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TODAY IN SWEDEN

Today in Sweden: A round-up of the latest news on Thursday

Find out what's going on in Sweden today with The Local's short round-up of the news in less than five minutes.

Today in Sweden: A round-up of the latest news on Thursday
Skåne's regional director holds up a syringe that will be used to give doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

Stockholm opens up Phase 4 of Covid-19 vaccinations

The Stockholm region has started the fourth and final phase of vaccinations against Covid-19. In this phase, all adults will be offered the vaccine, but it will still be offered in a staggered way starting with the oldest. That means that to begin with, people aged 55-59 will be able to book appointments.

Two companies that run vaccination centres in the capital region, Kry and Doktor 24, told the TT newswire they did not get any advance notice that the region would be starting the next phase.

“It would have been good to have a little foresight so that we could have scaled up the capacity,” said Sara Dannborg, communications manager at Doktor 24.

At the moment, Stockholm has capacity to vaccinate 75,000 people per week, but expects to receive many more doses than this over the next two weeks.

Kalmar, Jönköping and Värmland have already opened up vaccination to under-60s, with Skåne saying it aims to offer the vaccine to all adults from mid-June onwards.

Swedish vocabulary: to scale up – skala upp

Schools not doing enough to curb infection

Sweden’s schools are not living up to their duty to take measures against the spread of Covid-19, according to the Work Environment Authority, which has received more than 10,000 complaints on the topic.

The authority has also carried out 125 inspections to check the measures put in place in schools, and found shortcomings in around half.

It comes after the Public Health Agency warned this week of a rise in cases among children and teenagers, after more widespread testing of this age group began.

Swedish vocabulary: shortcoming/failure – brist

Shortage of hospital beds affected over 900 pregnant Stockholmers last year

Over 900 pregnant women in Stockholm were not given a place on birthing wards when they gave birth during 2020, a report by SVT Stockholm shows.

Instead they usually gave birth in rooms not intended for childbirth, which in some cases had negative affects of patient safety, for example if the room did not have the right equipment. In one case, a woman was sent home and gave birth in her own shower, and the report found that one child died because of the lack of hospital bed.

This is the first time the region has reviewed how many people were not given an appropriate hospital bed when they gave birth. A total of 28,362 births were recorded last year in Stockholm, and 80 women were directed to a different region while 929 were not given a suitable hospital bed.

Swedish vocabulary: to give birth – föda

Swedish agencies react to labour law proposals 

Sweden’s rules about labour migration are currently under review, and the government hopes to update legislation at the start of next year. The proposals were sent out for consultation and now relevant actors, including trade unions and the Migration Agency, have given their feedback, which we have reviewed in depth.

The police and trade union LO were in favour of an employment contract being required for a work permit to be granted, as a step to crack down on employers who offer worse conditions to foreign workers once they arrived. But agencies including the Migration Agency, Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, the Association of Swedish Engineering Industries (Teknikföretagen) and the Federation of Swedish Farmers (LRF) were against the idea, saying that instead fraud could be counteracted by requiring employers to submit reports if the conditions changed.

Swedish vocabulary: response to a government consultation – remissvar

Three blasts in Malmö overnight

Police investigates a small spate of explosions in Malmö overnight, which took place between 2.45 and 3.18am in nearby neighbourhoods. One was outside, one in the stairwell of an apartment building, and one at a shop.

According to Sydsvenskan, no-one was seriously injured but one person was taken to hospital for checks and several apartments were evacuated. No-one has yet been arrested.

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TODAY IN SWEDEN

Today in Sweden: A roundup of the latest news on Friday

Right bloc strikes government deal, Sweden Democrat to lead Sweden in OSCE, Russia's Nord Stream 'bewilderment', and inflation nears 10 percent: find out what's going on in Sweden with The Local's roundup.

Today in Sweden: A roundup of the latest news on Friday

Moderate leader strikes government coalition deal

Moderate Party leader Ulf Kristersson has completed his deal with the Sweden Democrat, Christian Democrat and Liberal parties, and will announce it at 10am on Friday, state broadcaster SVT has reported.

According to a story published at close to 11pm on Thursday night, the four parties will hold a press conference at 10am where they will lay out the details on the new government’s plans to reform Sweden over the next four years.

The agreement contains both policy details and details of which parties will be part of the coalition and how they will work together.

After the press conference, at 11am, Kristersson will visit the parliament’s Speaker Andreas Norlén to inform him that the deal is complete, after which the Speaker will call a parliamentary vote on Kristersson as prime minister, probably for Monday.

Swedish vocab: en överenskommelse – an agreement 

Far-right politician appointed to lead Sweden in OSCE

One of the leading politicians in the far-right Sweden Democrats has been appointed to lead Sweden in the OSCE, a body that monitors elections and seeks to bolster security in Europe.

Björn Söder, one of the so-called ‘gang of four’ who transformed the Sweden Democrats, has been appointed chair of the Swedish delegation of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

The OSCE was founded in Helsinki in 1975 as a forum for discussion between the Western Bloc and Eastern Bloc and gained its current name in 1995.

Söder has faced criticism for saying in 2018 that in his opinion members of Sweden’s Sami and Jewish minorities were not Swedish. “They are recognised as minorities because they are not Swedish,” he argued, stressing that ethnicity and citizenship were two different concepts.

Many had expected the Sweden Democrats to put Söder forward as deputy speaker of the parliament, a position he held between 2014 and 2018, but the party instead nominated his less controversial colleague Julia Kronlid.

Swedish vocab: valobservatör – election monitor

Russia aggrieved at Germany, Denmark and Sweden over Nord Stream probe

Russia’s foreign ministry said Thursday it had summoned envoys of Germany, Denmark and Sweden to express “bewilderment” over Moscow’s exclusion from an investigation into leaks on the Nord Stream pipelines.

Multiple leaks were discovered on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines connecting Russia to Germany, further raising political tensions already sky high since the Kremlin invaded Ukraine in February. All four leaks were located near Danish island Bornholm.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the leaks were an act of “international terrorism” that would benefit the United States, Poland and Ukraine.

Both Moscow and Washington have denied responsibility for the leaks, which were discovered in late September. Germany, Sweden and Denmark have formed a joint investigation unit to probe the apparent sabotage.

“The heads of the diplomatic missions of Germany, Denmark and Sweden in Moscow have been summoned to the Russian foreign ministry in recent days,” the Russian ministry said in a statement.

Swedish vocab: att kalla upp diplomater – so summon diplomats

More rate hikes on cards as Swedish inflation nears 10 percent

Inflation in Sweden hit a higher than expected 9.7 percent in September, making it likely that the country’s central bank will have to hike interest rates even more rapidly.

In a press release issued on Thursday morning, Statistics Sweden blamed “higher electricity prices and higher prices for groceries and alcohol-free drinks” for driving price increases over the month.

The rise was higher than market expectations of about 9.3 percent, judging by a survey carried out by Bloomberg, a financial news service.

The goods that saw the highest price increases were bread and other products made from grain, and coffee, the agency wrote. 

“This is high, well above the Riksbank’s target. That indicates we will see continued big [rate] hikes,” Annika Winsth, chief economist at Nordea, told the TT newswire. 

She said that it was likely now that the 50 point rate rise planned for November would be increased to 75 points. 

“Both households and companies need to be prepared for rates continuing to rise,” she said. 

Swedish vocab: att rusa – to soar (literally “rush”) 

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