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Why a Swedish official’s trip to the Canary Islands has caused such an outcry

A trip by one Swedish senior official to visit family in the Canary Islands over Christmas has sparked anger that could threaten the country's coronavirus strategy focused on individual responsibility and public trust in authorities.

Published: 5 January 2021 17:45 CET

Why a Swedish official's trip to the Canary Islands has caused such an outcry

In this picture from January 2020, Civil Contingencies Agency chief Dan Eliasson (R) is seen with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven. Photo: Janerik Henriksson/TT

What’s happened?

In a nutshell, the man at the head of Sweden’s crisis preparedness agency travelled to visit family in the Canary Islands over Christmas, at a time when everyone in Sweden was supposed to be avoiding travel unless absolutely necessary.

Dan Eliasson, the general director of the Swedish Contingencies Agency (MSB) has not apologised for the holiday.

“I have refrained from a great deal of trips during this pandemic but this time I felt that we wanted to celebrate Christmas together,” he told the Expressen newspaper, whilst he was on holiday in the Canaries.

“I have made the assessment that the trip is necessary. I have a daughter who lives here and works here. And I celebrated Christmas with her and my family.”

According to Expressen, he spent his trip working remotely, celebrating Christmas and New Year with family, but was also photographed with others on New Year's Eve.

The trip has prompted anger from many in Sweden, who see it as an overly generous interpretation of the national recommendations which said only necessary travel should go ahead.

'A lost cause': How the pandemic has disrupted Christmas for Sweden's foreign residents

What do Sweden’s restrictions say about travel?

Over the Christmas period, the Public Health Agency urged everyone in Sweden to “think about whether travel is really necessary”. It urged particular caution for trips to large cities or popular holiday resorts, and said anyone who travelled should avoid making new contacts during the trip and at their destination beyond their 'bubble' of no more than eight people total.

When The Local asked the agency's Karin Tegmark Wisell what applied to people whose close family live overseas, she said: “Travel as little as possible. If you have to travel, do it in an infection-safe way, and you should stick to your small circle [of close contacts] and not mix with other circles and bubbles. There we see that there is a big risk of increased spread of infection.”

The Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said, ahead of Christmas: “It is important that everyone who intends to travel considers whether it is really the right time to do it now. We prefer that as few as possible travel this Christmas. If you nevertheless decide to travel, it is important that you follow these three pieces of advice: Read up, follow local rules and plan your return trip.”

Photo: Stina Stjernkvist/TT

So did Eliasson break any laws?

No. Sweden has introduced very few laws under which individuals can be prosecuted (exceptions include a ban on organising public events for more than eight people).

Instead, Sweden has relied on recommendations, which authorities including the MSB have repeatedly stressed should not be seen as optional.

Have any other officials bent the rules?

Several. Both the Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and Justice Minister Morgan Johansson were spotted shopping in December, after guidelines were introduced to avoid busy places such as shopping centres.

Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson was photographed renting skis at a Swedish resort just before Christmas, and the heads of two other Swedish state agencies travelled to Swedish ski resorts according to Svenska Dagbladet.

The head of the Migration Agency also travelled overseas over Christmas, to his partner's home country of Malta, saying she needed to visit home for “a range of personal reasons”.

And a senior member of the opposition party the Moderates was in the Canary Islands over Christmas, and has apologised for this, acknowledging the impact on public trust.

What is the role of the Civil Contingencies Agency?

It is one of Sweden's state agencies, independent of the government, although the general director is appointed by the government.

The agency is responsible for managing issues related to civil defence, emergency management and public safety. Its actions during the coronavirus crisis have included regular polling of the public on how many infection prevention measures they are taking, and sending an SMS to the Swedish population in December reminding them to follow the national recommendations.

How has the public responded?

Not positively. A poll by the Aftonbladet newspaper on Tuesday showed that only six percent of the public said they had “very high” or “fairly high” confidence in Eliasson, while 62 percent had “very little”.

The Facebook pages of the MSB and other government agencies were bombarded with comments criticising the trip, prompting a communications staff member at MSB to say “the trip was a private trip that the general director made after a personal judgment”.

The incident has also garnered international attention, with reports on Eliasson's holiday in the BBC and New York Times among others.

Dan Eliasson speaking at a coronavirus briefing in May. Photo: Fredrik Persson/TT

How have the government and agencies responded?

It's not clear if Eliasson will face any consequences for the trip, but he is set to meet Interior Minister Mikael Damberg this week.

Svante Werger, an advisor at MSB, said at Tuesday's coronavirus press conference in response to a question from Dagens Nyheter: “Trust is very important to us […] I don't have any comment on trust in Dan Eliasson but when it comes to the agency, I think it would be very surprising if it were not affected by this incident and the reporting on it.”

The Local asked state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell if he was concerned that these incidents might damage the overall strategy based on trust in authorities, and he said, “I don't know, we'll see how that develops over time.”

We also asked if he could give any clarity on how to define “necessary travel”, given that many people in Sweden with family overseas avoided travel over winter to comply with the guideline. He said: “That doesn't really change. Necessary travel is travel that cannot be avoided and there can be a number of different reasons to do that. We still believe that it's good to cut down on travel as much as possible.”

Will Sweden introduce more specific guidelines about what constitutes a necessary reason to travel or visit shops?

The Local put this question to Anders Tegnell on Tuesday. He said:

“No, I think it will remain individual decisions. Any attempt to make it more specific I think confuses people more than it really helps them. It's much better to have a general rule or recommendation to avoid meeting people at close distances as much as possible instead of going into detailed rules that are much more difficult to follow and makes for trying to find shortcuts around them instead.”

Readers reveal: How do Sweden's international residents feel about the coronavirus response?

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INTERVIEW: 'A lot of people think Brexit is done, but it's not for Brits in Europe'

In the early days of 2021, after the United Kingdom had left the EU and completed the final stage of Brexit, many British citizens returned to their home countries in Europe only to face a grilling at the border.

Though the Withdrawal Agreement (WA) technically guaranteed their right to live and work in the countries they’d settled in before Brexit, there was widespread confusion about these fundamental rights and many were treated like new arrivals.

Over time, the chaos at the airports subsided as border officials and airlines were given clearer guidance on the treatment of Brits. But three years later, a number of Brits who live on the continent still face problems when it comes to proving their post-Brexit rights.

This was the reason campaign group British in Europe decided to set up their new EU-funded ICE project. Starting this year in March, it aims to build valuable connections between UK citizens abroad and mentor the next generation of civil rights advocates around the continent. The acronym stands for ‘Inform, Empower, Connect’ and the project’s organisers describe it as “the first project of its kind”.

“It’s a completely innovative project – especially the fact that it’s across so many countries,” Jane Golding, chair of British in Europe and one of the project’s founders, told The Local.

Bringing together groups from 11 EU member states, the project aims to train up volunteers to understand both the Withdrawal Agreement and EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, as well as learning skills like advocacy and communication, using real-life civil rights cases that are referred to British in Europe.

“The ultimate goal is to amplify the messages across the wider group,” said Golding. “You start with the volunteers, they go back to their groups, then the people that we train, they go back and train people. Then they pass on that knowledge to the wider groups, on their Facebook accounts and through social media, and hopefully it all snowballs, not just in their countries but across the EU.”

‘Far-reaching repercussions’

So many years after Brexit, it’s hard to believe that there’s still a need for a project like ICE that empowers Brits to protect their rights. Indeed, the future of groups like British in Europe and regional groups like British in Germany and British in Spain felt uncertain just a year or two ago.

But Golding says there are still serious issues cropping up for Brits in several countries around Europe – they just have a different quality to the problems that arose at the start.

“In some ways it’s needed even more because as we predicted right at the beginning, at the first stage of implementation, you’ve got the more routine cases,” she explained.

“What we’re seeing now is not as many cases, but when the cases come up, they’re complex. They can have such far-reaching repercussions on people’s lives. And of course, memories start to fade. A lot of people think Brexit is already done, but it’s not.”

Volunteers in British in Europe ICE project

The volunteers of the British in Europe ICE project pose for a photo at the kick-off meeting in Brussels on May 21st, 2024. Photo courtesy of Jane Golding

Though the rights set out in the Withdrawal Agreement apply across the continent, different countries have taken different approaches to implementing them.

That means that while in Germany, for example, UK citizens simply had to declare that they lived in the country, people in neighbouring Denmark had to apply for their rights.

This led to a notorious situation in Denmark in which as many as 2,000 Brits were threatened with deportation after not applying in time or completing the right application process. According to Golding, this had a lot to do with the fact that people who arrived in 2020 weren’t given the same information as other UK migrants who arrived before.

In Sweden, meanwhile, the situation is still difficult for many Brits who lived there prior to Brexit.

“There have been issues with an anomalously high numbers of refusals compared to other countries, and they seem to be taking a very strict approach on late applications,” Golding explained.

Portugal has been another difficult case. Although the country opted for a declaratory system where Brits could simply exchange old residence documents for a new ID card after Brexit, reports suggest that the authorities have taken years to issue these cards, leaving many of the some 34,000 Brits in the country in limbo.

“While people are still waiting to have their status confirmed and have their card in their hand, it’s difficult to access a whole range of services, like health services, or applying for jobs or dealing with the authorities, or even going to the bank,” Golding said. “All of these problems just affect people’s lives.”

A French border guard checks a passport at the border

A French border guard checks a passport at the border. Photo by DENIS CHARLET / AFP

There are also concerns about the EU’s new exit and entry system (EES), due to come into force in October, which is based on biometric documentation.

“We still do not have clear data on how many people in declaratory countries like Germany, where it wasn’t compulsory to apply for the card, don’t actually have a card,” Golding said. “How is that going to play out if it’s a document-based digitalised system?”

A lack of support

In the immediate aftermath of Brexit, funding from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) was still available to support NGOs in Europe helping Brits with their migration and civil rights issues. But that temporary funding soon expired, leaving groups like British in Europe largely on their own.

“The whole point is people’s lives change at very different paces,” Golding said. “And now this project is really going to start to pick up some of those cases and report on those issues, which is really crucial and exciting for the precedent that it sets, and it’s very clearly necessary still, because people don’t just sort their lives in the 18 months that the FCDO chose to supply that funding.”

This feeling of being left alone and increasingly isolated from the UK is one that many Brits in Europe have felt in the aftermath of Brexit. But the upcoming UK election on July 4th could be a game-changer.

This time, following a change in the law, Brits who have lived abroad for more than 15 years will be able to vote for the first time.

Polling station in the UK

A polling station in the UK. Photo by Elliott Stallion on Unsplash

When it comes to the election, the message from British in Europe is clear: “Make your voice count now, make your vote count, make sure you use it,” Golding said.

With the June 18th registration deadline fast approaching, BiE is advising UK citizens abroad to apply for a proxy vote as soon as possible, rather than relying on a postal vote from abroad. Since the 15-year rule was abolished on January 16th, more than 100,000 British citizens have registered to vote, according to official statistics. It is unclear how many were registered before the change in the law.

With an estimated 5.5 million Brits currently living abroad – 1.3 million of whom are in the EU – this could have a significant impact on the electoral landscape, Golding says. But most significantly, the change is creating a feeling of connection and belonging that wasn’t there before.

Nurturing this sense of belonging is one of the main goals of ICE.

With these bridges being built, British in Europe hopes to create a network of support that spans across borders.

“Now we’ve met. We’re going to meet,” said Golding. “We know we’re going to meet again in Berlin in October and then we’ll meet again in the new year in 2025 as well. It means a huge amount because even British in Europe, our steering team, we’ve only met physically three times.”

This opens up the possibility of people sharing their knowledge from country to country, Golding explained.

“There is crossover and the reassurance of having that EU wide view and knowing that you’re not alone and knowing that in this country, we managed to get this solution,” she said. “And then you can go back and say to the authorities in your country, well, in that country they did that – all of that helps. It’s really good.”

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