Today in Sweden: A roundup of the latest news on Friday
Nato chief in Turkey, civil conscription, car charging points, and Halland or Haaland? Find out what's going on in Sweden with The Local's roundup.
'It's time to welcome Finland and Sweden as members of Nato'
Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday that Sweden and Finland were committed to working with Turkey to address its concerns over their possible membership in the alliance, saying it was time to welcome the two Nordic countries into the fold.
“It’s time to welcome Finland and Sweden as members of Nato,” he told a press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in Istanbul.
Çavuşoğlu in turn said that that Turkey believed that Sweden’s new government was more committed to meeting Turkey’s demands. The most important thing was that the actions laid out in the agreement reached in June between Turkey, Sweden and Finland were taken in full, he said.“We knew that the outgoing government could not do much.
The new government is decisive and the new prime minister is going to visit our country next week,” Çavuşoğlu said. During his visit to Istanbul, Stoltenberg met Çavuşoğlu, Turkey’s defence minister Hulusi Akar, and other politicians.On Friday, Stoltenberg will hold a one-on-one meeting with Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Swedish vocab: bestämd – decisive
Sweden's new civil defence minister wants to bring back civil conscription
Sweden's previous system of civil conscription, which saw all citizens required to take various roles in the event of an invasion or other crisis, should be brought back "in some form", Sweden's Civil Defence Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin has told Sweden's state broadcaster SR.
"It's going to be a necessity in one form or another if Civil Defence is going to perform at the level we expect," he said.
Civil conscription has been dormant since 2010 and in the spring the Civil Contingencies Agency called for the government to move rapidly to bring it back.
Swedish vocab: en nödvändighet – a necessity
New government to invest in more car charging points
Sweden's new government will invest 400m kronor next year on increasing car charging infrastructure, increasing this to 500m in 2024 and 2025, with the money coming out of the government's Klimatklivet fund.
"The infrastructure needs to be there if people are going to dare to take the plunge and get an electric car, so that you know that you can load the car at home, at your job and that you can travel," Sweden's environment minister Romina Pourmokhtari said.
She said the Klimatklivet fund had been "successful" and proven an "effective way of reducing emissions".
Swedish vocab: framgångsrikt – successful
Halland or Haaland? Norway football star brings trouble to Swedish region
The tourist board for Swedish county of Halland has complained that it is being "completely suffocated" on social media, due to people misspelling the name of the Norwegian football star Erling Braut Haaland.
Haaland has scored a phenomenal 22 goals in the 15 games he has played in since joining Manchester City this season, generating vast numbers of posts on social media and online.
But for Halland, the country on Sweden’s west coast that is home to the resort town of Varberg, this has been a minor marketing catastrophe.
“We are Halland. He is Haaland. The popularity of the football phenomenon is completely suffocating our online presence,” Jimmie Sandberg, the head of Visit Halland wrote in an open letter.
"We are drowning a little in his success," he told Sweden's Fotbollskanalen sports channel.
Swedish vocab: att drunkna – to drown
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'It's time to welcome Finland and Sweden as members of Nato'
Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday that Sweden and Finland were committed to working with Turkey to address its concerns over their possible membership in the alliance, saying it was time to welcome the two Nordic countries into the fold.
“It’s time to welcome Finland and Sweden as members of Nato,” he told a press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in Istanbul.
Çavuşoğlu in turn said that that Turkey believed that Sweden’s new government was more committed to meeting Turkey’s demands. The most important thing was that the actions laid out in the agreement reached in June between Turkey, Sweden and Finland were taken in full, he said.“We knew that the outgoing government could not do much.
The new government is decisive and the new prime minister is going to visit our country next week,” Çavuşoğlu said. During his visit to Istanbul, Stoltenberg met Çavuşoğlu, Turkey’s defence minister Hulusi Akar, and other politicians.On Friday, Stoltenberg will hold a one-on-one meeting with Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Swedish vocab: bestämd – decisive
Sweden's new civil defence minister wants to bring back civil conscription
Sweden's previous system of civil conscription, which saw all citizens required to take various roles in the event of an invasion or other crisis, should be brought back "in some form", Sweden's Civil Defence Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin has told Sweden's state broadcaster SR.
"It's going to be a necessity in one form or another if Civil Defence is going to perform at the level we expect," he said.
Civil conscription has been dormant since 2010 and in the spring the Civil Contingencies Agency called for the government to move rapidly to bring it back.
Swedish vocab: en nödvändighet – a necessity
New government to invest in more car charging points
Sweden's new government will invest 400m kronor next year on increasing car charging infrastructure, increasing this to 500m in 2024 and 2025, with the money coming out of the government's Klimatklivet fund.
"The infrastructure needs to be there if people are going to dare to take the plunge and get an electric car, so that you know that you can load the car at home, at your job and that you can travel," Sweden's environment minister Romina Pourmokhtari said.
She said the Klimatklivet fund had been "successful" and proven an "effective way of reducing emissions".
Swedish vocab: framgångsrikt – successful
Halland or Haaland? Norway football star brings trouble to Swedish region
The tourist board for Swedish county of Halland has complained that it is being "completely suffocated" on social media, due to people misspelling the name of the Norwegian football star Erling Braut Haaland.
Haaland has scored a phenomenal 22 goals in the 15 games he has played in since joining Manchester City this season, generating vast numbers of posts on social media and online.
But for Halland, the country on Sweden’s west coast that is home to the resort town of Varberg, this has been a minor marketing catastrophe.
“We are Halland. He is Haaland. The popularity of the football phenomenon is completely suffocating our online presence,” Jimmie Sandberg, the head of Visit Halland wrote in an open letter.
"We are drowning a little in his success," he told Sweden's Fotbollskanalen sports channel.
Swedish vocab: att drunkna – to drown
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