Uncategorized Archives • Page 11 of 28 • SwedeInternational

15 Jan. – unemployment getting higher

the wrong numbers are going up
pic: svt.se

Fewer jobs, more people looking for jobs, and more people losing their jobs, DN writes, summing up the reasons why the unemployment rate in Sweden is rising again. The unemployment rate is now at 7.2%, higher than it’s been in two years, and it’s across the board – young people, Swedish-born, foreign-born, women and men.

On the other hand, however, the Swedish Public Employment Office (Arbetsförmedling) writes, there are still a lot of jobs out there – if you’re willing to “broaden your profession” and/or move. Annika Sundén, chief analyst at the Employment Office, writes that the job market has been very strong the last few years, and is now coming down from a high. Suzanne Spector, senior analyst at Nordea, SvD writes, is in agreement, saying that jobs are still being found – just there are more looking for them, and it takes more time.

The Swedish Trade Union Organization, however (Landsorganisation, LO), is criticising the government for acting too slowly, for one thing. It also criticises the Moderate and Christian Democratic parties for the budget they pushed through after the 2018 election, plus the government for the January Agreement and going along with the demands from the Center and Liberal parties to reform the Employment Office (reforms that were later cancelled under threat, see this post, this post and this post).

Another critique that LO directs towards the government is for cancelling the “extra service” jobs (extratjänster) that were doled out by the Employment Office. Extratjänster jobs were jobs in social services like health care and elder care which were heavily subsidized by the government. They were created to help people who are otherwise “a long way from the job market” (långtidsarbetslösa) to get into, or back into, the job market. The program was severely panned since permanent jobs were seldom offered to the persons after their subsidized employment was over. The jobs did raise the employment numbers, and kept some people in jobs, so the measure can (in some ways) be put down as a success, but many thought it was an expensive program that was merely obfuscating the real employment numbers.

Lars Jagrán, SvD reports, analyst at the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (better known as Svenskt Näringsliv), remarked that the higher unemployment was expected, but was sorry nonetheless. “Those that haven’t gotten work during the good economy are going to have a harder time now, which will make integration even more difficult. ”

The Social Democrats don’t seem so worried about the numbers. Minister for Employment, Eva Nordmark, also said the higher numbers were expected and that counter measures have been put in place: 1.3 billion kronor has been earmarked for a jobs package, 900 million kronor is set to strengthen the Employment Office, and five million has been directed to the municipalities to help strengthen their economy.

“As the Minister for Employment, I feel proud that the government is meeting the situation that we see around us – we’re not at a loss, saying “goodness, oh dear” Nordmark said (oj, hoppsan). “We know what’s going on, our finances are good and we have been able to pull our efforts together now when we see a downturn on the way.”

It is precisely that Sweden’s economy is, and has been, so strong that the Left party is pushing to use that money – and to borrow more – to send out to the municipalities. The Moderate party has also just gone on record saying that more money has to be sent to the municipalities to prevent the reduction in services in the health, school, and elder care sectors: They may even in the near future join forces (as they did in regards to the Employment Office reform) to threaten the government into sending more funds to the local governments. The difference in their approaches is that the Left party wants the government to take the required monies out of savings, while the Moderate party would rather keep the savings and take it out of the foreign welfare budget.

Way back in 2014, the Social Democratic party went into the election with a promise that Sweden would have the lowest unemployment in Europe in 2020. Not going to happen. But it wasn’t a smart thing to promise in the first place.

14 Jan. – ID numbers to be better controlled

coordination number application to be stricter
pic: kywnewsradio.radio.com

The government proposed today that the rules for granting “coordination numbers” (samordningsnummer) are going to be tightened. Coordination numbers are identification numbers used for bureaucratic purposes and are connected to one person. They began to be given out in 2000 for people who were connected to Sweden, but who were not registered in Sweden – were not folkbokförd.

A person can not request a coordination number for themselves. However, any state authority from, such as, the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority to the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, can request a coordination number on behalf of someone. Even an institute of higher education, like Hermod’s or any other adult education (Komvux) institution can request a number on behalf of a person. All that has to be done is affirm that they have checked out that the person is who they say they are. The document that is provided to confirm identity must not be, according to Skatteverket, of “too simple a nature, or easy to fake”. (See the Skatteverket document here.)

Even people who can not formally document their identity can get a coordination number if they need to be registered with, for example, the police, the Swedish Migration Agency or with Skatteverket. In these cases, Skatteverket writes, these agencies should try “as much as possible” to confirm the person’s identity.

There have been a lot of coordination numbers handed out since the system began – nearly 870,000 numbers, according to SVT. And even though a coordination number is not necessarily a work permit or a residence permit, and does not grant the holder the same social service benefits as a person number, it is easy to mistake the two. The person number is used for everything in Sweden, and a person number and a coordination number appear exactly the same – a 6 or 8 number birthdate and four additional numbers. A misspelled name in one instance can result in two coordination numbers. Not even an address has been required. Now, however, a couple changes are on the way.

At a press conference today, SvD reported, Minister for Finance Magdalena Andersson said that coordination numbers that have not been used for five years would be unregistered, and, if a mistake is discovered in the application’s information, the number can be revoked. In addition, an address will be necessary for the paperwork to be completed – although that requirement can be waived if the person in question cannot confirm their identity.

An address isn’t so hard to get, though: They’re available for a few hundred kronor to the right person. “We see clusters of fraudulent activities and crimes associated with certain persons and certain addresses” commented Tobias Wijk at Skatteverket. In one case, over a hundred foreign citizens with coordination numbers were registered as living at one address, SvD reported, and there were more addresses like that around. In one case, Skatteverket found 80 convicted criminals giving the same address as their contact for state agencies.

It isn’t actually illegal at all to offer this “mail service.” The problem, says Wijk, is if the person being paid for this service is not paying tax on the income they receive, or if the address is being used in some criminal way. SVT‘s investigation in last December found that the price for a month’s use of an address was up to 500 kronor.

In a 2017 investigation, SvT reported, Skatteverket found that in a sample of 4000 coordination numbers, 45% of the holders were not able to confirm their identity and 75% of them were not legally allowed to work in Sweden. Aftonbladet reports that the Moderate party has called for the recall of all coordination numbers, due to their fraudulent use.

The coordination number is a necessary identification measure for people who do not have a person number but who have ongoing contact with Swedish authorities. The government is now acknowledging that there are too many ways in which the system can be subverted, or, as Andersson put it, “there are shortcomings in the system as it is today.” The changes that were announced are a “quick track” to more thorough changes to the system that are still under consideration.

13 Jan. – security in Sälen

security concerns taken up in Sälen
pic: navyskipper.blogspot.com

Way up north in the town of Sälen, northwest of Mora och near the border with Norway, the who’s who of Swedish military and defense, various ministers, party representatives, experts and a sprinkling of ambassadors are gathered at the yearly conference called Folk och Försvar, Society and Defense, to discuss issues pertinent to Sweden’s military security and defense matters. The military’s commander in chief Micael Bydén (ÖB in Swedish, överbefälhavare) spoke today, SvD reports.

“We live in a time in which global development demands both immediate alertness and long-term endurance” Bydén said in his speech. The Middle East, an aggressive Russia, China’s increasing influence, the USA’s shifting priorities, brexit, and the climate effects on conflict are some of the issues that Sweden faces. “A rule-based world order is under duress, and several traditional patterns of cooperation have been weakened or are being challenged.”

The cost of Sweden’s military forces is under continual pressure. “Sweden is in a geographically sensitive area, and with the background of a worsened security situation, Sweden’s defense must be further developed” stated Bydén – and political parties agree with him. Just how much should be spent is the crux of the matter.

At the conference yesterday, Moderate party leader Ulf Kristersson announced that for the Moderate party to sign off on the agreement between the Social Democrats, Center, Liberal and Green party last August, another 9 billion kronor is needed for the measures that were agreed upon. This would raise the military appropriation to 93 billion kronor in 2025, about 1.5% of Sweden’s gross domestic product, according to DN.

Peter Hultqvist, minister for defense, said he wasn’t completely opposed to the Moderate bid. More negotiations will take place later this year.

A new poll from DN/Ipsos shows that people’s trust in Sweden’s defenses remains low at 51%. Only 18% of respondents say that they have a lot of trust in the military’s capability to defend Sweden in case of an attack. In a related question, people were also asked whether or not Sweden should join Nato. The results shows small changes since the question was asked in 2014: The number of people saying no to Nato membership sank from 47% to 38%. However the number of people saying yes to Nato also decreased, from 35% to 30%. You guessed it, the number of people who don’t know, or are uncertain, increased from 20% to 32%.

As Micael Bydén implied, it’s an uncertain world.

11 Jan. – Sweden’s leadership responds to the Iranian admission of guilt

Sweden responds to Iran’s admission
pic: se.depositphotos.com

“Horrible and terrible” was Prime Minister Stefan Löfven’s response to Iran’s admission of guilt for shooting down the Ukrainian passenger plane. “That a civilian plane has been shot down, regardless if it was a mistake or not, is an action that must be condemned, and that Iran must take full responsibility for, also in regards to the affected parties.” Löfven again also conveyed his condolences to the victims’ families. “Here in Sweden, and throughout the world, people grieve the victims of the plane crash outside Tehran the 8th of January. I feel strongly for all those who lost someone dear to them.”

“I see that they have now taken their responsibility, now that the proof was, apparently, overwhelming” noted Ann Linde, Minister for Foreign Affairs, on Twitter.

Minister for Defense, Peter Hultqvist, also commented on P1 that it would not be enough that Iran conduct a thorough and transparent investigation – the country also has a responsibility to those who have been affected. “It’s too early to say exactly what that will come to mean […] there will be a reckoning at a later stage.” Hultqvist emphasized that Iran was completely responsible for what happened.

In related news, Hultqvist remained positive to Swedish troops remaining in nearby Iraq as long as they had a mandate from the Iraqi government to do so.

10 Jan. – Sweden asking for full access in plane crash investigation

Sadly, it is now confirmed that 17 Swedes died in the plane crash in Iran earlier this week. UD spokesperson, Anna Lundbladh, told news bureau TT that seven people had Swedish citizenship and that the other ten were nationally registered (folkbokförd) in Sweden.

Speaking to DN, Ann Linde, Sweden’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, said that Sweden had no independent confirmation that an Iranian missile shot down the plane. “We have a crash expert who is available, if wanted or needed (ställt till förfogande).

In her conversation with the Iranian Foreign Minister, Linde stated that Sweden is requesting a full, transparent, independant and thorough inquiry. “We are asking for complete access” she said.

In his conversation with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Löfven said they had agreed that the information that Iran had shot down the plane increased the need for a expeditious, complete and transparent investigation. “We were also agreed that the affected countries need to have the possibility to contribute with national expertise and be given complete access to the investigation. We agreed to keep in close contact with the other affected countries” Löfven said to DN.

Sweden is stopping all flights between Sweden and Iran until further notice, SvD reports. In a press release, the Swedish Transport Agency (transportstyrelsen) said the stop was due to uncertainty over the reasons for the crash. The agency has also issued a strong recommendation to all airlines to avoid crossing the region’s airspace. “We are doing this from an air safety perspective” the transport agency’s director for sea and air Gunnar Ljungberg stated, “and in consideration for our passengers.”

09 Jan. – religious schools targeted by the government

no more religious schools?
pic: sydsvenska.se

One of the 73 points of the January agreement, pushed through largely by the Liberal party, strangely, was that the government would work towards prohibiting the establishment of any new primary or secondary school with a religious focus (konfessionell inriktning). A formal investigation into the matter was to be the first step (see point 57 here). Yesterday, the report from the investigation was handed to the Minister for Education, Anna Ekström, for consideration.

There are 72 schools in Sweden that have a religious focus, SvD reports. The vast majority of them are Christian, about ten or so have an Islamic orientation, and there is one school with a focus on judaism. According to Skolvärlden, however, these numbers are very inexact: It is up to the school to report if they have a religious focus or not, and neither Swedish National Agency for Education (Skolverket) or the Swedish Schools Inspectorate (Skolinspektionen) have any definite numbers.

Despite the Social Democratic party being decidedly against the establishment any additional religious schools, there can be problems implementing a ban with both the European Convention, in which parents have the right to choose an education for their child in accordance with their religious convictions, as well as with the freedom to conduct business guaranteed by the Swedish “Basic Laws” or constitution (grundlagen). The report was of the opinion that a prohibition would survive a legal examination, but even the Minister for Education said it would be “legally tricky” (juridiskt trixigt).

Attention to religious schools has been particularly intense in conjunction with the closing of Vetenskapsskolan in Göteborg, due largely to IS adherents returning to the school from fighting abroad, and with Nya Kastets school in Gävle whose leadership has been connected with persons the Swedish Security Service consider a terror risk and where the worry was that children ran the risk of being radicalised and recruited.

Neither of these schools had registered as religious schools, which is a blind spot that one of the suggestions from the report is meant to address, DN reports.

In principle, religious schools are to be run, and to have the curriculum, exactly like regular municipal schools during school hours. This includes not segregating boys and girls in physical education class or having segregated seating on the school bus. After and before school, however, it is allowed to have religious elements such as prayer and religious study activities on school grounds.

Many people wonder, including the editorial board at DN, if the government is spending a little too much ammunition shooting at easy targets when the real problems are elsewhere. Only about 1% of Swedish school children attend religious schools, while 16% of Swedish school children don’t qualify for secondary school (gymnasium) education. The report itself states that religious schools work very well as a rule, and that they also work well in comparable countries. Penny wise and pound foolish, one might say. Or in Swedish terms, the government could be said to be filtering gnats but swallowing camels (silar mygg men sväljer kameler).

But symbolic politics – signalpolitik – is always a popular handhold when other things aren’t going so well. SVT’s Novus poll results show that only 8% of LO members (the Swedish Trade Union Confederation), the traditional backbone of the Social Democratic party, think that the government’s policies are good, while 57% think they’re bad: The results are a camel that the Social Democrats should be careful not to swallow.

08 Jan. – Swedes killed in Iranian crash

many questions in conjunction with the crash
pic: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP

The escalation in the Iran-USA standoff reached Sweden early this morning when a plane leaving Tehran for Kiev burst into flames and crashed, killing all on board. Swedish casualties are currently at ten, but other sources have the figure at seventeen.

“It’s a terrible and shocking event. Many Swedes have been lost. My thoughts go to the victims and their families” said Minister for Foreign Affairs Anne Linde. UD’s spokesperson Anna Lundbladh told DN that the ministry was working on site through the embassy in Tehran to get better information.

Prime Minister Stefan Löfven echoed his minister’s comments, saying he was thinking of the victims, and called for an investigation into the crash’s causes.

Swede Peter Saffer has already been appointed the Swedish expert liaison for the crash, in accordance with the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation. The plane was in the air only a few minutes before it crashed. According to Iranian authorities there were no distress signals received.

The plane was first announced to have suffered a mechanical failure, but that idea has since been thrown into doubt as the plane was less than four years old and the pilots were experienced. The Swedish Accident Investigation Authority (haverikommissionen) have since said the accident’s causes will have to be determined.

Questions have also been raised as to whether the crash was a tragic accident or if it could somehow be connected to the rapid and recent escalation in tensions between the USA and Iran. The two black boxes from the plane have been recovered, but where their contents will be analysed is unresolved. Hans Kjäll, senior flight safety analyst at Nordic Safety Analysis Group, told SvD that there is uncertainty regarding Iran’s resources at this time. Normally, also the airline’s manufacturer, Boeing, would be involved with recovering the information but at this sensitive political juncture, their efforts could be unwelcome. Even what role and access Ukrainian authorities could be granted is uncertain. If Iran goes along with it, the boxes could also be sent to the French aviation security authority.

Here in Sweden, the names of the casualties will be released only after their relatives and family have been notified.

30 Dec. – part 2: the new rules for 2020

As promised, a review of the new laws and regulations for 2020, part 2:

Banks must maintain ATMs throughout the country. The major banks are now required to keep a minimum service level, including cash services, within certain distances from populated areas. For more, see this post that explained it already last June.
A reduced tax on gas and diesel. Everytime you fill ‘er up you pay a tax for the energy you use, and the CO2 you produce, while driving. This tax is going to be reduced, to make up for the increased cost for gas and diesel you’ll pay because distributors need to meet the requirements for the “duty of reduction” (reduktionsplikten). This is a requirement that requires that they mix in more biogas, which is more expensive, which they will pass on to drivers, so in turn, the government is reducing some of the tax you pay at the gas station.
The punishment for murder is increased. A life sentence may now be the penalty if a murder was carefully planned (föregåtts av noggrann planering), was particularly shrewd or clever (förslagen), was part of another crime, resulted in particular suffering (svårt lidande) or was in some other way particularly ruthless or unscrupulous (hänsynslös).
The minimum penalty for buying sexual favours from children is increased from fines to time in jail. The maximum sentence is 4 years.
Interfering with the work of first responders (blåljuspersonal, or blue-light personnel) is now punishable with time in jail. Sabotage mot blåljusverksamhet can give up to a life sentence. Also threatening or attacking a civil servant (tjänsteman) can land you in jail for anywhere from one to six years.

In other news, the previous name of the different administrative sections of Sweden was “landsting” but from now on and everywhere it is officially “region.” For example, landstingsfullmäktige (the body of representatives at the landsting level – those who have fullmakt (in this case, a mandate) – will now be regionfullmäktige. A region is bigger than a municipality, but smaller than the country. Stockholm is a region (used to be landsting) and Jönköping is a region, but also all of Värmland is a region.

source: Omni.se

new laws all ready to be applied
pic: tyda.se

In these last days of 2019, several sources have come out with the new laws and regulations (förordningar) that will apply from Jan. 1, 2020. From omni.se, here’s a short list:

The UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (barnkonventionen) becomes Swedish law. Expectations for what will be its effect vary. Some worry that a parent’s right to raise their child religiously will be limited (this article), that sport coaches will be hamstrung (this article), that finally children’s playgrounds will be forced to be bigger (this article), and that the cuts in hospital’s operating budgets will make following the law impossible (this article). In other words, a lot of different people, with different issues that are close to their heart, have different expectations on what the implementation will mean. What most people can agree on, according to Sweden’s radio, is that it will likely be expensive for the municipalities, at least in the beginning, as everyone figures out how the law is to be practically applied.
Civics classes for new immigrants will be expanded. As of Jan. 1, municipalities must increase the number of hours of introduction “welcome to Sweden” classes (samhällsorientering) from 60 hours to 100 hours.
Immigrants’ right to welfare payments is reduced for those who move to a “vulnerable zone”. Asylum seekers who move to an area of socioeconomic hardship (utsatta områden) will no longer be eligible to daily benefits (dagersättning) or special payments for asylum seekers according to the Law on Reception 1994:137 (särskilt bidrag enligt lagen om mottagande av asylsökande). The hope here is that fewer new arrivals will move to areas already strongly populated by other immigrants, and by that, will become integrated in Swedish society faster.
The emergency austerity tax/extra wealth tax (värnskatten) will go away. This was a condition for allowing the Löfven government to remain in power after the 2018 election (see this post, and this post for more information) and means that the extra 5% in taxes that the wealthy paid (because they were wealthy, because they should share that wealth) will no longer be due. Needless to say, this measure is actually not at all popular with the Social Democratic party, and is a large, waving red flag for the Left party. However, this was the price Löfven and co. agreed to pay the piper, and now the bill is due.
It will now be easier to set up camera surveillance. Not by you and me, but the police, Swedish Security Service (säpo), Coast Guard (kustbevakning) and Customs (tullverket) will, as of Jan. 1, be able to set up camera surveillance without jumping through a lot of bureaucratic hoops and politely asking permission from the Swedish Data Protection Authority (Datainspektionen). The Data Protection Authority still has a supervisory role, but the police, etc., will be able to decide for themselves whether or not, in certain cases, surveillance is more important than the general public’s right not to be watched.

But wait, there’s more! They’ll be taken up tomorrow.

28 Dec. – Swedish course participation

start cracking the dictionary?
pic: glosbe.com

One of the 73 points in the Policy Agreement between the Social Democratic, Center, Liberal and Green parties – aka the January Agreement (januariavtalet) – back in the beginning of 2019, was that some Swedish language criteria would be implemented for citizenship, and even for financial social assistance (försörjningsbidrag). A proposition (lagförslag) specifying language course participation has now been sent out to various authorities, agencies, departments and bureaus for their consideration and comments (remissvar).

In point 40 of the agreement, under the somewhat disconcerting heading Integration and Honor-related Violence (integration och hedersvåld), the agreement states that “Sweden has an integration problem. Those who get a residency permit should quickly be given the opportunity to become a part of our country, stand on their own two feet and learn Swedish.” Later on in point 40, it states that they have agreed to “implement a duty of language (språkplikt) for the person who seeks asylum or who receives social assistance.”

The proposition that is being sent out proposes that the law on social services (socialtjänstlagen) is changed so that a person seeking social assistance should have to participate in language training or SFI if the authority deems it necessary. “If you are going to be able to support oneself in the long run, you need a job. And if you are going to try and get into the job market, you need knowledge of Swedish” Minister for Health and Social Affairs, Lena Hallengren, said in a statement. “It is therefore reasonable to require participation in a basic course in Swedish in order to receive social assistance (SvD.se).

At the moment, different municipalities have different requirements to receive assistance. Some require participation in a language course, others don’t. The idea behind the proposition is that language course participation requirements for social assistance eligibility will be the same for the whole country.

This does not mean, however, that a certain level of Swedish is required to be eligible for social assistance. The premise (utgångspunkten), Hallengren stated, is that it will be “a duty to take Swedish language training if Swedish language knowledge is considered to be lacking.” “Assistance is only supposed to be temporary” she continued. “In the end, one has to find a way to support oneself, and for that, language is absolutely necessary” (SvD.se).

Comments, questions and concerns on the proposition will be received until the 27th of March, 2020. The law is expected to go into effect sometime in 2021.

By the way, point 41 in the January agreement discusses a language requirement – as in passing a language test – as well as some kind of civics test, for citizenship eligibility. The current proposal, above, is not there, but can be seen, perhaps, as a step in that direction.