The Brief — Why Sweden will not have a far-right government – EURACTIV.com
On Wednesday evening, a political storm broke out when the results of the Swedish elections came out. They confirmed the fears of many Swedes and European political commentators: with 20.1%, the far-right Sweden Democrats became the second largest political force in the kingdom, just one step away from entering their first government.
The polls could hardly have been closer, narrowly won by a right-wing coalition consisting of the Moderates, the Liberals, the Christian Democrats and, for the first time, the nationalist Sweden Democrats.
Thanks to this much-maligned alliance that Moderate leader Ulf Kristersson announced in 2021, the right-wing bloc received 176 seats against 173 for the center-left bloc led by the Social Democrats. But for the first time since 1979, the Moderates are no longer the leading right-wing parties.
Heir to a neo-Nazi group founded in 1988, the far-right Sweden Democrats have gradually become commonplace in Sweden’s political landscape, entering parliament in 2010 with 5.7% and winning every election since, against a backdrop of high immigration and Sweden’s criminal gang problems.
But the day when proudly progressive and democratic Sweden is ruled by a xenophobic, climate-denying far-right party is not with us yet. Here’s why.
In Sweden, it is the practice that the leader of the largest party from the leading bloc is required to form a government. The assignment should theoretically fall to SD leader Jimmie Åkesson.
But that’s a scenario that won’t happen. SDers know that the Liberals, the Christian Democrats and even the Moderates who stretched them out during the campaign have all agreed to form an SD-free government.
Therefore, the leader of the Moderates, Ulf Kristersson, will most likely become Sweden’s next prime minister. It couldn’t really be otherwise.
Firstly, for credibility reasons.
The moderates paid a high price for their association with the extreme right and especially for the inconsistencies of their leaders over the years. As an example, Kristersson, a once liberal Moderate who declared immigration to be “fundamentally a positive thing”, said last July that it was now a “burden”.
Such mixed and inconsistent signals weakened the Moderate leader, whose party lost support from its most progressive voters to the Center Party Liberals and even across the aisle to the Social Democrats. In Stockholm, the party recorded its worst results in 52 years, in favor of the ruling Social Democrats.
To change course now and offer ministerial positions to SD members would be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. The moderates would look completely unreliable and seal their fate at the next election before the dust settles on the current election.
Second, the Liberals would not allow such a move.
With 4.6%, the Liberals are the smallest party in the Swedish Riksdag and one of the main challenges for their leader Johan Pehrson was not to fall below the 4% threshold required to remain in the Riksdag.
It has been difficult for the Liberals to agree to an uneasy and unnatural alliance with the extreme right and the party also suffered at the ballot box. The party lost nearly a quarter of its seats in parliament as many of its voters switched to the liberal center party, which comfortably rode with the left.
Should the Moderates break their promises and let SD into their government, the Liberals would very well be able to support a left-wing administration led by the Social Democrats who would be able to use their 16 mandates to secure a more comfortable majority.
Therefore, the far-right Sweden Democrats must remain a support party that votes in line with the political agreements that must now be decided in the ongoing coalition talks. They will be essential to the survival of the government while officially remaining outside it.
But whatever far-right-free government the Moderates can assemble when the newly elected members of parliament meet for the first time on September 27, governing the country will be a complex balancing act between a far-right firmly entrenched in its new-found legitimacy and key liberal MPs, whose moral compass could swing the country in one direction or another.
It will be a test for Sweden, where such a configuration has never been experienced yet.
Will the Sweden Democrats succeed in their quest to control and swallow the vote of the Moderates? Or will they fall victim to their lack of ruling experience and relegate the party to a life behind an impenetrable cordon sanitaire?
Today’s edition is powered by Salesforce
Strategic focus and external factors such as the Covid crisis have accelerated the digital transformation of the European Commission (EC).
To learn more about the EC’s digital transformation journey and the important role of platforms, read this report:
Roundup
The United States imposed more sanctions on Iranian individuals and entities on Wednesday, the second levy in a week, citing involvement in a number of malicious cyber attacks against Washington and its allies.
Before Italians vote in a parliamentary election on 25 September, EURACTIV Italy took a closer look at how the main political parties propose to shape the country’s view on digital files.
MEPs approved the EU’s new forest strategy for 2030, which aims to strike a balance between the economic, social and environmental aspects of sustainable forest management.
Even in the EU Parliament, MEPs seem to be approaching a possible compromise on the legal presumption of employment in the Platform Workers Directive, while a broad agreement is beginning to emerge in the Council of the EU.
The commission on Thursday presented its proposal for a Cyber Resilience Act, legislation aimed at addressing vulnerabilities in connected devices through a security-based approach.
The leader of the European People’s Party group has criticized EU countries for not showing enough solidarity as the energy crisis unfolds, taking particular aim at French President Emmanuel Macron for opposing the Franco-Spanish MidCat pipeline, but also German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for continued phase. out nuclear power.
Don’t forget to check out this week’s Economy Brief.
Watch out for…
- Informal meeting between the Ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries.
- Parliament President Roberta Metsola will attend the G7 speakers’ conference in Berlin.
- Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager will meet Federal Trade Commission Chairman Lina Khan.
Views are those of the author.
[Edited by Benjamin Fox/Zoran Radosavljevic]