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Prime Minister promises more jobs for young

UPDATED: Social Democrat leader Stefan Löfven focussed on tackling youth unemployment and maintaining an open, liberal society in his first Almedalen speech since becoming Prime Minister.

Published: 29 June 2015 20:54 CEST
Prime Minister promises more jobs for young
Stefan Löfven making his keynote speech on Tuesday. Photo: TT

Stefan Lofven reiterated his pledge for Sweden to have the lowest jobless rate in Europe on Tuesday night as he promised to get more young people into work.

In his keynote speech at Almedalen (Sweden’s annual political conference week on the island of Gotland), the former welder argued that he wanted to improve opportunities for school leavers and to encourage Swedes to be “the best that you can be”.

He also discussed previous promises to expand training programmes to encourage more young people to enter Swedish industry and healthcare professions and said he would raise the salaries of the country's most talented teachers.

READ ALSO: The Local's live blog from day two of Almedalen

The Social Democrat leader also called on Sweden to develop its “strength in the global economy”, calling on Swedes to “join in and show that Swedish companies can astound the world”.

But he got his biggest cheers of the night when discussing tolerance and terrorism.

“If you love Sweden, stand up for everybody's liberty,” he told the crowd, scoring a spontaneous applause.

Löfven said that he wanted to reduce racism and sexual discrimination in Swedish workplaces and argued that the Islamist terror group Isis (also known as the Islamic State) could be beaten.

The Prime Minister’s speech came at a tough time for his party with several recent polls suggesting his the popularity of the Social Democrats has slipped since last September's general election.

In a major survey released by Novus for Swedish Radio's news programme Ekot on Monday, 40.9 percent of voters said they preferred the four centre-right opposition parties that make up Sweden's Alliance, while only 39.5 percent of those quizzed said they supported the Social Democrats, Green Party and Left Party.


Stefan Löfven speaking on Tuesday night. Photo: TT

But Löfven’s efforts were warmly greeted by party supporters at Almedalen.

“It was a good speech. We saw a Stefan Löfven who’s really growing into the role of prime minister and gave a clear message,” Adrian Ericson, Vice Group leader for the Social Democrats in Jönköping, and chairman for the Social Democrats’ youth movement in Jönköping county told The Local.

“The speech was anchored in debate. He tackled the problems of beggars, of Isis’s advance, but he also spoke of schools and unemployment,” he added.

“Stefan is very good when he talks about unemployment. You see that it’s close to his heart, he’s fired up by the issue. He spoke personally about our politics.”


Social Democrat supporter Adrian Ericson. Photo: The Local

READ ALSO: Almedalen – What you need to know about Sweden's power players week

Carina Ohlsson a member of the Swedish parliament and chairwoman of Social Democrat Women’s movement told The Local:

“I thought it was a very good speech, with lots of pathos and feeling. There was a lot about jobs and education, but he also took up the situation in the world…and how Sweden needs to be a country that stands up with solidarity to take in asylum seekers. It gives a signal to all of us here listening – but also to people out in the world – that we all, together need to show solidarity.”


Social Democrat politician Carina Ohlsson. Photo: The Local

But others criticised the Swedish leader for failing to surprise voters and sticking closely to previous speech themes and policy announcements.

“Old dusty speech. We live in the 2000s now,” wrote one commentator, HG, quoted on Swedish broadcaster SVT's website.

Meanwhile Ewa Stenberg, a leading political analyst for Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter argued that Löfven remained the country’s “most pressured” political figurehead.

“He has broken election promises and made mistakes, trust in him has fallen and the party's poll ratings have plummeted,” she noted.

Sweden's annual Almedalen conference continues on Tuesday and will run until the weekend.

The country's youngest political leader in history, Ebba Busch Thor will take to the stage on Tuesday evening, representing the smallest group in the Swedish parliament, the centre-right Christian Democrats.

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POLITICS IN SWEDEN

Politics in Sweden: This year’s EU election will be a white-knuckle ride for smaller parties

With as many as three of Sweden's parties at risk of being kicked out of the European parliament, the stakes in this year's European elections are higher perhaps than ever before.

Published: 6 May 2024 16:12 CEST

According to the latest polling by Verian for Swedish public broadcaster SVT, one party – the Liberals – is already polling below the formal four percent threshold to enter the European Parliament, but two more, the Christian Democrats and the Centre Party, are worryingly close, with each polling at both 4.5 percent. 

If the poll is right, the Social Democrats are set to be the big winners in the election, gaining two additional seats, while the Left Party and the far-right Sweden Democrats are both in line to gain one additional seat.

But as well as the Liberal Party, the Centre Party, Christian Democrats, and Green Party all set to lose one seat each, but as they each currently have more than one seat, they will nonetheless keep their representation in parliament. 

Tommy Möller, a professor of politics at Stockholm University, told the TT newswire that the two parties likely to be the most worried ahead of election day on June 9th are the Liberals and the Centre Party. 

For the Liberals, it matters partly because it has long seen itself as Sweden's most pro-EU party. At its highpoint 15 years ago, it had three seats in the EU parliament, but it sank to just one in the 2020 European elections.

If the party were now to lose the last of its seats, the leadership of party chairman Johan Persson, Möller argued, would be put into question. 

"This could prompt an internal debate on party leadership," he told the TT newswire. "There's no doubt that if the Liberals, who (...) promote themselves as the most pro-EU party, lost its mandate, it would be a massive blow."  

He said he would also not rule out a leadership challenge against the Centre Party's leader Muharrem Demirok should his party lose both its seats in the EU parliament, given how badly he has struggled as leader to gain any visibility with voters .

"Obviously the Centre Party is fighting an uphill battle in the opinion polls. If it loses its seat, that would obviously add to the lack of confidence in the party leader, which could prompt an internal leadership debate," Möller said. 

For the Christian Democrats, the Verian poll is in some ways encouraging. Thus far the indications are that Folklistan, the party formed by the former Christian Democrat MEP Sara Skyttedal, is far below the 4 percent threshold, with only an estimated 1.5 percent of the vote.

While it is no doubt nibbling away at Christian Democrat support, it has so far not managed to drag the party down to the 4 percent threshold. 

Möller said he did not expect anyone to call for party leader Ebba Busch to stand down, almost regardless of the result.  

"I don't think there will be calls for her resignation, but obviously, the mandate you have as a leader is always linked to how well its going for the party in opinion polls and elections," he said.  

Return of the Greens?

Even though they are projected to lose one of their seats, if the Green Party succeeds in winning 9.5 percent of the vote on June 9th, as the polls suggest, it will still be seen as decent result, showing that the party, which has been struggling in domestic politics, at least does well in the EU elections.

If the party retains its third seat, it will be seen as a resounding victory. 

According to a popularity poll by the Aftonbladet newspaper, the party's lead MEP, Alice Bah Kuhnke, is both the second most popular politician standing in the election and the most unpopular, reflecting just how polarising party has become in Sweden. 

In the poll, 30 percent of respondents said they had high or very high confidence in Bah Kuhnke, second only to the Left Party's candidate and former leader, Jonas Sjöstedt, on 42 percent. But at the same time, 64 percent of respondents said they had "low confidence" in her.  

According to Johan Martinsson, the head of opinion research at Demoskop, who carried out the poll, this should not worry the Greens too much.

"As long as the relevant group of voters have a large amount of confidence, it doesn't really make any difference if you are despised by those who oppose you. It can almost be a good thing as it makes it easier to get attention."

Could the election mark a turnaround for the party, which has voted in two new leaders this year? 

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