla Fakta documentary revealing the existence of the troll factory, Sweden Democrat communications head Joakim Wallerstein tells the group of troll factory workers to “find shit” on the Christian Democrats’ top candidate for the EU parliament, Alice Teodorescu Måwe, while others make fun of Liberal leader Johan Pehrson.

In another, one of the employees in the troll factory discusses what type of music to use when he should “shit on” the Moderates.

Anti-racism magazine Expo also reported that the Sweden Democrats had used their anonymous accounts to share white power material.

Since Kalla Fakta’s documentary was released, Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson has responded by claiming that Swedish media are carrying out their own campaign against his party, calling the documentary part of a “domestic smear campaign from the left-liberal establishment”.

LISTEN: Uncovering a Sweden Democrat troll factory

Kristersson did not wish to comment on Åkesson’s response, but he disagreed that Swedish media and political parties are carrying out a smear or influence campaign.

“I definitely perceive influence operations from other countries, and we often feed back to you [the media] and tell you what we know about those things. I obviously do not perceive any influence operations from parties, media or anyone else in Sweden.”

As far as Åkesson’s claims that Kalla Fakta had “infiltrated” the Sweden Democrats, Kristersson said that it would be “completely foreign to me to interfere with how free media operate in a free democracy”.

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