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Reinfeldt calls for tolerance to refugees

TT/The Local/pvs
TT/The Local/pvs - [email protected]
Reinfeldt calls for tolerance to refugees
Photo: TT

Swedish prime minister and Moderate Party leader Fredrik Reinfeldt called on Swedes to show tolerance to refugees seeking safety in the country in his summer speech on Saturday.

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"Show tolerance," he urged referring to the increasing number of people fleeing wars in Syria and Iraq.
 
"I know that this will cause friction. I therefore call on the Swedish people to show patience and open their hearts."
 
Reinfeldt cited the cost of taking care of asylum-seekers as one of the reasons why voters can expect no more spending pledges from the government before the September 14th election.
 
"We will promise no more in this election campaign," he said.
 
The Prime Minister, who was speaking in combination with a Moderate Party election meeting on Norrmalmstorg in central Stockholm, observed that as many people were arriving now as during the Balkan wars of the 1990s.
 
He furthermore expressed 'astonishment' at the spending pledges made by the opposition parties and questioned where the money was going to come from to finance them.
 
"One votes for the Moderates because you love when there is order in the economy," he said.
 
In the spring the government presented expenditure proposals for 2015 worth some 5 billion kronor ($730 million) and financing that they claimed would draw in 7 billion to the treasury. In theory that should have left some 2 billion to use now but the Moderates argue that the money is no longer available.
 
"We'll come back to the treasury's assessment in Harpsund and we shall see how the Alliance views this together. But I can see no scope for reform," said Sweden's Finance Minister Anders Borg on Saturday, referring to an upcoming meeting of the governing party leaders at the Prime Minister's summer residence. 
 
Borg repeated Reinfeldt's assessment that the expenditure presented in the spring would hold for 2015.

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