Today in Sweden: A roundup of the latest news on Thursday
Two-day extension to government talks, free school chain banned, H&M redundancies, and Nato meet in Brussels: find out what's going on in Sweden with The Local's roundup.
Moderate leader gets two more days to strike coalition deal
The Swedish parliament's speaker, Andreas Norlén, has given the Moderate Party's leader, Ulf Kristersson, two more days to negotiate a coalition deal, with his candidacy as Prime Minister likely to go before parliament on Monday.
In a press release issued on Wednesday, Norlén said that the work of forming a new government “should not be forced”, and that he would therefore grant Kristersson’s request, just as he had a similar request for two additional days from Social Democrat leader Stefan Löfven back in January 2019.
Norlén said he had asked Kristersson to report back to him at 11am on Friday, with a parliamentary vote tabled for Monday for the first time after the meeting, and for the second time on Saturday.
In a press conference after his meeting with Norlén at 11am, Kristersson said that his negotiations were “basically complete”, but that there were “some issues that we want to work a bit more on so we can announce everything together”.
He refused to give any details as to whether the four parties were agreed on whether the Liberal Party would have ministerial posts in the new government – a key difference between the Sweden Democrats and the Liberals – saying he wanted to announce the agreement as an entirety.
Kristersson said that on Friday he hoped to be able to make public the deal struck between the four parties in its entirety.
Swedish vocab: att reda ut – to smooth out
Swedish chain banned from opening new schools for ‘serious failings’
One of Sweden's leading free school chains has been banned from opening new schools or otherwise expanding after the Swedish Schools Unspectorate identified "serious failings' at three of its schools.
Thorengruppen educates 15,000 pupils in Sweden through its chain of primary schools, upper secondary schools, SFI language schools, and professional training schools and it currently has applications outstanding to open 28 new schools or other educational establishments in the country.
"We have judged that the shortcomings in the applicant's existing establishments are so serious that in the current situation the conditions are not in place for them to run additional ones," said Carin Clevesjö, the head of the inspectorate's school permits division.
Swedish vocab: allvarliga brister – serious shortcomings/failings
Swedish defence minister ahead of Nato meet: 'we are losing time'
Defence ministers from Sweden and Finland will today take part in a meeting at Nato's headquarters in Brussels in their first official engagement as "invited members" of the defence alliance.
Ahead of the meeting, Sweden's defence minister Peter Hultqvist said he was concerned by the delay in Turkey and Hungary ratifying the two countries' agreement to join.
"I think it's a waste of time to try to delay all this, because we need to do military planning for the whole of the Nordic region. We need to work properly through all these security questions, and the longer we delay this, the more we are deprived of the time for this work. So it's in Nato's interest to solve this," he said.
With 28 of the alliance's 30 members already having ratified Sweden and Finland, Turkey and Hungary are the only two remaining.
On the way to the meeting, Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: "So long as there are terrorist organizations demonstrating on the streets in Sweden and so long as there are terrorists in the Swedish parliament, Turkey is not going to look on this in a positive way."
Swedish vocab: en positiv inställning – a positive position
H&M plans to make redundancies in 69 shops in Sweden
The clothing giant H&M has submitted an application to the Swedish Public Employment Service to make as many as 400 redundancies in 69 shops around Sweden, the Handels retail union has told Swedish state broadcaster SR.
The group said that the rise of online shopping meant that it now had too few customers in its shops.
"We are going to reassess our current organisational structure and staffing in our H&M shops in Sweden. All of our colleagues in the shops in Sweden are going to be offered continued employment," Anna Wittbjer, the group's press secretary told TT in an email.
Swedish vocab: att varsla – to give notice of plans to make redundancies
Swedish professors publish 'beginner's guide' for foreign researchers
A group of ten Swedish university professors has published "A beginner's guide to Swedish academia", to help foreign researchers and lecturers find their feet in the Swedish university system.
Philippe Tassin, a physics professor at Chalmers University, said that he and his nine co-authors had decided to write the book because of the difficulties many foreigners had in their first few years in Sweden.
"There's a lot you need to know when you come here. The book is intended to bring together all the information," he told the Universitetsläraren, a trade newspaper for lecturers in higher education.
The book can be downloaded for free at the website of the Young Academy of Sweden (part of the Royal Academy of Swedish Scientists) here.
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Moderate leader gets two more days to strike coalition deal
The Swedish parliament's speaker, Andreas Norlén, has given the Moderate Party's leader, Ulf Kristersson, two more days to negotiate a coalition deal, with his candidacy as Prime Minister likely to go before parliament on Monday.
In a press release issued on Wednesday, Norlén said that the work of forming a new government “should not be forced”, and that he would therefore grant Kristersson’s request, just as he had a similar request for two additional days from Social Democrat leader Stefan Löfven back in January 2019.
Norlén said he had asked Kristersson to report back to him at 11am on Friday, with a parliamentary vote tabled for Monday for the first time after the meeting, and for the second time on Saturday.
In a press conference after his meeting with Norlén at 11am, Kristersson said that his negotiations were “basically complete”, but that there were “some issues that we want to work a bit more on so we can announce everything together”.
He refused to give any details as to whether the four parties were agreed on whether the Liberal Party would have ministerial posts in the new government – a key difference between the Sweden Democrats and the Liberals – saying he wanted to announce the agreement as an entirety.
Kristersson said that on Friday he hoped to be able to make public the deal struck between the four parties in its entirety.
Swedish vocab: att reda ut – to smooth out
Swedish chain banned from opening new schools for ‘serious failings’
One of Sweden's leading free school chains has been banned from opening new schools or otherwise expanding after the Swedish Schools Unspectorate identified "serious failings' at three of its schools.
Thorengruppen educates 15,000 pupils in Sweden through its chain of primary schools, upper secondary schools, SFI language schools, and professional training schools and it currently has applications outstanding to open 28 new schools or other educational establishments in the country.
"We have judged that the shortcomings in the applicant's existing establishments are so serious that in the current situation the conditions are not in place for them to run additional ones," said Carin Clevesjö, the head of the inspectorate's school permits division.
Swedish vocab: allvarliga brister – serious shortcomings/failings
Swedish defence minister ahead of Nato meet: 'we are losing time'
Defence ministers from Sweden and Finland will today take part in a meeting at Nato's headquarters in Brussels in their first official engagement as "invited members" of the defence alliance.
Ahead of the meeting, Sweden's defence minister Peter Hultqvist said he was concerned by the delay in Turkey and Hungary ratifying the two countries' agreement to join.
"I think it's a waste of time to try to delay all this, because we need to do military planning for the whole of the Nordic region. We need to work properly through all these security questions, and the longer we delay this, the more we are deprived of the time for this work. So it's in Nato's interest to solve this," he said.
With 28 of the alliance's 30 members already having ratified Sweden and Finland, Turkey and Hungary are the only two remaining.
On the way to the meeting, Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: "So long as there are terrorist organizations demonstrating on the streets in Sweden and so long as there are terrorists in the Swedish parliament, Turkey is not going to look on this in a positive way."
Swedish vocab: en positiv inställning – a positive position
H&M plans to make redundancies in 69 shops in Sweden
The clothing giant H&M has submitted an application to the Swedish Public Employment Service to make as many as 400 redundancies in 69 shops around Sweden, the Handels retail union has told Swedish state broadcaster SR.
The group said that the rise of online shopping meant that it now had too few customers in its shops.
"We are going to reassess our current organisational structure and staffing in our H&M shops in Sweden. All of our colleagues in the shops in Sweden are going to be offered continued employment," Anna Wittbjer, the group's press secretary told TT in an email.
Swedish vocab: att varsla – to give notice of plans to make redundancies
Swedish professors publish 'beginner's guide' for foreign researchers
A group of ten Swedish university professors has published "A beginner's guide to Swedish academia", to help foreign researchers and lecturers find their feet in the Swedish university system.
Philippe Tassin, a physics professor at Chalmers University, said that he and his nine co-authors had decided to write the book because of the difficulties many foreigners had in their first few years in Sweden.
"There's a lot you need to know when you come here. The book is intended to bring together all the information," he told the Universitetsläraren, a trade newspaper for lecturers in higher education.
The book can be downloaded for free at the website of the Young Academy of Sweden (part of the Royal Academy of Swedish Scientists) here.
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