August 2019 • Page 3 of 3 • SwedeInternational

Wed. 7/8 – 6 billion off

The taxes the Swedish state pulled in for the month of July was 6 billion kronor less than what the Swedish National Debt Office (Riksgälden) had predicted, SvD and others reported today (). Instead of the expected 34.6 billion SEK, the tally was instead 28.2 billion. Is this bad? The Swedish debt office basically functions as the government’s own bank, getting loans and providing guarantees. Being off like this likely came as a bit of a surprise.

Sweden is still in the financial world’s good books though. Ever since the pretty ginormous economic crisis in the early 90’s, the Swedish government has had to keep a leash on it’s spending visavi income. As a result of the crisis, the government got its act together in a surprising way, and the ”government surplus objective” (överskottsmålet) was established. The situation became this: The government’s income, minus its expenses, had to equal 2% of GDP.

Since then, fewer and fewer governments have seen this amount of savings as quite so important. It is also darn hard – spending money is always more fun than saving money, and this holds for governments too. In the years since the crisis, the percentage the government has been required to save has been adjusted (read: decreased). As of January 2019, it is now required that the government’s income, minus its expenses, has to equal just 0.33% over a “business cycle.” (What counts as a business cycle? No one knows. It’s like an interpretive dance – you can make of it what you will) ().

Also just as a side note, having this surplus doesn’t mean that Sweden doesn’t have debt. As of July, Sweden’s debt lies at 1074 billion SEK, which isn’t bad at all (). Some people even think we should borrow more, and spend the money on things like health care, hospitals and taking care of old people – but that’s another blog post. In the meantime, Sweden’s AAA credit rating remains tops.

Tues. 6/8 – say cheese

A man from Göteborg was on trial today for having taken photos of various access-restricted and prohibited objects and areas throughout Sweden, and for collecting information on military-related complexes and facilities. Why? Curiosity and interest, he says. Not a chance, says the prosecutor.

The man is being charged with trespassing – not the mild variety, like if you accidentally wandered over onto military grounds while picking blueberries-kind of trespassing, but the serious kind – like sneaking under fences and taking pictures of military sites on behalf of foreign states-kind of trespassing.

There is no evidence that he actually passed on any photos or information to foreign states, but it appears that the prosecution is taking no chances.

In many instances, politicians are charged with what is called signalpolitik, or, sending a political signal – usually a new regulation or law that means to impart a message. One example might be plane tax (flygskatt) or subsidising the purchase of an electric bicycle: “We take the environment seriously” is the message, even if the method is of questionable validity. In this case, the message might be “Hey. We might not have a huge defensive capability, but what we do have, we want people to know that we take it seriously.”

No word yet on the outcome of the trial.

Mon. 5/8 – no rubber stamps here

There has been more than a few different media reports on how long it takes someone to get Swedish citizenship these days. In case you haven’t boned up on the requirements recently, you must:

be able to prove your identity,
have turned 18,
have a permanent residence permit, a right of residence or residence card,
have conducted yourself well, and
have lived in the country for a “certain amount of time.” (What this time is varies, so if this is actual for you check the details.)

At any rate, it seems like a popular thing to apply for. The Swedish Migration Agency (migrationsverket) reports having a backlog of 100,000 applications, and the waiting period for a decision is reported to be over 30 months ().

With Brexit looming, there has also been an influx of questions regarding the differences between having citizenship and permanent residence. For one thing, you need to be a citizen to work as a cop or as a judge, to be a career soldier or get elected to parliament. You also need to be a citizen to vote in a federal election, though for more local elections residency is enough. It’s also easier to move out of Sweden if you’re a citizen, and to move back if you find life easier here.

These are all good things, making the question rather ”why the wait?” rather than ”why the application?” There is more than one answer to that question, naturally. Brexit uncertainty is one – it can be time to get off the pot and get one’s citizenship in order. Then, it’s been a few years since Sweden’s population from Syria and other countries started to rise significantly – many of these people are in a position to apply and qualify for citizenship. In addition, after that rush of immigration calmed down, the migration agency had to downsize and there are now fewer people to process applications. Finally, citizenship quite frankly doesn’t have priority over asylum applications ().

And now for a little bit of irony. Long application times were such an awful, horrible thing that they made a new rule: If you have waited six months and haven’t gotten an answer, you can write in and ask for expedited handling. After this, the Migration agency has four weeks to make a decision. This has resulted in over 30,000 new instances of paperwork (that doesn’t even end always in a yes-or-no citizenship decision). No, wait, it gets worse. The migration agency often replies that they can’t yet make a yes-or-no decision. Then, that decision too can be appealed, in which case it becomes incumbent upon the migration agency to make a decision. All of which, again, increases the application waiting times for the vast majority of people. Only for the person in the know, and willing to push, is the process faster.

Squeaky wheel – meet grease. Maybe it “wasn’t supposed to work that way,” but this was the result. The process is about as clear as what the requirement “conducted yourself well” actually means.

Sat. 3/8 – SCB for Pride

Happy Pride everyone. In Stockholm there’s a parade today, but hell, let’s celebrate it everyday. (Not with a parade everyday though, because they really mess up traffic and people still have to get to dagis and to the dentist and make a living and the rest of it.)

Sweden is generally on the forefront of accepting people for who they are, but SvD reports today that Sweden is falling a bit behind these days. In particular, says, Alexandra Ward Slotte who travelled up for the parade, Sweden does not have a legal recognition of non-binary, or third gender (). Germany, Australia, New Zealand, various US states, India, Bangladesh, Canada, Columbia and more, recognise a third legal sex on official docs. Some can do this without any medical “test” or surgery, and in other countries a gender can be changed retroactively. So what is up in Sweden?

Of course, making available a third sex in official contexts has been talked about, but when even a person’s personnumber indicates their sex you know it’s not going to be an easy adaption. (Check the second to last number in yours – even numbers for women, odd numbers for men. I checked mine, and yup, there it was. It felt sort of weird, and wrong – what else is in there?)

Sweden’s Television did a quick survey as part of their 2018 election coverage and found that the Social Democrats, Green, Center, Liberal and Left parties indicated they thought making a third gender option was a good suggestion while the Moderates, Christian Democrats and Sweden Democrats (surprise! not) thought it wasn’t. It’s unclear what the question was exactly, but this gives an idea of how the parties are thinking about it at least.

Meanwhile, Sweden’s statistical bureau (SCB) has opened for a change to its guidelines regarding making room for a third gender, and has sought out responses (remissvar) from a slew of other government agencies (). So far, at least, the National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) has returned a positive answer.

It makes you wonder, when a statistics agency, of all agencies, is ahead of the curve.

Fri. 2/8 – keeping the lights on

Cruising Bloomberg news for something to write about – besides ASAP Rocky – one headline from July 31st leapt out: “Sweden’s Biggest Cities Face Power Shortage After Fuel-Tax Hike” (bloomberg.com). Wait. What? We do? What fuel-tax hike?

A press release in April from the Ministry of Finance confirmed the tax hike (though not the possible power shortage). As part of the 73-point agreement between the Liberal, Green, Social Democratic and Center Parties, and formally entered in the Revised Spring Budget (vårändringsbudgeten), the previous tax relief measure was taken away (), meaning that taxes were raised. This to “contribute to” the switch-over to non-fossil fuels, and help make Sweden the first fossil-free welfare country in the world.

According to Bloomberg, the tax on fossil fuels used in heat and power stations has effectively tripled. Utilities like Stockholm Exergi AB, Eon and Göteborg Energi AB are quoted as having said they will be halting or cutting power production – although it won’t effect heating. It may, however, effect your wallet, so check your bill in the coming months.

In 2016, the Moderate, Center, Social Democratic and Christian Democratic parties agreed on the goal of making Sweden’s electricity 100% renewable by 2040. Now, the Moderates and Christian Democrats are saying they’re still on board – but hey, they weren’t ever talking about getting rid of nuclear energy by 2040. Nuclear energy has no CO2 emissions and is therefore not the fossil fuel that needs to go. The other parties, in particular the Green Party naturally, disagree, saying that nuclear power was absolutely part of the deal.

They were the ones who were there, so it’s hard for the rest of us to know and the matter remains a mystery. Will nuclear power be able to keep Sweden’s lights on until hydro- and wind power can take up the slack? Right now, they cover around 50% of Sweden’s energy needs, 11% or so is given us by fossil fuels and the rest, give or take, is covered by nuclear power ().

It’s early days, but already the leading fresh bread company in Sweden, Pågen, decided this last June not to expand its enterprise in Malmö when the energy company Eon said it couldn’t guarantee a steady supply of electricity ().

Brown-outs, anyone?

Thurs. 01/8 – new wheels jump

BIL Sweden, the Swedish trade association for manufacturers and importers of cars, trucks and buses, reported a huge increase in car and light truck purchases this year. Compared to last July, car purchases increased 89%, while light truck purchases went up 219% (). Before you get all worked up about these jumps, it was expected. Last July, purchases were way, way down because of the the bonus-malus incentive that was just going into effect. Then, people thought “New car right now? Um, no.” But now, it’s more like “Bonus-malus-shmalus. We still need a new car (or light truck).”

Side note: Some translate bonus-malus to “discount-premium,” and others more to “carrot-whip,” meaning that purchasers of new vehicles got money back if they purchased an environmentally friendly car, or, paid extra taxes if they bought a car that was deemed not so friendly.

BIL Sweden thinks this yo-yo vehicle market makes planning difficult for the industry and for the consumer. It is therefore asking the government (nicely) to procrastinate on putting the new emissions test standard into effect, that is otherwise set to start at the beginning of next year. The new method for measuring vehicle emissions, called WLTP, is the new EU standard, but BIL Sweden’s Mattias Bergman is thinking that any new standard should be introduced soonest in 2021. This to avoid creating uncertainty and confusion for the Swedish consumer, of course. By the way, this would also put off new and higher taxes for most cars, even on some hybrid cars that would suddenly and surprisingly end up on the malus side of bonus-malus with the new rules.

Buying something with an eye to taxes is sort of like playing Whac-a-mole, as many car and truck buyers perhaps have come to realize.