Today in Sweden: A roundup of the latest news on Friday
Over-65s advised to take autumn Covid-19 jab, Vattenfall to double investment in power networks, government to slash tax on petrol and diesel, and ethnic associations to lose state funding.
Over-65s advised to take winter booster Covid jab
The Swedish Public Health Agency is advising all people in Sweden who are over 65 or in a risk group to receive a booster jab against Covid-19 when it becomes available later this autumn.
In a press release issued on Friday, the agency said that the new updated vaccine would better protect against new variants of the Covid-19 virus currently circulating in Sweden.
People living in care homes and other people in risk groups will be offered the new vaccine from the middle of October, with other over-65s and people at risk offered it shortly afterwards.
Swedish vocabulary: tillgänglig - available
Vattenfall wants to double investment in power networks
Sweden's state-owned electricity firm Vattenfall has announced plans to nearly double its annual investments in its energy distribution networks from around 5 billion kronor to up to 10 billion kronor within the next two to years.
The cost of the increase will mainly be borne by industrial electricity consumers, but individual home owners will also have to pay higher charges.
The aim is to double transmission capacity and connect up new customers, with the investment required to connect up battery factories, fossil fuel-free steelworks and other new green industry customers, but also to allow charging of electric vehicles.
Swedish vocabulary: överföringskapaciteten - transmission capacity
Sweden's government to slash tax on petrol and diesel
Sweden's government has announced plans to slash tax on petrol and diesel next year, cutting revenues by an expected 5.6 billion kronor.
Energy Minister Ebba Busch called the measure "important, necessary, and long-awaited" at a press conference held alongside Oscar Sjöstedt, financial spokesperson for the far-right Sweden Democrats.
The government is proposing to cut the tax on petrol by 1.64 kronor per litre, and the price of diesel by 43 öre per litre in 2024, which, if an extra measure to cut tax on agricultural diesel is included, will cost a total of 6.5 billion kronor.
In the run-up to last September's election, the Moderate, Christian Democrat and Sweden Democrat parties all promised to cut the price of fuel at the pump quickly, with parties promising cuts of as much as 10 kronor per litre for diesel and 5 to 6 kronor per litre for petrol.
Swedish vocabulary: en skattesänkning - a tax reduction
Sweden's government strips funding from ethnic associations
Sweden's government has announced plans to withdraw funding from ethnic associations, arguing that these groups do little to promote integration.
The government will in the coming budget take 18.9 million kronor which goes in state grants to groups like the Swedish-Kurdish Association, the Gambian Association and the Association of Serbian Orthodox women.
"Sweden is a country built on people's movements, but money going towards integration should focus on the activity being carried out, not ethnicity," Sweden's employment and integration minister Johan Pehrson said in a press release. "This is about using money in a better way to combat social exclusion and promote integration."
The grant to ethnic groups was brought in by the previous centre-right Alliance government in 2008, and replaced a previous "grant to organisations which promote integration". In the release, the government said that the proposal was "built on an agreement between the government and the Sweden Democrats".
In an article in the Dagens Nyheter newspaper, Pehrson said that 10 million kronor of money saved would be used to fund a scheme to survey children's Swedish skills.
Swedish vocabulary: etnisk - ethnic
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Over-65s advised to take winter booster Covid jab
The Swedish Public Health Agency is advising all people in Sweden who are over 65 or in a risk group to receive a booster jab against Covid-19 when it becomes available later this autumn.
In a press release issued on Friday, the agency said that the new updated vaccine would better protect against new variants of the Covid-19 virus currently circulating in Sweden.
People living in care homes and other people in risk groups will be offered the new vaccine from the middle of October, with other over-65s and people at risk offered it shortly afterwards.
Swedish vocabulary: tillgänglig - available
Vattenfall wants to double investment in power networks
Sweden's state-owned electricity firm Vattenfall has announced plans to nearly double its annual investments in its energy distribution networks from around 5 billion kronor to up to 10 billion kronor within the next two to years.
The cost of the increase will mainly be borne by industrial electricity consumers, but individual home owners will also have to pay higher charges.
The aim is to double transmission capacity and connect up new customers, with the investment required to connect up battery factories, fossil fuel-free steelworks and other new green industry customers, but also to allow charging of electric vehicles.
Swedish vocabulary: överföringskapaciteten - transmission capacity
Sweden's government to slash tax on petrol and diesel
Sweden's government has announced plans to slash tax on petrol and diesel next year, cutting revenues by an expected 5.6 billion kronor.
Energy Minister Ebba Busch called the measure "important, necessary, and long-awaited" at a press conference held alongside Oscar Sjöstedt, financial spokesperson for the far-right Sweden Democrats.
The government is proposing to cut the tax on petrol by 1.64 kronor per litre, and the price of diesel by 43 öre per litre in 2024, which, if an extra measure to cut tax on agricultural diesel is included, will cost a total of 6.5 billion kronor.
In the run-up to last September's election, the Moderate, Christian Democrat and Sweden Democrat parties all promised to cut the price of fuel at the pump quickly, with parties promising cuts of as much as 10 kronor per litre for diesel and 5 to 6 kronor per litre for petrol.
Swedish vocabulary: en skattesänkning - a tax reduction
Sweden's government strips funding from ethnic associations
Sweden's government has announced plans to withdraw funding from ethnic associations, arguing that these groups do little to promote integration.
The government will in the coming budget take 18.9 million kronor which goes in state grants to groups like the Swedish-Kurdish Association, the Gambian Association and the Association of Serbian Orthodox women.
"Sweden is a country built on people's movements, but money going towards integration should focus on the activity being carried out, not ethnicity," Sweden's employment and integration minister Johan Pehrson said in a press release. "This is about using money in a better way to combat social exclusion and promote integration."
The grant to ethnic groups was brought in by the previous centre-right Alliance government in 2008, and replaced a previous "grant to organisations which promote integration". In the release, the government said that the proposal was "built on an agreement between the government and the Sweden Democrats".
In an article in the Dagens Nyheter newspaper, Pehrson said that 10 million kronor of money saved would be used to fund a scheme to survey children's Swedish skills.
Swedish vocabulary: etnisk - ethnic
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