Today in Sweden: A roundup of the latest news on Thursday
Swedish hospital report to shed light on healthcare crisis, court decision in historic spy case, and the debate about Turkey continues. Here's Sweden's latest news.
Hospital report to shed light on healthcare crisis
The Swedish Healthcare Inspectorate (IVO) is set to present the first part of an in-depth probe into the strained situation at Swedish hospitals on Thursday.
Some of the things we know so far, as reported this morning by Swedish news agency TT, are:
IVO investigated 27 hospitals with emergency departments last year and criticised at least 26 of them over issues such as staff and bed shortages (its conclusions about the 27th hospital, Oskarshamn, will only become public later today).
Swedish regions need more nurses, but also biomedical analysts, specialist doctors and psychologists. Staff shortages put patient safety at risk, IVO has previously said.
In December, the director-general of IVO told medical magazine Läkartidningen: “The situation is very serious. We have situations where patients spend several days on the emergency wards, in corridors or units where they don’t have the right expertise.”
Swedish vocabulary: a hospital – ett sjukhus
Court to pronounce verdict in historic Swedish spy case
Two Swedish-Iranian brothers who were charged in Sweden last year with “aggravated espionage” for allegedly passing information to Russia’s GRU military intelligence service between 2011 and 2021 are set to receive the court’s verdict on Thursday.
One of them is a former intelligence official who has been employed by Sweden’s security police Säpo, the Swedish Armed Forces and their intelligence service.
It has been described as potentially the most serious spy case in Swedish history.
The brothers deny the allegations.
Swedish vocabulary: a verdict – en dom
‘Islamist dictator’: Swedish far-right leader rejects further concessions to Turkey
Jimmie Åkesson, the leader of the far-right Sweden Democrats, in an interview with Dagens Nyheter slammed Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as an 'Islamist dictator', as the former maintains his objections to ratifying Sweden's Nato application.
There are limits on how far the country would go to appease Turkey to secure its Nato membership “…because it is ultimately an anti-democratic system and a dictator we are dealing with,” Åkesson told the newspaper.
Åkesson also questioned whether Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who prides himself on having never lost a national election over 20 years of rule, could be called democratically elected. Click here to read an English summary of the interview.
Swedish vocabulary: a limit – en gräns
Sweden’s new Centre Party leader to give up Turkish citizenship
Swedish-Turkish citizen Muharrem Demirok, the soon-to-be leader of Sweden’s Centre Party, will renounce his Turkish nationality because of his new role, said the party.
Aftonbladet columnist Peter Kadhammar was first to report that Demirok would be renouncing his Turkish citizenship, in a column questioning Sweden’s “weirdly carefree attitude to dual citizenships”. Read The Local’s Nordic editor’s thoughts about the emerging debate about dual citizenship in Sweden in our other article HERE.
Demirok, a former deputy mayor of the city of Linköping in central Sweden, was elected to the Swedish parliament in 2022 and is expected to be voted in as leader of the Centre Party at the party’s congress in February, taking over from Annie Lööf.
He has family ties to Turkey and became a Swedish citizen at the age of 21.
Demirok is not the only senior politician who has dual citizenship. Business and Energy Minister Ebba Busch, leader of the Christian Democrats, is Swedish-Norwegian.
Swedish vocabulary: renounce – avsäga sig
Comments
See Also
Hospital report to shed light on healthcare crisis
The Swedish Healthcare Inspectorate (IVO) is set to present the first part of an in-depth probe into the strained situation at Swedish hospitals on Thursday.
Some of the things we know so far, as reported this morning by Swedish news agency TT, are:
IVO investigated 27 hospitals with emergency departments last year and criticised at least 26 of them over issues such as staff and bed shortages (its conclusions about the 27th hospital, Oskarshamn, will only become public later today).
Swedish regions need more nurses, but also biomedical analysts, specialist doctors and psychologists. Staff shortages put patient safety at risk, IVO has previously said.
In December, the director-general of IVO told medical magazine Läkartidningen: “The situation is very serious. We have situations where patients spend several days on the emergency wards, in corridors or units where they don’t have the right expertise.”
Swedish vocabulary: a hospital – ett sjukhus
Court to pronounce verdict in historic Swedish spy case
Two Swedish-Iranian brothers who were charged in Sweden last year with “aggravated espionage” for allegedly passing information to Russia’s GRU military intelligence service between 2011 and 2021 are set to receive the court’s verdict on Thursday.
One of them is a former intelligence official who has been employed by Sweden’s security police Säpo, the Swedish Armed Forces and their intelligence service.
It has been described as potentially the most serious spy case in Swedish history.
The brothers deny the allegations.
Swedish vocabulary: a verdict – en dom
‘Islamist dictator’: Swedish far-right leader rejects further concessions to Turkey
Jimmie Åkesson, the leader of the far-right Sweden Democrats, in an interview with Dagens Nyheter slammed Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as an 'Islamist dictator', as the former maintains his objections to ratifying Sweden's Nato application.
There are limits on how far the country would go to appease Turkey to secure its Nato membership “…because it is ultimately an anti-democratic system and a dictator we are dealing with,” Åkesson told the newspaper.
Åkesson also questioned whether Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who prides himself on having never lost a national election over 20 years of rule, could be called democratically elected. Click here to read an English summary of the interview.
Swedish vocabulary: a limit – en gräns
Sweden’s new Centre Party leader to give up Turkish citizenship
Swedish-Turkish citizen Muharrem Demirok, the soon-to-be leader of Sweden’s Centre Party, will renounce his Turkish nationality because of his new role, said the party.
Aftonbladet columnist Peter Kadhammar was first to report that Demirok would be renouncing his Turkish citizenship, in a column questioning Sweden’s “weirdly carefree attitude to dual citizenships”. Read The Local’s Nordic editor’s thoughts about the emerging debate about dual citizenship in Sweden in our other article HERE.
Demirok, a former deputy mayor of the city of Linköping in central Sweden, was elected to the Swedish parliament in 2022 and is expected to be voted in as leader of the Centre Party at the party’s congress in February, taking over from Annie Lööf.
He has family ties to Turkey and became a Swedish citizen at the age of 21.
Demirok is not the only senior politician who has dual citizenship. Business and Energy Minister Ebba Busch, leader of the Christian Democrats, is Swedish-Norwegian.
Swedish vocabulary: renounce – avsäga sig
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.