English summary
After being under massive pressure from London-based lobby groups I have finally decided to give in and admit that I have done wrong. I haven't written an article in English on this blog since I wrote about the TUC on September 15th. So now I offer my English-speaking audience a summary of last month in Swedish politics:
- The budget for last year has been negotated between the Social Democrats, the Left Party and the Greens. This is the most expansionary budget since the ERM crisis in the beginning of the 1990's and it contains many good proposals on getting more jobs, more schools and hospitals and more higher education. The negotations were very hard this year as the Greens and the Left Party demanded a general amnesty for all refugees hidden in the country after being denied asylum. This proposal was met half way.
- There has been a lot of international attention on the future of collective bargaining and the Swedish social model, as the commissioner Charlie McCreevy has been saying that he supports the employers' position in the European Court of Justice case on the Vaxholm conflict. Barroso now tries to make peace with the Swedish government again.
- The Feminist Initiative has formed a party and is running for parliament. They have been very unsuccessful in media as the leading feminist Ebba Witt-Brattström has withdrawn her support after internal fights. The splits has resulted in that many quotes from internal discussions has been out in the press, leading to a witch-haunt in the press on one of the founding figures Tiina Rosenberg for some of her quotes. Last week, Rosenberg resigned from the party's board.
- The Eurosceptic June List, that won a landslide victory in last year's European Elections, has decided to run for the national parliament. The party's manifesto, decided by the self-appointed board of six individuals in a party without members, is clearly right-wing with proposals as cutting on public spending, more competition in schools and hospitals, reduce foreign aid and tax subsidies for those who hire domestic workers. They even flirted with pro-lifers until they had to take a proposal on letting candidates run on an anti-abortion ticket back. The party has gone from being inspired by the Danish centre-left June Movement into a position more similar to moderate Toryism.
- The Left Party has proposed a visionary and radical economic policy based on expansion of the public sector. This has triggered new conflicts in the party that is deeply divided. These internal conflicts also stands in the way for a good Swedish debate on "doing a Norway", i.e. proposing a coalition government between the red-green parties.
- I'm on the social democrat list for the local council in front of next year's election. Unless the sky falls down, I will be substitute councillor in the next Uppsala council.
- The budget for last year has been negotated between the Social Democrats, the Left Party and the Greens. This is the most expansionary budget since the ERM crisis in the beginning of the 1990's and it contains many good proposals on getting more jobs, more schools and hospitals and more higher education. The negotations were very hard this year as the Greens and the Left Party demanded a general amnesty for all refugees hidden in the country after being denied asylum. This proposal was met half way.
- There has been a lot of international attention on the future of collective bargaining and the Swedish social model, as the commissioner Charlie McCreevy has been saying that he supports the employers' position in the European Court of Justice case on the Vaxholm conflict. Barroso now tries to make peace with the Swedish government again.
- The Feminist Initiative has formed a party and is running for parliament. They have been very unsuccessful in media as the leading feminist Ebba Witt-Brattström has withdrawn her support after internal fights. The splits has resulted in that many quotes from internal discussions has been out in the press, leading to a witch-haunt in the press on one of the founding figures Tiina Rosenberg for some of her quotes. Last week, Rosenberg resigned from the party's board.
- The Eurosceptic June List, that won a landslide victory in last year's European Elections, has decided to run for the national parliament. The party's manifesto, decided by the self-appointed board of six individuals in a party without members, is clearly right-wing with proposals as cutting on public spending, more competition in schools and hospitals, reduce foreign aid and tax subsidies for those who hire domestic workers. They even flirted with pro-lifers until they had to take a proposal on letting candidates run on an anti-abortion ticket back. The party has gone from being inspired by the Danish centre-left June Movement into a position more similar to moderate Toryism.
- The Left Party has proposed a visionary and radical economic policy based on expansion of the public sector. This has triggered new conflicts in the party that is deeply divided. These internal conflicts also stands in the way for a good Swedish debate on "doing a Norway", i.e. proposing a coalition government between the red-green parties.
- I'm on the social democrat list for the local council in front of next year's election. Unless the sky falls down, I will be substitute councillor in the next Uppsala council.
Kommentarer
The "June List" leader, Mr Lundgren, has manifestly chosen to stand by the Swedish Welfare State Model, as opposed to the ambitions of the center-right "Alliance", led by Mr Reinfeldt. In short, the "June List" is a much more complex political phenomenon than just some right wing or tory clone. I believe that the links between EU skepticism and defense of the Swedish Welfare State Model is somewhat underrated by you.
What I talk about is what has happened since then. The June list's policies when it comes to national politics is very similar to what the bourgeois parties are proposing. The June list want to privatize public sector, reduce foreign aid, introduce tax subsidies for household services and perform big tax cuts that are to be matched with a reduction of the proportion of resources directed to the public sector. This is right wing policies, no matter what package you try to deliver it in!
http://www.openeurope.org.uk/
And, excuse me, "bourgeois parties" - what the heck are these??? Parties of Monopoly Men? :-)
When it comes to "bourgeois parties", it's accually the term used by everyone inclusing themselves (borgerliga partier). I now it looks awquard in translation but academic litterature in English on Sweden uses this term as well.
Seems like every country has it's own landscape of political terms that are OK to use. In the US Social Democrats tend to call themselves "liberals". On the other hand, in France there seems to be another acceptance for the term "communist" as their communist party broke the ties with the Soviets at an early stage. Both these use of language are really odd in a Scandinavian perspective.