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Today in Sweden: A roundup of the latest news on Tuesday

TT/AFP/The Local
TT/AFP/The Local - [email protected]
Today in Sweden: A roundup of the latest news on Tuesday
Mats Svegfors, the former newspaper editor appointed to lead an inquiry into reforms to media subsidies, presents his conclusions on Monday. Photo: Marko Säävälä/TT

Erdogan talks, media subsidies, Moderates against biofuels, and an abortion contract: find out what's going on in Sweden with The Local's roundup.

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Sweden and Finland to discuss Nato bid with Erdogan at Madrid summit

Finnish and Swedish leaders will discuss their stalled Nato bids with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday at the start of an alliance summit in Madrid, officials said.

But Turkey said the four-way meeting, which will also involve Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg, did not mean that Ankara was close to lifting its objection to the two Nordic countries joining the military bloc.

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The four leaders will meet in Madrid, in a last ditch bid to break to deadlock before the start of the alliance’s summit, which will focus on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Officials from Ankara, Helsinki and Stockholm held a fresh round of talks on Monday at Nato's headquarters in Brussels to try to hammer out the differences.

“My strong hope is that this dialogue can be successfully concluded in the near future, ideally before the summit,” said Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson after meeting Stoltenberg in Brussels. She said that the talks were progressing in "a constructive spirit". 

Swedish Vocab: en konstruktiv anda – a constructive spirit

Christian Democrat leader signs 'abortion contract' 

Ebba Busch, leader of Sweden's Christian Democrat party, has called on the leaders of all Sweden's political parties to sign an "abortion contract", committing them to protect women's right to have an abortion in Sweden.  

At a press conference on Monday, she presented the document and called for all eight party leaders to sign it. 

"I don't buy Magdalena Andersson's claim to be worried about Sweden's abortion legislation," she said, showing the document. "There is room for signatures from all eight party leaders. I have already signed on behalf of the Christian Democrats." 

Swedish Vocab: lagstiftning – legislation

Moderates pledge to cut share of biofuels in petrol and diesel 

Sweden's right-wing Moderate opposition have pledged to reduce the mandatory proportion of biofuels in petrol and diesel to the lowest level allowed under EU rules, a move the party claims will cut the price of diesel by at least five kronor a litre. 

The so-called reduktionsplikt, or reduction duty, requires petrol and diesel sold in Sweden to be blended with a slowly increasing proportion of biofuels, which is intended to reduce carbon emissions.   

Sweden has chosen to require a higher share of biofuel than the EU demands. 

"That's something Swedish households are paying for," the Moderate party's economic spokesperson, Elisabeth Svantesson, said, while conceding that the proposal would lead to higher carbon emissions if enacted. 

Swedish Vocab: högre utsläpp – higher emissions 

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SAS pilots still ready to strike from Wednesday 

Unions representing pilots working for Scandinavia's SAS airline have yet to reach an agreement with the airline's management, meaning between 200 and 250 flights and up to 30,000 passengers could be affected every day, starting from Wednesday. 

"There's nothing new to say," Karin Nyman, SAS's communications chief, told TT on Monday. "Right now we're in the middle of mediation, so we won't comment on the situation, but hope that we will be able to reach a solution." 

Sweden's pilot union have a strike warning to Sweden's National Mediation Office three weeks ago, while SAS has warned that it cold impose a lockout at Arlanda, which could mean employees barred from the airport. 

SAS plans to offer those with flights booked between June 27th and July 3rd, the opportunity to rebook their flights in the future at no cost. 

Swedish Vocab: kostnadsfritt – at no additional cost 

Inquiry calls for technology-neutral media subsidies

An inquiry into how best to reform the system that subsidises Sweden's media has recommended that the system become "technology neutral", supporting media organisations equally regardless of whether they are published in paper editions, online or broadcast. 

The inquiry, which was led by the former Svenska Dagbladet editor Mats Svegfors, also recommended focusing subsidies on supporting local and regional journalism. 

The inquiry did not support removing value added tax from newspaper sales, however. 

Swedish Vocab: mediestöd – press subsidies

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