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EMMANUEL MACRON

‘Vive les clichés!’: Swedish PM mocked for Macron welcome

Sweden's Prime Minister has been gently ridiculed by the correspondent for France's biggest newspaper after he posted a light-hearted welcome message to France's President Emmanuel Macron.

Published: 29 January 2024 13:15 CET
'Vive les clichés!': Swedish PM mocked for Macron welcome
Ulf Kristersson shakes hands with Emmanuel Macron during a visit to France in January 2023. Photo: Francois Mori/AP/TT

‘”Vive les clichés!” (“long live the clichés!”), wrote Le Monde’s Swedish correspondent Anne-Francoise Hivert as she reposted the Instagram message from Sweden’s prime minister, Ulf Kristersson on X.

She wasn’t the only one to raise an eyebrow at the video.

“Oh God, how ridiculous!!! For Christ’s sake pull yourself together,” one commentator wrote under the post on Kristersson’s Instagram account, which also had a handful of comments praising Kristersson for his humour.

“Please, tell me this video has been created by AI,” wrote another. 

“Are you a prime minister or an influencer? Time for the skämskudde [literally a ‘cringe pillow’, used for hiding behind when someone does something embarrassing],” wrote a third.

Macron himself was more polite.

“Dear Ulf, tack för informationen. I arrive well-prepared, warmly dressed! Looking forward to sharing a fika!” he wrote. 

Macron is due to visit Sweden on Tuesday and Wednesday for a packed visit which will see him greeted by Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia at the Royal Palace in Stockholm, meet Kristersson, and visit the European Spallation Source in Lund. 

 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Ulf Kristersson (@kristerssonulf)

“Dear President Macron, I am so looking forward to welcoming you to Sweden,” Kristersson begins in the post. “But first let me introduce you to some Swedish things and behaviours.”

He then runs the full gamut of Swedish clichés, briefing Macron on Swedishness in much the same way as a socially awkward middle-aged Swede might do with a foreign prospective son- or daughter-in-law. 

“In Sweden, we have a saying that goes ‘det finns inget dåligt väder, bara dåliga kläder‘. There is no bad weather, only bad clothing. You will hear this if you start complaining about the snow,” he says, seeming to forget that France is home to the Alps, which have their fair share of the white stuff.

“We also have this very important thing called fika. If you try to skip this opportunity to sit down and have some coffee and a kanelbulle, there will be serious consequences.”  

“And lastly, we love to stand in line. If you try to jump the queue, tränger dig, we will be very angry but still stay silent. We might write you an arg lapp – an angry note. Swedes do not like to make a scene in public.”  

Was this some sort of diplomatic code or a genuine attempt at a humourous greeting? Who knows?

At any rate, it contrasted somewhat with the ceremonial tone of the message posted on X by the French embassy in Stockholm, which ran through the history of French state visits to Sweden, beginning with that of President Raymond Poincaré in 2014, following with that of President François Mitterrand in 1984, and ending with that of Jacques Chirac in 2000. 

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POLITICS

‘Very little debate’ on consequences of Sweden’s crime and migration clampdown

Sweden’s political leaders are putting the population’s well-being at risk by moving the country in a more authoritarian direction, according to a recent report.

Published: 29 April 2024 08:56 CEST
'Very little debate' on consequences of Sweden's crime and migration clampdown

The Liberties Rule of Law report shows Sweden backsliding across more areas than any other of the 19 European Union member states monitored, fuelling concerns that the country risks breaching its international human rights obligations, the report says.

“We’ve seen this regression in other countries for a number of years, such as Poland and Hungary, but now we see it also in countries like Sweden,” says John Stauffer, legal director of the human rights organisation Civil Rights Defenders, which co-authored the Swedish section of the report.

The report, compiled by independent civil liberties groups, examines six common challenges facing European Union member states.

Sweden is shown to be regressing in five of these areas: the justice system, media environment, checks and balances, enabling framework for civil society and systemic human rights issues.

The only area where Sweden has not regressed since 2022 is in its anti-corruption framework, where there has been no movement in either a positive or negative direction.

Source: Liberties Rule of Law report

As politicians scramble to combat an escalation in gang crime, laws are being rushed through with too little consideration for basic rights, according to Civil Rights Defenders.

Stauffer cites Sweden’s new stop-and-search zones as a case in point. From April 25th, police in Sweden can temporarily declare any area a “security zone” if there is deemed to be a risk of shootings or explosive attacks stemming from gang conflicts.

Once an area has received this designation, police will be able to search people and cars in the area without any concrete suspicion.

“This is definitely a piece of legislation where we see that it’s problematic from a human rights perspective,” says Stauffer, adding that it “will result in ethnic profiling and discrimination”.

Civil Rights Defenders sought to prevent the new law and will try to challenge it in the courts once it comes into force, Stauffer tells The Local in an interview for the Sweden in Focus Extra podcast. 

He also notes that victims of racial discrimination at the hands of the Swedish authorities had very little chance of getting a fair hearing as actions by the police or judiciary are “not even covered by the Discrimination Act”.

READ ALSO: ‘Civil rights groups in Sweden can fight this government’s repressive proposals’

Stauffer also expresses concerns that an ongoing migration clampdown risks splitting Sweden into a sort of A and B team, where “the government limits access to rights based on your legal basis for being in the country”.

The report says the government’s migration policies take a “divisive ‘us vs them’ approach, which threatens to increase rather than reduce existing social inequalities and exclude certain groups from becoming part of society”.

Proposals such as the introduction of a requirement for civil servants to report undocumented migrants to the authorities would increase societal mistrust and ultimately weaken the rule of law in Sweden, the report says.

The lack of opposition to the kind of surveillance measures that might previously have sparked an outcry is a major concern, says Stauffer.

Politicians’ consistent depiction of Sweden as a country in crisis “affects the public and creates support for these harsh measures”, says Stauffer. “And there is very little talk and debate about the negative consequences.”

Hear John Stauffer from Civil Rights Defender discuss the Liberties Rule of Law report in the The Local’s Sweden in Focus Extra podcast for Membership+ subscribers.

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