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Swedish crisis chief resigns over Canary Islands trip

The leader of Sweden's crisis preparedness agency has offered his resignation after being accused of breaking coronavirus recommendations with a trip to the Canary Islands.

Published: 6 January 2021 16:25 CET
Swedish crisis chief resigns over Canary Islands trip
Civil Contingencies Agency head Dan Eliasson has argued that the trip was necessary. Photo: Marianne Løvland/TT
The Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) said in a press release on Wednesday afternoon that its director, Dan Eliasson, had decided to step down following a meeting with Mikael Damberg, Sweden's interior minister. 
 
“Eliasson has discussed the possibility of continuing his work as general director. He sees it as difficult given the current  [public] response, and feels in addition that this response also makes it difficult for MSB to carry out its important mission,” the agency wrote. 
 
Damberg, the release added, “shares this judgement”. 
 
 
The leader of Sweden's centre-Right opposition Moderate Party, Ulf Kristersson, who had called for Eliasson to step down on Tuesday, said the decision was “necessary”. 
 
“The person leading Sweden's crisis preparedness operations cannot preach to others that they should abstain from more or less everything and then themselves travel overseas on holiday,” he said.
 
Annie Lööf, leader of the Centre Party, which supports the ruling Social Democrat coalition, said that it was “the only reasonable decision”. 
 
“The head of the agency responsible for national crisis preparedness must act as a good example and follow the current recommendation,” she said on Twitter. 
 

 
 
In an interview with the Expressen newspaper on Saturday, Eliasson defended his trip, saying he believed it had been necessary for him to meet his daughter over Christmas. 
 
“I have avoided an enormous number of journeys during this pandemic, but I felt that this one was necessary,” he said. “I have a daughter who is here and who works here, and I celebrated Christmas together with her and my family.” 
 
In the press release, Eliasson stopped short of admitting that he had done anything wrong. 
 
“The important this is not me as a person, the important thing is how we as a society handle the pandemic and that all of our focus is on this important task,” he said. 
 
“The reason for the decision I have taken is to make sure that MSB as an agency is able to have the best conditions to carry out its important mission.”
 
According to the Dagens Nyheter newspaper, Eliasson had not informed Damberg of his planned trip.
 
According to the TT newswire, Eliasson has declined further interviews. 

Member comments

  1. Greetings from the UK. Because of close connections with people in a number of European countries, I subscribe to the Local for news and comment.

    I live in the UK and similar kind of trips, within the UK, go against all restriction advice and have led to a number of senior advisors resigning. There are no excuses for such selfish and unjustified travel and go against common sense. In all countries, people have been making sacrifices over the Christmas and New Year period. My wife and I abandoned our plans to see my family over the festive period. One son would have travelled 120km to be with us and we chose not to meet up with the reast of the family, just 25 km away. To travel from Sweden to the Canary Islands is preposterous! Even though I sympathise with his sentiments, his decision to resign is correct.
    Stay safe and well.

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TRAVEL NEWS

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail operator and the GDL train drivers' union have reached a deal in a wage dispute that has caused months of crippling strikes in the country, the union said.

Published: 26 March 2024 09:55 CET
German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of €420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of €2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some €200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of €2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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