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WEATHER

‘Are they on Easter holiday?’: Swedish government under fire after snow chaos

The Swedish government faced heavy criticism after heavy snowfall caused traffic chaos across southern Sweden leaving some motorists stuck for more than 10 hours.

Published: 4 April 2024 08:12 CEST
'Are they on Easter holiday?': Swedish government under fire after snow chaos
The Öland Bridge was closed in both directions on Wednesday due to a number of accidents caused by the weather. Photo: Magnus Lejhall/TT

Traffic ground to a halt on several key highways earlier this week, trapping hundreds of motorists. Infrastructure minister Andreas Carlson left an EU meeting in Brussels to return home over the emergency.

Carlson told a press conference late on Wednesday that traffic on most roads was moving again.

But he said car and truck drivers that did not have proper tyres for the wintery conditions should not go out on the roads. Many drivers have switched from winter to summer tyres.

The minister said many road closures had been caused by trucks becoming stuck but acknowledged that the maintenance of roads could be improved.

Some lorry drivers rejected the government criticism and opposition politicians also lambasted the government.

Lena Hallengren, parliamentary leader of the Social Democrats, said in a social media post that the government had been “invisible” as it had been when heavy snow hit Sweden in January. “Is the whole government on Easter holiday?” Hallengren questioned.

Member comments

  1. When I moved to Sweden in 2020 I was nicely surprised how well maintained the road infrastructure is. Recently, mostly last year I started to notice that there are more broken traffic signs, or waste bins on parking areas are usually overfilled. It is only a feeling, but this „change moment” in my perception is surprisingly aligned with 2022 elections. Is is possible that Trafikverket started to be defunded or worse managed after elections? Might be interesting to do some investigation.

  2. Unjustified criticism. I live close to Jönköping where traffic came to a halt on a 30km undulating stretch of the E4 close to Lake Vättern. We had a snowstorm for about 12 hours. As one guy said: “We can’t stop the snow coming, and we can’t plough before the snow has fallen.” Sums it up nicely. Also, some cars had already switched to summer tyres and should not have been out on the road. Just a couple in difficulty disrupts the entire traffic flow, along with foreign trucks with poor tyres.

  3. Follow-up on my comment below. In today’s Jönköpings-Posten, a breakdown/tow-truck driver who worked during the night on the E4 says that he helped to clear 16 heavy articulated trucks that had come to a standstill and were blocking the motorway. All but one were foreign-registered. Probably due to poor tyres and drivers’ inexperience working in snow and ice conditions. The political blame-game should perhaps focus on things like that instead of criticising those who helped all night.

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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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