The four right-of-centre parties, which together have a razor-thin majority in Sweden’s Riksdag, have agreed on a joint government program. Thus, the commoner Ulf Kristersson should be elected prime minister on Monday.
The leaders of the four right-of-centre parties presented their government agreement on Friday. Ulf Kristersson (second from right) is to become the new prime minister.
“Nothing is clear until everything is clear”: That had been a favorite phrase of Ulf Kristersson, the head of the bourgeois-oriented Moderate Party in Sweden, in recent weeks. He was happy to use it when the media asked him how far he had come in his efforts to forge a right-of-centre government alliance.
It wasn’t an easy task. Because it was necessary to reconcile the interests of parties whose orientation ranges from liberal-centrist to right-wing nationalism and who are accordingly very skeptical of one another in certain areas. On Wednesday it still seemed as if there was sand in the gears.
The dilemma of the Sweden Democrats
On Friday, however, Kristersson was able to address the media accompanied by the other three party leaders present a thick document, which contains the rules for future government cooperation. He then visited the speaker of the parliament, who then officially proposed him to the Reichstag as a candidate for the office of prime minister. The vote will take place on Monday.
A special feature of the new government alliance is that its largest constituent element will not be represented in the cabinet. It’s about the right-wing national Sweden Democrats. Seeing them at the controls of power was until a few years ago in Sweden for most of the population and the political establishment been unthinkable – including the parties that are now part of the coalition.
It was also clear to party leader Jimmie Akesson that the earlier political ostracism of the Sweden Democrats has not yet been completely overcome, even if the conservative and Christian Democrats in particular are now willing to cooperate pragmatically. He therefore had to weigh up whether he wanted to give the right-wing alliance a chance by staying in the background despite his party’s good election result, or whether he should assert his claim to leadership, knowing full well that this would break the coalition.
He opted for the former, but allowed himself to be compensated in the area of the political program. Because the work plan of the new coalition bears the handwriting of the right-wing nationalists, underscored by the fact that it was Akesson who presented the chapters on migration and the fight against crime at Friday’s media conference of the four party leaders.
Migration policy in focus
Migration policy in particular is being tightened at various levels. Sweden, which saw itself as a “humanitarian superpower” ten years ago, now only wants to meet the minimum standards set by the EU when accepting asylum seekers. Permanent residence permits are no longer issued and the demands on asylum seekers to make personal contributions to social integration are increased.
However, this is not a fundamental reorientation of migration policy, but merely an accentuation of the direction that the social democratic government, which is now about to be replaced, had already taken after 2015. Nevertheless, for the Liberals, the smallest party in the new coalition, the shift to the right represents an ideological problem. For a long time it was not clear whether they actually wanted to stay on board under such circumstances. Although they finally decided to do so, they are likely to remain an element of uncertainty for the alliance.
Sharp words from the opposition
Even if the Sweden Democrats are not allowed to send ministers to the Kristersson cabinet, the coalition agreement gives them the opportunity to control and influence its work. In this way, the right-wing nationalists are represented at the level of high administrative officials in the government chancellery. One therefore considers oneself a full member of the coalition, said Akesson.
According to commentators, the Sweden Democrats left a footprint in the coalition agreement that should compensate them for their absence in the cabinet. The opposition castigated the government program as “conservative-nationalist”. The Liberals were particularly criticized for having “sold their souls for ministerial posts”.
Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson said that although Ulf Kristersson will be prime minister, it is clear that it is Akesson who is leading the way. All in all, it is a program that will deepen the social divide in Sweden.