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TODAY IN SWEDEN

Today in Sweden: A roundup of the latest news on Tuesday

Imprisoned Swedish-Iranian academic to go on hunger strike, landslide-hit motorway set to be re-inaugurated, and Taylor Swift provides million-kronor boost to Stockholm economy. Here's the latest news.

Published: 25 June 2024 06:24 CEST
Today in Sweden: A roundup of the latest news on Tuesday
A photo of Karolinska Institute researcher Ahmadreza Djalali from before he was imprisoned. Photo: Tomas Oneborg/SvD/TT

Imprisoned Swedish-Iranian academic set to go on hunger strike

Swedish-Iranian researcher Ahmadreza Djalali, who is on death row in Iran over what human rights groups consider to be fabricated charges of espionage, will begin a hunger strike on Wednesday, his wife, Vida Mehrannia, told The Local and other Swedish media. 

The hunger strike is in protest of being left out of a controversial prisoner exchange with Iran, which saw two other Swedish citizens return home this month. The Swedish government has argued it tried to get Djalali out too, but Iran refused to discuss his case.

“Ahmadreza now feels he had no option but to go on hunger strike. He has already suffered nearly 3,000 days of unimaginable torment in Iran’s dungeons and is in extremely poor health. He suffers from several medical conditions including heart arrhythmias, bracycardia, hypotension, chronic gastritis, anemia, and extreme weight loss following his previous two hunger strikes,” said Mehrannia.

“This hunger strike is highly life threatening, Ahmadreza knows this better than anyone else – but he sees no other option. This physician, loving husband, and father of two, wants to be reunited with his family. He wants to serve society once more as a dedicated doctor. He wants to be recognised and treated as a human being again. Ahmadreza is now pleading to the world for help. He needs this endless brutality to end. Please hear his anguished plea and amplify his voice with yours,” she added.

Amnesty International has called on Sweden’s government to “do everything” to ensure Djalali can return.

Swedish vocabulary: a hunger strike – en hungerstrejk

Landslide-hit motorway set to be re-inaugurated

King Carl XVI Gustaf will cut the ribbon at a ceremony declaring the E6 motorway again fit for use, reports Swedish public radio broadcaster P4 Väst.

The normally busy road has been closed to traffic at Stenungsund since September last year, when a massive landslide carried with it large chunks of the motorway, causing significant damage. Through a stroke of luck, it happened late at night and there were no fatalities.

The inauguration ceremony is set to take place on Wednesday next week, but the motorway won’t immediately reopen.

“We haven’t announced that date yet. There’s still some work to do, and before we know when that is finished we can’t say the exact date,” Camilla Hentschel, a spokesperson for the Swedish Transport Administration, told P4 Väst.

The Transport Administration has previously said it believes the road will reopen to traffic the second week of July.

Swedish vocabulary: a landslide – ett jordskred

Taylor Swift provides million-kronor boost to Stockholm economy

Taylor Swift’s three gigs in Stockholm in May gave the capital’s economy a boost, reports broadcaster TV4.

Swift’s visit generated 848 million kronor in tourism revenue, according to analysts Upplevelseinstitutet on behalf of Stockholm City Council, resulting in an extra 431 million kronor in tax revenue.

A total of 131,000 tourists descended on Stockholm for Swift’s concerts, and spent their money on hotel rooms, restaurant visits and entertainment.

Swedish vocabulary: money – pengar

For sale: Swedish land for 1 krona per square metre – on one condition

Located on the southern shore of Lake Vänern, Götene municipality, which is struggling with an ageing population and low birth figures, is looking to tempt more people to move to the area by offering buyers to pay just one krona per square metre of land.

“Absolutely anyone is welcome to buy one of the plots,” said mayor Johan Månsson. “There are no rules or requirements as to who is allowed to buy one. It would be absolutely fantastic if we could get people from abroad interested in buying plots here, too.”

The only requirement for interested buyers is that they must begin construction on their plot within two years of the purchase date, otherwise it will be given back to the municipality.

The campaign will be running throughout 2024 and 2025, Månsson said.

“After that it probably won’t be continued, as the economy will most likely go back to normal. But, of course, we’ll discuss that in the future.”

Swedish vocabulary: to buy – att köpa

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TODAY IN SWEDEN

Today in Sweden: A roundup of the latest news on Tuesday

Swedish transport chiefs back new Öresund link – but not yet, new startups drop 27 percent on peak year, and Swedish property prices just rose for the sixth consecutive month. Here's the latest news.

Published: 2 July 2024 06:49 CEST
Today in Sweden: A roundup of the latest news on Tuesday

Swedish transport chiefs back new Öresund link – but not yet

A new transport link between Sweden and Denmark is not yet needed, according to an analysis by the Swedish Transport Administration. 

“There is a societal benefit to developing new infrastructure across the strait. But we see no need for capacity reasons until in the very long term,” Lars Brümmer, Transport Administration strategist and project manager, told a press conference on Monday.

The Transport Administration believes that the Öresund Bridge will have enough rail capacity for another 25 years. The more urgent measures to improve the connection between the two countries are all land-based, including two new tracks between Hässleholm and Lund, as well as increasing capacity north of Hässleholm. That should be prioritised over new links across the Öresund Strait, it argues.

According to the Transport Administration’s report, the biggest threat to the railway connection across the Öresund in the short term is border checks, which have slowed down journey times between Copenhagen and Malmö.

Swedish vocabulary: a reason – ett skäl

Swedish new businesses drop 27 percent on peak year

A total of 29,384 businesses were started in Sweden in the first half of 2024, according to statistics from the Swedish Companies Registration Office reported by invoicing company Visma. That’s a decrease of nine percent compared to the same period 2023.

Västerbotten in northern Sweden was the only region that bucked the train, with growth of one percent. But at the other end of the scale, in Uppsala and Kronoberg the number of new startups decreased by 24 and 23 percent, respectively.

Sweden has been on a steady downward curve since the peak in 2021, when 40,108 businesses were started in the first six months of the year. 

Visma believes that unstable global geopolitics are a major factor behind the slowdown.

“It’s very serious that new businesses continue to decrease, because four out of five jobs are created in small and medium-sized businesses. More businesses need to be launched in the Swedish recession, not fewer,” said Visma business expert Boo Gunnarson in a statement.

Swedish vocabulary: a business/company – ett företag

Swedish property prices rise sixth month in a row

Swedish property prices rose for the sixth consecutive month in June.

Figures from state-owned mortgage bank SBAB and property site Booli indicate an increase of 0.2 percent in June, or 0.5 percent if adjusted for seasonal effects. In other words, property prices have increased 6.6 percent since the turn of the year, buoyed by falling interest rates.

The price of a detached home rose 0.3 percent in June and 0.6 percent for apartments, adjusted for seasonal effects.

That’s a bigger rise than normal for detached homes in the month of June, when activity normally slows as summer begins.

Swedish vocabulary: property prices – bostadspriser 

Swedish town puts one-krona plot campaign on hold after media frenzy

When Götene, a quiet lakeside municipality in Western Sweden, launched a campaign in April to sell plots of land for one krona per square metre, they never could have guessed that they’d be fielding thousands of calls from across the world a few months later.

All the media attention has put Götene municipality into “crisis mode”, mayor Johan Månsson told The Local, describing the situation as “like winning the lottery”. There are only one or two people manning the phone lines, which have been ringing constantly for the past week.

“It’s impossible to handle, we’ve had to pause the campaign until August 7th so we can catch up with all the expressions of interest.”

The media interest has also resulted in “millions of kronor worth of marketing” for Götene, Månsson said, with CNN describing the lakeside region as “idyllic” and “rural Sweden at its finest”.

“I’m not convinced that those of us working in the region or the people living here have really taken in what’s happening and what has happened,” he said. “I think it will take a while before we do. It’s fantastic.”

Swedish vocabulary: one krona – en krona (or if you’re talking about a one-krona coin, en enkrona)

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