image source: https://www.thespruceeats.com
Several previous topics in this blog have made the news again. Here are updates on: Archer; Botkyrka; the lay judge (nämndeman) system; and, of course, inflation and food prices.
Say I’m in a meeting
Public pressure pushed Minister of Finance Elizabeth Svantesson to call a meeting with the dominant grocery chains ICA, Coop, and Axfood (Willy’s and Hemköp). On the agenda? To discuss how to keep food prices down, and to make sure that no one is price gouging.
No actual meeting has been reported as of yet. It also remains unclear what pressure Svantesson can, and would be willing, to apply. Like during covid, the government is most likely to only “recommend” and then let everyone decide for themselves what they want to do. In France, an agreement between the finance minister and Carrefours ended with an agreement to freeze prices on daily goods (see this post). But Carrefours is leaving it up to their individual grocers to actually implement any freeze.
The government may be playing a waiting game. Many expect inflation to come down this year without any particular intervention in market prices. One prognosis has inflation at 4.8% at the end of the year, and back to normal (around 2%) by 2025. The reasons for this optimism are assumptions that the current lower prices for both energy and raw materials will continue, and that central banks will continue to raise interest rates.
Sadly, lower inflation does not mean lower prices for food, or anything else, really. It means only that prices will not rise so fast.
Back in Botkyrka
Meanwhile in Botkyrka, the Social Democratic party has acted. The rumor was that new members have been recruited solely in order to secure their votes on a particular measure. (For a quick review of the Botkyrka conflict, see this post.) To be an official Social Democrat, party secretary Baudin stated, you have to be 15 years old and share the party’s social democratic values – but membership isn’t automatic. Baudin upheld the decision to deny 98 party membership applications on the ground that their reasons for membership did not ring true.
Not just a phone call
The recruitment and application process to become a lay judge was under fire even more this week. As became clear in the Snippa sentence, contact between a political party and a lay judge is not always as distant as it should be (see this post). In the aftermath, there have been many calls to overhaul the recruitment system, even from a former minister of justice. The damage may be deep. Just the thought that they might receive a phone call from a sponsoring party can already have lay judges checking their opinions.
At least two reports (2002 and 2013) suggesting it would be good for at least some lay judges not be beholden to a party for their position have been ignored. Chances that these new calls will be heeded are low.
Archer deliveries
Ukraine’s call for more firepower will be soon answered, at least from Sweden’s end. Minister for Defense Pål Jonson announced this week that 8 Archers and even 10 Leopard tanks are ready to be sent over. For security reasons, details are sketchy. To learn more about the Archer system, as well as the other items Sweden is sending, see this post.