August 2019 • Page 2 of 3 • SwedeInternational

Sun. 18/8 – money in, more money out

Summer is over. It’s not over because a certain amount of days in a row have a certain temperature, like when you hear that winter has started (no, not yet), and it’s not that you’ve stopped reaching for your flip-flops on your way out the door. No, summer is over because the Prime Minister has held “the summer speech” (sommartalet).

Why this particular speech is called the summer speech, when it actually signals the end of summer, is a mystery. But it’s been held. And the news is a new, big injection of funds to all the poor municipalities out in the country, courtesy of richer municipalities (kommuner) .

This has always been the case – richer municipalities contribute to the life support of poorer ones that, due to whatever reasons, can’t cover their expenses. In Swedish it’s called kostnadsutjämningssystemet or, cost equalisation system, and the main idea is that municipalities and regions throughout Sweden should have, and shall have, the same economic resources with which to manage their responsibilities.

However, the movement of people and services from poorer municipalities and regions to richer municipalities and regions has only continued: The tax income from younger people still living and working in the smaller municipalities simply does not cover the expenses that the these entities must cover, like taking care of their elderly. Municipalities that have not been able to cover their expenses get financial injections every year, but Löfven went out today to say the injections will be increased. Aftonbladet reports that with these changes, Stockholm will pay 1.6 billion kronor more than it has before. Richer municipalities that will now be paying more to keep poorer ones functioning, however, will be compensated by a special “introduction support” (införandebidrag) ().

Obviously, the details are fuzzy. This is, after all, a summer speech, and those who are still on vacation can go back to sipping umbrella drinks. But another group that might want a stiff drink right now are the municipality governments who will be forking over a bigger sum than they perhaps counted on.

Fri. 16/8 – an easier A?

The Swedish National Agency for Education (skolverket) announced today that they are looking to reformulate the current descriptions for what knowledge is required for each school subject grade. The Agency’s general director, Peter Fredriksson, made clear that the actual knowledge requirements (kunskapskrav) were not going to change, but that the wording was going to be reworked to make it easier for students, teachers and parents to understand. Another part of the reform aims to focus more on students’ factual knowledge, letting the current emphasis on analysis wait for later studies ().

In what would be truly light speed in parliamentary proceedings, the National Agency hopes to be able to roll out the changes by this time next year. The reason is not just that the current grading system has racked up complaints from all corners, but that the government is already in agreement with its coalition party the Greens, and its two cooperating parties, the Liberal and Center parties. The Liberal party has been gunning for taking on the school portfolio for a long time, though their hand in the previous curriculum was deemed to be fairly disastrous and an impetus to the fresh changes needed now. Schools were a priority for the previous Liberal Party leader Jan Björklund, but Sabuni’s view on the matter is unclear.

At any rate, no one thinks this is going to turn school results around, but it might make the grading system easier to understand, making happier students and voters.

Thurs. 15/8 – Denmark resists acclimatization

the Denmark-Sweden border
pic: bbc.co.uk

Denmark’s PM Mette Fredriksen announced yesterday afternoon that Denmark may soon be instituting border controls between Sweden and Denmark (). In remarks to the press, Fredriksen said that this latest incident, the large explosion at the Danish Tax Agency where two people were mildly injured, is the second time this summer a Swede has been involved in a serious crime in Denmark. (The first time that she alludes to was in June when two Swedes were killed outside of Copenhagen in a shooting that is understood to have been gang-related. ) There is no way, Fredriksen stated, that Denmark was going to get “acclimatized to explosions,” a sentence that many feel was an intentional jab at Sweden and its surprisingly common crime MO.

Sweden already has border checks by the Danish border in place, but this has been a one-way check, from the Danish border coming into Sweden. The criminal component of what is normally a job-related commute may now make controls mutual. Fredriksen isn’t after commuters, she says, but adds that “it can’t be so that people can travel from Sweden to Denmark and plant dynamite in Copenhagen” ().

The Prime Minister’s comments come on the heels of another testy exchange between Norway’s prime minister Erna Solberg and Swedish minister Anders Ygeman just the other day, regarding whose far-right extremists come from where (see this blog post). Fortunately for Fredriksen, the Swedish reponse was more tempered this time – Sweden’s Minister for Home Affairs Mikael Damberg said he could understand that Denmark would want to protect itself from criminals.

The 22-year old Swede who is in police custody and who is suspected of involvement in the explosion (the other Swedish suspect is still wanted and on the run), has requested that he not be extradited to Denmark, SvD reports (). Reports as to why are sketchy, but his request now has to be handled by the courts, and not by the police. This could take time.

It seems that Swedish commuters will have to be the ones to acclimatize – to border checks.

Wed. 14/8 – a suspended sentence

Finally. ASAP got a suspended sentence (villkorlig döm) which means that he doesn’t go to jail unless he commits another crime in the next two years. He also has to pay the guy he beat up 12,500 kronor (about 1250 USD) for pain and insult (yes, ASAP is guilty of assault – the self-defence argument didn’t cut it) . Both sides are thinking about taking it to the next level, the Swedish appeals court, but it seems doubtful that they’ll do that. In typical Swedish fashion, no one being 100% happy is the happy compromise.

Thurs. 13/8 – touchy at the top

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg and
Swedish minister Anders Ygeman
pic: sverigesradio.se

Things got a little prickly after the Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg mentioned something along the lines of “you sure hear a lot of Swedish at those far-right extremist marches here in Norway.” Anders Ygeman, Minister for Energy and Digital Development and also Stefan Lofven’s right hand man, had his grade-school level response ready – basically “Oh yeah? Well, right back at you” ().

Ok, to be more exact, he said “sure, yes to Norwegian-Swedish cooperation, but when you’re talking about a government that works with the [far-right] Progress Party (Fremskrittspartiet), and who has twice appointed Sylvi Listhaug as minister, maybe you should look in the mirror before looking over the border.”

It actually sounds a little cleverer in English, but is it really a good idea to lash out at your closest neighbour and call them names? It’s debatable. Sylvi Listhaug is pretty deplorable, no question, but Ygeman’s outburst was surprisingly puerile. Instead of taking the debate in an adult manner and actually being receptive to joining forces, he basically poked them with a stick. That isn’t the way to make friends and influence people. Maybe he had a bad day. We all have them, but we all aren’t so near to being Swedish prime minister, so not same-same.

More and better Swedish-Norwegian cooperation on meeting far-right extremism would be a great thing. Particularly because – guess who’s already cooperating? Swedish and Norwegian far-right extremists.

Mon. 12/8 – how low can you go?

Would you pay to keep money in a bank? Would you contribute to your bank’s “stability” by paying them to hold your hard-earned kronor? So far, banks have passed on passing on negative interest rates to customers’ regular savings accounts, but rumours have begun to circulate that having to pay a bank to hold on to your savings isn’t as foreign a concept as once thought.

The article on Bloomberg’s website spells it out clearly “Depositors are next as Nordic Banks Buckle Under Negative Rates“. The question is, do the banks dare to make people pay to have an account? Who will be the first to try it, and risk the ire of their customers? Will customers actually accept it?

The Swedish central bank’s Stefan Ingves has stubbornly held on to his idea of negative interest rates, even when even his inner circle is divided on the issue. Previously, it was held that it was good for Sweden’s exports, as the weak krona (due, in many ways, to the negative interest rate) makes Swedish products seem inexpensive. But even business owners have begun to complain, finding that their product is almost working under false pretences, and that it is harder to price against the market. At first, it seemed great, but now, after some time has passed, not so much.

Banks have made money with the negative rates by relying on asset management and other fee-generating products, Bloomberg reports. But that stream might not now be strong enough. The director of the Danish Bankers’ Association is quoted as saying “banks are selling their products below cost price” – something that can’t be kept up. So far, though, only Credit Suisse has said it will impose a cost on its customers – those that have over a million Euro in deposits.

So far so good, for most people, obviously. But only just as long as it stays at that level. As we now appear to be heading into a sort of economic slowdown, and things may get tight, this is not as sure as the expression “like money in the bank” once implied.

Update August 20 – DN.se reports that that Danish bank Jyske is now implementing a negative interest rate for its customers that have over 7.5 million kronor (about 10 million Swedish kronor, or about a million bucks) in the bank (). A customer that has 8 million kronor will pay about 48 thousand kronor to keep their money there.

Fri. 9/8 – back where they belong

After nearly 70 years of lying in a museum, the skeletal remains of some 25 Sami were returned to their original burial place in Lycksele today. The remains were first dug up and transported to Umeå university in the 1950’s, and the Sami have been trying to get their people back since 2007. More Sami remains are still in the collections of 11 museums around the country, and efforts are being made to work out how the remains can be repatriated.

The Sami people, acknowledged as the north’s original inhabitants, are spread out over Norway, Finland and Sweden. How they have been treated in Sweden is probably the most shameful period of discrimination in Sweden’s history, a discrimination that many consider to be continuing, even if the most egregious discriminatory practices (read: name changes, language suppression, segregation and general separate-and-unequal practices on all societal fronts) have largely disappeared.

Thurs. 8/8 – Commissioner Johansson

The Löfven government today nominated current Minister for Employment, and Integration, and long time Social Democratic party member Ylva Johansson to be Sweden’s next EU commissioner.

In case you’re not 200% on the topic, the EU has 28 commissioners, one from each member country. After being nominated, they are questioned by the EU Parliament regarding their general suitability, and if that goes well, they form the EU President’s cabal. Team. Once there, they are allotted their own portfolio to manage, with the expectation they will act in the EU’s interests, not in their country’s interests.

Since 2010, Sweden’s EU Commissioner has been Cecilia Malmström from the Liberal Party. She has held the Home Affairs portfolio, and for the last five years, the Trade portfolio. With Trump alternately slapping on tariffs or threatening to slap on tariffs, she has had her hands full, and has arguably done a great job parrying, yet not quite antagonizing, the Trump administration. Trade is a high level portfolio and it’s been nice for Sweden to hold it.

Ylva Johansson began her political career as a member of the Left Party Communists (Vänsterpartiet Kommunisterna) back in 1988. (In 1990, the party changed its name to the Left Party after the collapse of the Soviet Union.) Johannson become Minister for Schools for the Social Democratic party in 1994. (Wikipedia doesn’t say why she changed parties, but it was definitely a good career move.) She has also served as Minister of Health and Social Affairs. Johansson represents north and east Skåne in Parliament.

Since the nomination is always worked out with the EU President in advance (the newly appointed Ursula von der Leyen from Germany – see earlier post), Johansson’s nomination is basically secured. von der Leyen has also gone on record for being in favor of a gender-equal commission (it’s currently – and always has been – very unequal) so that works for Johansson as well.