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POLITICS

Liberals: ‘Throw out the Greens and we’ll talk’

Liberal Party leader, Jan Björklund, has suggested that the opposition Alliance parties in Sweden might be prepared to collaborate with Prime Minister Stefan Löfven’s ruling Social Democrats if he ejects the Green party, from his coalition.

Published: 11 October 2015 18:00 CEST
Liberals: 'Throw out the Greens and we'll talk'
Liberal Party leader, Jan Björklund. Photo: Jacob Stephenson/TT

“Forming a government without the Green Party will make it easier for us to cooperate across the political boundaries,” Björklund told Swedish Radio.

Björklund said that he believes that it would be easier for the Social Democrats to agree with the centre-right Alliance parties on several issues if the government was purely Social Democratic.

“There will always be part of his party that will be more to the left than Löfven but that does not mean that he must come to terms with them on every single issue.”

“It would facilitate compromise between the political blocs if Löfven was willing to undertake a cabinet reshuffle in which he lets the Green Party leave the government.”

Löfven last night called the decision by the centre-right opposition to abandon a political deal with his government as “extraordinarily irresponsible in a difficult time”.

Speaking at a press conference, Löfven said the move could create political and economic instability for Sweden and decrease chances of future collaboration.

READ ALSO: What is the December agreement?

Löfven admitted the so-called December Agreement wasn't perfect but said it had been a deal that worked.

“The December Agreement was neither mine nor the government's first choice,” he said. “The best thing for Sweden is, and should be, cross-party cooperation.”

Under the December Agreement, the four centre-right parties, the Moderates, the Liberal Party, the Christian Democrats and the Centre Party, agreed to approve Löfven's budgets in order to sideline the nationalist, anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, who hold the balance of power in parliament.

The agreement fell apart after a grassroots rebellion at the Christian Democrats convention on Friday prompted parliament's smallest opposition party to pull out of the accord — the other centre-right parties quickly followed suit.

Although the opposition would have to unite on a joint budget bill for the government to fall – a very unlikely event – the chances that Löfven will call Sweden's first snap election in more than half a century have been increased.

A new election could also lead to policy stalemate and endanger Sweden's robust triple-A-rated economy.

The party leaders will all participate in a group debate on Sunday night at 8pm on SVT1's Agenda.

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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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