It hardly sounded like a welcome to the European Union. Jimmie Åkesson, party leader of the right-wing Sweden Democrats (SD), expressed anger at “Brussels’ bureaucrats” during a parliamentary debate in Stockholm’s Riksdag in mid-November.
According to Åkesson, Sweden must finally abandon the “insane notion” that Brussels all too often interferes in the politics of individual member states.
Now, six weeks later, it is Stockholm’s job to have a decisive say in this policy. Since the turn of the year, the largest country in Scandinavia has headed the Council of the European Union.
Presidency in times of crisis
Sweden is once again taking over the European scepter at a time marked by crises. When it ruled the Union in 2009, the continent was in the midst of a global financial crisis. 14 years later, the country has to find European solutions to the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, the climate crisis, and the energy crisis.
People in Stockholm are aware of this. Sweden has an “extremely responsible task” ahead of it, said Swedish EU Minister Jessika Roswall in an interview with the Tagesspiegel: “We have to keep the European Union together.”
The minister has been in office less than three months, and the change of government in Stockholm only took place in the fall. Her centre-right government has set four priorities for the EU Council Presidency: security, competitiveness, green energy transition and the rule of law.
That’s already on the European agenda anyway, says Marcus Johansson of the Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies (Sieps). the daily mirror.
“The government’s signal is clear: the impartial role of the presidency is taken seriously and current issues will be promoted.” At the same time, the European machine “must be kept running”.
Influence of right-wing forces in Sweden on the EU
But Sweden in particular can stumble as a result of EU tasks. Experts assume that domestic political issues will fall through the cracks in the coming months, and the influence of Åkesson’s party on Swedish EU politics is also being viewed critically.
It is clear that we want to implement an ambitious environmental and climate policy.
Jessica RoswallSwedish EU Minister
Because right-wing Jimmie Åkesson is the kingmaker of the current minority government. If the conservative Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson wants to find majorities, he must first negotiate with Åkesson. His party seems more moderate today, but has its roots in the staunch neo-Nazi scene of the 1990s, used to advertise with the slogan “Sweden for the Swedes” and after the success of Brexit for a “Swexit”.
As the majority procurer, will he now drive Kristersson’s government in front of him on EU issues? There are differences of opinion, particularly in the core areas of climate change and the rule of law.
Sweden Democrat Elsa Widding announced in the Reichstag in October that she saw “no scientific evidence of a climate crisis”. Åkesson had this position written into the coalition agreement. From now on, Stockholm relies on cheap petrol and significantly reduces subsidies for renewable energies.
In Brussels, Sweden still wants to achieve the ambitious climate goals. “It’s clear that we want to have an ambitious environmental and climate policy,” says Jessika Roswall. With a view to Ukraine, too, it is important to become independent of Russian gas and oil. “This will be a challenge for all of us in the coming months.”
Dealing with Hungary could also be challenging. The Sweden Democrats are rather friendly towards Viktor Orbán. Party leader Åkesson once said that if there was a decision between Angela Merkel and the Hungarian head of government, he would prefer Orbán. He is more conservative and, like him, against further federalization of the EU.
In an internal exchange of letters in 2016, the former SD General Secretary Richard Jomshof praised the limited freedom of the press in Hungary and complained that Sweden was not yet Hungary.
But it remains to be seen how much influence the right will have on Sweden’s EU Council Presidency, says political scientist Johansson from Gothenburg. “As the chairing country, you can be more reserved on some issues, and you can possibly slow down SD a bit here. But it is not possible to completely remove individual topics from the agenda.”
The rule of law proceedings against Budapest remain on the Swedish agenda, at least for Jessika Roswall: “It remains to be seen how exactly we work with it.”
It also remains to be seen how united people really are in Stockholm. At least the EU minister is confident. With regard to common European values, there are “no different views” with the right-wing cooperation partner.
With regard to the common understanding of the EU, this can at least be doubted. While Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson assures that he heads a “pro-European government”, Jimmie Åkesson sounds different.
In the Swedish Riksdag, he announced that the greatest threat to European cooperation was the EU’s “federalist superpower ambitions”. He did not name Orbán there.
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