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POLITICS

Sweden in political crisis after lawmakers adopt opposition’s budget

Sweden was plunged into political crisis after lawmakers voted to adopt the opposition group's budget after rejecting the one put forward by the government.

Published: 24 November 2021 16:21 CET
Updated: 24 November 2021 17:32 CET
Sweden in political crisis after lawmakers adopt opposition's budget
File photo of Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson. This is the first governmental budget co-negotiated by his party. Photo: Claudio Bresciani/TT

To read the latest on the political crisis and the resignation of the new PM we have all the latest news at THIS LINK.

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Andersson was elected the country’s first woman prime minister on Wednesday, but she immediately faced a major setback that risks toppling her before she even takes office.

Just hours after her election, she faced a major setback when the Centre Party withdrew its support for her budget, due to the concessions made to the Left.

Andersson will now have to govern with the budget presented by the opposition conservative Moderates, Christian Democrats and far-right Sweden Democrats, which was adopted by parliament.

She was undeterred, saying “I think I can govern the country regardless”.

The right-wing’s opposition budget – negotiated jointly by the conservative Moderates and Christian Democrats and the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats – passed through parliament with 154 votes to 143 after the Centre Party announced that they would abstain at the 11th hour.

It will be the first time Sweden is run on a budget co-authored by a far-right party.

Coalition partners the Green Party then announced that they will leave government, which may spark a second prime minister vote.

In a press conference, Green Party spokespersons Per Bolund and Märta Stenevi described the approved budget as “differentiating between people, butchering the environmental budget, and increasing emissions”, referring to the new budget’s lowered petrol and diesel tax – a reduction of 50 öre per litre from May 1st 2022. 

They stated in the press conference that they “cannot sit in a government on a budget negotiated by the Sweden Democrats.”

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EDUCATION

Sweden’s Social Democrats call for ban on new free schools

Sweden's opposition Social Democrats have called for a total ban on the establishment of new profit-making free schools, in a sign the party may be toughening its policies on profit-making in the welfare sector.

Published: 18 April 2024 16:09 CEST
Sweden's Social Democrats call for ban on new free schools

“We want the state to slam on the emergency brakes and bring in a ban on establishing [new schools],” the party’s leader, Magdalena Andersson, said at a press conference.

“We think the Swedish people should be making the decisions on the Swedish school system, and not big school corporations whose main driver is making a profit.” 

Almost a fifth of pupils in Sweden attend one of the country’s 3,900 primary and secondary “free schools”, first introduced in the country in the early 1990s. 

Even though three quarters of the schools are run by private companies on a for-profit basis, they are 100 percent state funded, with schools given money for each pupil. 

This system has come in for criticism in recent years, with profit-making schools blamed for increasing segregation, contributing to declining educational standards and for grade inflation. 

In the run-up to the 2022 election, Andersson called for a ban on the companies being able to distribute profits to their owners in the form of dividends, calling for all profits to be reinvested in the school system.  

READ ALSO: Sweden’s pioneering for-profit ‘free schools’ under fire 

Andersson said that the new ban on establishing free schools could be achieved by extending a law banning the establishment of religious free schools, brought in while they were in power, to cover all free schools. 

“It’s possible to use that legislation as a base and so develop this new law quite rapidly,” Andersson said, adding that this law would be the first step along the way to a total ban on profit-making schools in Sweden. 

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