Speaker to call party leaders after Centre Party fails to forge centrist government
The speaker of Sweden's parliament is set to speak to the party leaders by telephone, after Centre Party leader Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist failed to get them to agree on a centrist government.
According to a statement from speaker Andreas Norlén's office, he will announce the next step in the government-building process in due course.
Thand Ringqvist was tasked with exploring the viability of a centrist coalition by the speaker last Monday. Over the past week, she met with the leaders of all other parliamentary parties.
She has now formally reported back to Norlén, conceding that there is currently no parliamentary majority for her proposed centrist coalition – under which the Christian Democrats, Liberals, Green Party and Centre Party would back Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson as prime minister.
"Right now, we can lay that to rest," she told a press conference on Monday, saying that "party-political gridlocks" made it impossible to pull off for the time being.
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She maintained, however, that her discussions showed that there is a parliamentary majority in favour of "centrist policies".
"There is no broad appetite for a sharp left turn," she said.
"The Centre Party has taken initiatives on several fronts. It is now up to other parties to see what they can do," she added.
According to Thand Ringqvist, the parties' red lines remain firmly in place – including her own party's refusal to cooperate with either the Left Party or the far-right Sweden Democrats.
"Every party with red lines needs to reflect on how they intend to handle them," she said.
The Centre Party has previously stated it is prepared to allow a minority Social Democratic single-party government to take office, provided it pursues centrist policies. Thand Ringqvist stood by that position.
Nor has she entirely ruled out a centrist administration further down the line, perhaps ahead of a fourth prime ministerial confirmation vote.
"I still think a centrist government could be feasible at a later stage," she said.
Both Liberal leader Simona Mohamsson and Christian Democrat leader Ebba Busch have consistently maintained that Moderate Party leader Ulf Kristersson remains their candidate for prime minister.
"It is now up to the speaker to decide how this process moves forward," Thand Ringqvist concluded. (TT/The Local)
Swedish vocabulary: the speaker – talmannen
Swedish security firm pays out 50,000 kronor over age discrimination
A 60-year-old woman who was rejected for a job because of her age has been awarded 50,000 kronor in compensation, reports union magazine Kollega.
The incident took place in November 2025, when the then 60-year-old applied for a position as marketing manager at a security firm. After hearing nothing back – despite feeling well-qualified for the role – she sent a follow-up email to the hiring manager.
The response she received was that the company was looking for "someone who was where she had been in 1994".
The woman took the matter to her trade union, which initiated formal legal proceedings against the employer.
"It is difficult to understand the reasoning: in what way would her competence have disappeared since 1994?" said Hanna Mikaelsson, a representative at the union Akademikerförbundet SSR.
With the case on the verge of heading to court, the company offered the woman 50,000 kronor in settlement, which she has accepted. (TT/The Local)
Swedish vocabulary: age – ålder
EU agrees to hike Baltic herring quotas despite Swedish objections
Herring fishing in the Baltic Sea will be allowed to increase next year, despite pushback from Sweden.
The Swedish government nevertheless views the upcoming quotas as acceptable and relatively modest, while the opposition branded the decision outright "stupid".
Under the final agreement reached in EU negotiations, Baltic herring quotas in the Bothnian Sea and Bothnian Bay will rise by just under 12 percent, rather than the 3 percent originally proposed by the European Commission.
In the central Baltic, the catch limit will leap by a whopping 71 percent compared to this year – far higher than the 49 percent increase the EU Commission had suggested.
Sweden's Rural Affairs Minister Peter Kullgren, of the Christian Democrats, pointed out that the agreed quotas remain below the cap recommended by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES).
"Sweden's starting point was naturally much lower, but at the same time, every negotiation involves trade-offs. Furthermore, this decision falls within the mandate I received from a unanimous EU committee in parliament," Kullgren said following the deal.
"I could have accepted the Commission's original proposal, but given that no one else shared that position, I am satisfied with the result," he added.
The government also expressed satisfaction that, together with allied member states, it managed to safeguard small-scale, artisanal inshore herring fishing using nets in the western Baltic.
EU ministers additionally agreed to allow recreational anglers to continue landing salmon, provided the fish are farmed.
Across the political aisle, however, the deal was met with fierce condemnation.
"Straight-up stupid. At the very first sign that stocks might be recovering, ministers have completely lost their senses and decided once again to let large-scale industrial trawlers step on the gas and empty the Baltic," Centre Party MEP Emma Ytterell told news agency TT.
Ahead of the talks, a Swedish recreational angling association sent an open letter to Finland in an effort to rally Helsinki behind Sweden's more conservationist stance.
Kullgren welcomed that pressure.
"A tremendous number of people are engaged in fisheries issues. I usually say: 'Don't yell at me, we want the same thing.' It's about influencing other countries in a decision-making system where many voices have a say," the minister noted. (TT/The Local)
Swedish vocabulary: Baltic herring – strömming (specifically herring fished east of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea, which are generally smaller and have a lower fat content than Atlantic herring, or sill)
Woman dies after being hit by bus in central Lund
A woman in her 80s has died after being struck by a bus in central Lund, police have confirmed.
Emergency services were alerted to the collision in the university town in southern Sweden, which occurred on a side street near the central station, at around 6pm on Monday. The woman was taken to hospital by ambulance, but at 9.30pm authorities confirmed she had died.
The incident is being investigated as gross negligence causing another person's death, though no one has formally been notified of suspicion at this stage. Police plan to review witness statements and CCTV footage.
"Blood samples have been taken from the bus driver," TT quoted police spokesperson Jakob Palmgren as saying.
Public transport operator Skånetrafiken told the Sydsvenskan newspaper that the bus was not carrying any passengers, as it was en route to the route's first stop.
Police have seized the bus for a forensic examination. The collision took place at a pedestrian crossing, though officers cannot yet confirm how the incident unfolded. (TT/The Local)
Swedish vocabulary: to confirm – att bekräfta
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