swedish politics Archives • Page 9 of 13 • SwedeInternational

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.

Wed. 31/7 – Spotify’s report card

Is Spotify Swedish? I don’t know. Swedes started it, certainly. But then the owners went and listed it on the New York and not the Stockholm Stock Exchange. They have a thousand or so employees here, but they have more in the US. The employees here pay taxes here of course, but Spotify is registered in Luxembourg so there go any tax wins for the state – plus founder and largest owner Daniel Ek manages his taxes through a bunch of companies in countries that have lots of palm trees, fancy accountants and empty offices ().

But OK, it’s pretty Swedish anyway, sort of, and we can point to our high innovation index ranking (2nd in the world – see earlier post) for a way of getting some Spotify cred. Yay Swedish teachers!

So here’s the Spotify news: It’s still not not that profitable. 13 years now, and really barely a cent in the plus column (). The report released today shows it’s still growing faster than your teenage nephew (who’s probably a paying Spotify member come to think of it), but there’s more competition than ever. (In the US, Apple Music has more subscribers than Spotify, even if Spotify has more overall users – .) The number of paying Spotify members increased by 31%, which, frankly, seems darn good – but, alas, the market expected a few more. When that didn’t materialize, Spotify stock took a hit ().

Spotify and its backers are hoping that its foray into podcasting will take off, and that Spotify will be the giant everyone thinks it is. Too bad that that won’t help Sweden that much.

Tues. 30/7 – it’s the economy

Statistics Sweden (the SCB, Statistiska centralbyrån) released the numbers on the economy this morning. Sweden’s second quarter GDP (BNP, bruttonationalprodukt in Swedish), compared to this time last year was lower than expected, and came in at 1.4%. The Swedish central bank (Riksbanken), whose measures the governnment uses for its work, thought it’d be 1.8%. So that’s not so great but perhaps not a signal to freak completely out.

Sweden’s 2nd quarter GDP wasn’t better than 1st quarter numbers either, unfortunately – it was lower by 0.1%. Again, the Swedish Fed thought (hoped?) differently, namely that it would increase by 0.1% compared to 1st quarter. It seems their algorithms might need to be recalibrated.

No great cause for economic alarm here, just more evidence that the economy isn’t going gangbusters anymore, or likely anytime soon. It seems instead like we’ll be muddling through for a bit – barring a no-deal Brexit, in which case things will become much more unsettled.

Mon. 29/7 – loaning books by the suitcase

Earlier this year, Region Stockholm’s culture department decided to take down and move the International Library. The main reason cited was that there wasn’t enough interest (read: book loaning) to keep it going. The International Library, currently housed in the the Stockholm Public Library near Odenplan, specialises in books and magazines in languages other than Swedish.

The people who frequent the library – and those who don’t, really, but want it to stay open anyway – have protested the closing by organizing massive book loaning actions. Over a thousand activist book loaners have streamed to the library during its few Saturday open hours to browse and borrow – loans increased by 400% already the first day. Books have been borrowed by the suitcase, SvD reports ().

Most people had no idea the library was even in danger of closing – and anyone who has stayed in Stockholm over the summer knows just how dead town is, or seems to be. Nothing happens over the summer, or is supposed to. The suspicion is that this decision was deliberately taken at this time so no one would get around to doing anything about it. Also because this particular library focuses on books in other languages (where else can you loan books in Thai or Ukrainian?), the protest (and perhaps the closing) has a political bent. As Viola Bao writes in DN (), Stockholms Commission for Sustainability (hålbarhetskommissionen) (and yes, there is one) found that new Swedish or foreign born girls use the library frequently. Plus, this is a time when the Sweden Democrats are exercising their electoral muscles – so what kind of signal is the local Stockholm blue-green government sending? (Blue being the Moderate, Liberal, Center and Christian Democratic Party and the green being the Swedish Green Party, currently in a coalition since the election in 2018.)

Whether this closing lands on the devious scale or not, it does reflect a distressing trend for both reading and city priorities.

PS If you feel like taking action yourself, check out the Facebook page for Rädda Internationella bibliotek.

Mon. 29/7 – 2 out of 129 ain’t bad

Sweden edged up a notch and landed at #2 on the Global Innovation Index, SvD reported today (). Sweden lands behind leader Switzerland (have they confused the two of us again??) and ahead of third place winner the United States. Rounded to their nearest whole number, the rankings are 67, 64 and 62 respectively. The Netherlands and the UK fill out the top 5 rankings.

The Index, published by Cornell University, the business school INSEAD, and by the World Intellectual Property Organization (an agency with the UN), ranks countries’ innovation capabilities and results, looking at a lot more than just the usual R&D blah blah of each country. The report goes way more in depth, and looks at innovation input – elements of each nation’s economy that further and nurture innovative activities: Institutions; Human capital and research; Infrastructure; Market sophistication; and Business sophistication. Then they go ahead and look at the output, in knowledge and technology as well as creative output. That’s a lot of measures. And Sweden still came out on top (or next to, at any rate). Not so shabby!

If you want to go whole hog and just roll around in their methodology and results check out the report in full at globalinno vationindex.org.

Sat. 27/7 – Sweden agrees to disagree

Minister for Energy and Digital Development, Anders Ygeman
pic: svd.se

SvD.se reports today that the Swedish government is ready to go against the EU when it comes to regulating electricity companies. As reported earlier in this blog, and indeed it comes up repeatedly in Swedish news, the cost of electricity has rocketed upwards in large parts of this generally cold and snowy/rainy country.

In a perfect world, electricity prices should only rise when the income is needed for improvements in the electricity infrastructure. However, this has not happened, says the government: Prices have gone up but the infrastructure has not been improved upon. Furthermore, Minister for Energy and Digital Development Anders Ygeman says, while electricity companies can have a reasonable profit, they shouldn’t be able to profit at the expense of the consumer (). Therefore, the government wants their Swedish Energy Markets Inspectorate ( it’s less of a mouthful in Swedish – “energimarknadsinspektion”) to regulate it more, and presumably better.

Here’s where it gets tricky: The EU says no. According to the EU Commission, the government’s proposals go too far and too much against the EU’s energy market directive.

Sweden doesn’t agree (and neither does Germany, who wants to regulate its electricity companies more too). For its part, Sweden is going ahead with its new regulations, which are to take effect starting 2020. Lucky electricity consumers who have been hit hard by price increases can hope for up to a 20% cut in their elecricity bill.

Stay tuned for the EU’s response to these crazy rebels.

Sat. 27/7 – omg what is that stuff?

Just when you want to throw yourself out of your office window from the heat, and preferably right into the nearest swimming hole, the swimming hole in question is closed because of algae blooms. Stockholm city has closed one major beach, Lövstabadet, and even warned people from coming into direct contact with the ground around it (!).

EU, in cooperation with Stockholm County Administrative Board (länsstyrelsen), is tracking algae blooms, hoping to find them before they hit the beaches and hit all the people that are hitting the beaches ().

An algae bloom (algblomning) is that green, soupy mess that looks like huge vats of stringy pea soup were just poured into the water right where you want to go swimming. Don’t swim in it. The stuff is seriously bad for you, and for the environment. Algae blooms are entirely natural and can happen even without human interference. But they are worse, and more frequent, when fertilizers full of nitrogen and phosphorus wash away from farmland and into water.

Nitrogen and phosphorus are not just the greatest thing for growing crops, the also grow algae. All these sunny days, plus water, plus carbon dioxide plus the extra fertilizer? It’s one big bonanza for algae, and also for all the itsy bitsy bacteria in there. The bacteria start to hog all the oxygen that is naturally dissolved in the water, leaving less and less oxygen, and eventually none, for the fish and other air-needing organisms. So yes, fish death. Lake death. Baltic Sea death. It’s all bad. The soupy green stuff is often also toxic as all get out to us humans as well. These particular algae blooms in English are generally called HABs, or harmful algae blooms (so original!) and are the home of a particularly unpleasant strain of bacteria called cyanobacteria. Don’t even think about swimming in it, even if you’re really really cool, or really really hot. This goes for your pets too.

Shout out to Wikipedia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algal_bloom ), for the concise explanation of algae blooms.