Liberal party Archives • SwedeInternational

You do you!

say the courts (sort of)

**People will do what they want to do. What can you do.**
*source: https://tinyurl.com/dy8ky79b Myrtle Beach vacations*

It has been a busy week for Swedish courts, with many cases being covered in the news. Rulings this week on Cementa, hijab, and union membership have (believe it or not) something in common, namely rulings on behalf of the beleaguered part.

Cementa – the movie

Cementa has been covered in this blog earlier (here). But hang on to your hats, here’s a refresher: Cementa has been mining limestone on Gotland for a hundred years. Limestone is needed to make cement, and Cementa produces most of the cement Sweden uses for building. When Cementa applied to extend its mining license, the first court said “Sure.” Several environmental organizations appealed the decision, and the appeals court then ruled against Cementa.

At this point, the then-Social Democratic government stepped in. Without Cementa, it was argued, construction in Sweden would stop and mass lay-offs would result. With unanimous support from parliament, they passed a law that essentially granted just Cementa a temporary license to continue mining. This caused an uproar immediately – could the government even do that? Environmental organizations protested the government circumventing the court in that way. On Thursday this week, the highest administrative court in Sweden came back and said what the government did was legal.

For some, the special law that was passed to extend Cementa’s license was welcome, necessary and even commonsensical. The administrative high court’s decision has now upheld the government’s ability to do what it did. For others, both the government’s action then, and the high court’s decision now, is a weakening of the power of the courts.

If this isn’t fascinating enough (if you’re nerdy), though, wait a few days when the temporary license extension runs out. On December 13^th, Cementa’s new application to continue mining will be accepted or denied. Cementa part V: the New Application.

Go ahead, express yourself

Meanwhile in Skåne, another case of acceptance was on the docket. Staffanstorp municipality voted to forbid girls in elementary school from wearing a hijab or other head covering while in school. Parliament took up and rejected such a prohibition years ago, but Staffanstorp persisted in the administrative court. The prohibition was rejected in the first instance, and has now been rejected also at the highest instance, although not for the same reason.

At the district court level, the court disallowed Staffanstorp’s prohibition on a freedom of religion basis. The highest administrative court, however, rejected the prohibition on a freedom of expression basis instead. Clothing is an expression of religious belonging, the court said: Restricting the clothing that someone wants to wear affects the individual and their freedom to express themselves. A restriction is therefore not allowed.

Free time and work time

Neither is the Transport Workers’ Union allowed a restriction; in this case to its membership. This case began in 2018, when a regular member of the union was elected to represent the Sweden Democrats party at the municipal level. He was swiftly kicked out of the union for being an active member of a party that, according to the union, was not compatible with their organization’s statutes stipulating people’s equal value. Mats Fredlund sued the union, arguing that the union existed for its members and their work environment, and not for judging what its members did in their free time. The district court agreed, but the Transport Workers’ Union appealed. Now it has lost again. The court of appeals ruled that booting out Fredlund was abridging his right to freedom of association.

In each of these cases, the higher court ruled on behalf of the part that wanted to do what it wanted to do, and not for the part that wanted to restrict that action. This, for a country whose smallest party in parliament is the Liberal party.

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.

15 Dec. – Löfven’s Christmas speech

Löfven holding the Christmas speech on Gotland
pic: Henrik Montgomery/TT

Prime Minister Stefan Löfven held his Christmas speech today in the ruins of the Church of St. Nicholas in Visby, on the island of Gotland. The church was part of a Dominican monastery built in the 1230s, and was burnt down in 1525 by an army from Lübeck. It is unclear why the speech was held just here, but there was at least fika and a mingle in the ruins before the speech.

Löfven spoke of how the season is representative of something bigger – of caring, and of not being indifferent to how others in society are faring. “When colleagues are chatting about how stressful it is to buy presents, others are wondering how in the world there will be money to buy even a single present to put under the tree for the kids” Löfven said. “That – sickness, loneliness, and poverty – can never be reduced to being one person’s problem. It is our collective responsibility.”

Löfven also threw in a note of thanks to the police and nurses who will be working during the holiday. “Many of us can be relatively free over the holidays, while nurses and the police continue working. They celebrate without their families so that we can be secure while celebrating with ours.”

A few pointed political comments were also thrown in, in a change from last year’s speech. Regarding the challenges forming a government after the results of the 2018 election, Löfven exclaimed that “We still succeeded in building a government led by the Social Democrats. Not least after brave decisions by the Center and Liberal parties, who chose to stand on the right side of history.”

Löfven also pointed a finger at the Moderate party leader Ulf Kristersson, SvD reports, saying that he had betrayed his promise not to cooperate with the Sweden Democrats: Kristersson only said that to keep the old Alliance parties together, Löfven claimed. It was also, Löfven expounded, “morally reprehensible” to have said to a Holocaust survivor that they would not cooperate with SD, and the turn around and do it” speaking of Kristersson’s meeting with Hédi Fried in June of 2018, and then his lunch with Jimmie Åkesson earlier this month.

Löfven also spoke the need for fast integration, and about the fight against crime. “Crime doesn’t have anything to do with the color of one’s skin or one’s religion, but with social class (samhällsklass) and a feeling of community (gemenskap).”

He also promised more money would be coming to the municipalities around Sweden. “We will not desert any municipality, any region, any part of the country. This means that we need to hold together” (SvD.se/julspeech).

16 Nov. – Sabuni’s kick-off speech

Nyamko Sabuni starts party congress in Västerås
pic: folkbladet.se

The Liberal Party started their party congress today in Västerås with a speech by party leader Nyamko Sabuni, her first since being elected in late June. SvD reports that Sabuni’s speech avoided all sensitive topics, like support for the Löfven government and the January Agreement, and instead focused on the issue of suburban zones, or hotspots (utsatta områden).

“Parallell societies grow because we politicians allow it” Sabuni stated. “Today, we launch a program for the suburbs with an ambitious goal – that there will be no vulnerable zones in Sweden in the year 2030.” Sabuni mentioned reforms on all fronts – crime fighting, extremism, economical self sufficiency, gender equality, democratic values and safer residential areas. “The suggestions deal with stopping the slumification that is a breeding ground for a negative progression. It’s about measures to lessen overcrowded living conditions and measures to reduce the number of people living off of government support (Svd.se/Sabuni).

In more general terms, Sabuni tried to raise the profile of the Liberal party on other issues as well. “Liberalism must answer,” she declared, “when it comes to dealing with the important questions – not least climate issues, immigration and the socioeconomic gap that is only widening in this age of globalisation.”

Taking a page from her predecessor Jan Björklund’s favorite playbook, Sabuni also stressed the importance of schools, saying that for the Liberal party, schools form the basis for everything. “It is there dreams and hopes for the future are born. This is why we Liberals have always prioritized schools.”

Also honor violence was mentioned. “After every summer vacation we see empty chairs where a girl once sat. But few municipalities follow up and ask what happened with these girls, and no one knows how many there are. We know exactly how many Almas were born in Sweden in 2018 -564 – but not how many were taken from school and married off. It can’t continue like this.”

9 Nov. – Christian Democrats’ gather

Ebba Busch Thor at KD’s riksting
pic: expressen.se

The Liberal, Green, Center, Left and Moderate parties along with SD have all had their congresses and the turn has finally come for the Christian Democratic party (Kristdemokraterna) to have theirs, a riksting, now taking place in Umeå.

Since the election in September of last year, support for KD has taken a nosedive, from over 12 % to under 7%. Many have attributed the decrease to when it was revealed that their number one representative in EU, and big party name, Lars Adaktusson voted against pro-choice legislation at the EU – not just once, but repeatedly. Adaktusson’s excuse that he was actually only voting against other issues tacked onto the legislation, not against abortion per se, didn’t cut it with many voters. Their support decrease has also been attributed to KD’s strong support for asylum seekers’ ability to bring over their family members to Sweden (SvD.se/KD).

So far at the congress, Adaktusson has been switched out from his position as second vice chair (although he’ll still be a representative in parliament): They have maintained ever since the scandal came out that a woman’ right to choose has never, ever been a question. As far as refugees bringing over family members (familjåterförening), KD is now taking a harder line, saying that in order to bring family over, the person in Sweden must prove that they can support them economically .

New proposals discussed at the congress also include supporting a language test as well as a so called civics (samhällskunskap) test that need to be passed in order to qualify for permanent residency and/or citizenship. For many people, this is considered a completely unreasonable thing to ask of refugees: Among other reasons, many people believe that immigrants should not have to face a test that other people in the country have not had to face. Having to pass a language test is an old proposal that the Liberal party tried to get support for back in 2002, but which failed badly. One of the parties against the language test back then was the Christian Democrats, arguing that you didn’t need to speak Swedish to be a good citizen (SvD.se/language).

Times have clearly changed. In this round, Soheila Fors, a representative from the women’s caucus, argued that an immigrant can’t be successful, get a job, or learn what human rights or democracy is about if they can’t speak the language. “We get put into an aquarium” she argued “and are fed by welfare services” (DN.se/KD). In this vein, KD is also in favor of narrowing the right to have the services of a publicly financed interpreter after having lived five years in the country.

The congress continues on Sunday. A debate over allowing begging, as well as the final decisions regarding the above questions, is expected.

9 sep. – more budget bits

The Green Party, Center Party and Left Party have all had their speeches in the spotlight regarding the budget bits they say they’ve won. The ruling Social Democrats open parliament tomorrow, so today was the Liberal Party’s turn to claim cred for getting something through budget negotiations.

“It’s time to be serious about starting up Sweden’s cement mixers” said Johan Pehrson, group leader for the Liberal Party (). He’s talking about building jails, presumably, not new footwear: The Liberal Party’s message was the 700 million kronor that is going to be allotted to upgrading the whole judiciary system and related instances. Everything from proactive measures to prevent crimes from being committed, to customs enforcement, to police resources, the coast guard and the coroner’s office, to Sweden’s Security Service and legal staffs, to actual penal buildings – they’re all are going to get a slice of the pie.

The question is if the pie is big enough to feed all those hungry mouths. According to the Liberal Party, these efforts are being made due to the persistent and persuasive efforts of their party, but aside from actual numbers there was hardly disagreement about the need for some sort of system restorative. The judicial system (rättsväsendet) gets a little under 50 million kronor in the current budget, so this is a little tonic, not a large one (). Perhaps not coincidentally, the Liberal Party is a little part of the discussion, not a large one.

27 aug. – no luck for the Liberals

The latest poll, run by Sweden’s Television (svt.se), shows that the Liberal Party’s new leadership has not been enough to lift the party above the minimum parliamentary threshold. The poll showed that when asked what party they would vote for if elections were held today, people basically answered like they voted the last time. For the Liberals, this means the support of 3.7% of respondents, up only 0.1% from polls before Nyamko Sabuni took on the Liberal Party leadership. The minimum level of voter support to rate a seat in parliament is 4.0%.

Naturally, this is a huge disappointment for the Liberals. As SVT noted, both Ulf Kristersson and Per Bolund, for the Moderate and Green parties respectively, caused a bump in their party’s popularity when they were voted in as party leaders (). Why this hasn’t happened with Sabuni has various analysts buzzing. SVT News reporter Mats Knutsson wonders if it isn’t because, frankly, she hasn’t been half so outspoken after her election as she was before her election (b). Of course, she needed to shore up her base and unite the party after having won a pretty tight race against party colleague Eric Ullenhag, and this explains why she has made no drastic, or even interesting, move on the domestic politics front. But Sabuni hasn’t made much of a peep about anything at all, which doesn’t exactly inspire anyone to say they’d vote Liberal.

The only party that showed an increase in support was the Sweden Democrats, gaining 1.7% to reach a total support of 18.5%. This increase, along with all the other parties’ results, are within the poll’s margin of error, so while they might be happy about it, there actually isn’t much to write home about for them, or for any party. So far, it’s the same old same old.

28 June – Sabuni Friday

After a fairly intensive campaign period, today is the day Nyamko Sabuni is formally chosen to be the Liberal Party’s new party leader. What she’ll now do though is somewhat unclear, in particular as she has said that immediate withdrawal from the January Agreement her predecessor Jan Björklund signed is not (at all) the first thing on her agenda. As Integration minister, Sabuni raised hackles for daring to suggest a certain level of Swedish might be a good requirement for citizenship. She also expressed a positive attitude towards forbidding veils in schools. For both these suggestions she was called many uncomplimentary names, but she failed to budge on her opinions. It is precisely that straight spine that many of her followers appreciate (as long as they agree, naturally).

25 June – Eric not the conqueror

This afternoon Eric Ullenhag gave it up for Nyamko Sabuni, who can now count on being the next leader of the Liberal Party, starting Friday.

In the Debate article published in Aftonbladet, Ullenhag says the party risks deep divisions if he continues with his campaign, and asks party members to ”take care of each other,” and that other party members – and even other parties’ members – aren’t the enemy.

The ball is now in Sabuni’s court.

24 June – Sabuni nominated: it’s crunch time

The Liberal Party’s Nominating committee has formally nominated Nyamko Sabuni for party leader. From 21 districts, she received 19 votes of support so this shouldn’t be a surprise. But as noted yesterday, 11 electors wrote in a debate article in Sunday’s Expressen that they would vote their own way – iow for Eric Ullenhag – and ignore their subjects’ votes.

Will they or won’t they? We’ll be finding out soon, before or on vote day this coming Friday.