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POLITICS

Young leader picked by Christian Democrats

Ebba Busch Thor, 28, has been nominated as the new leader of Sweden's centre-right Christian Democrat party, the smallest political group in the Swedish parliament.

Published: 13 March 2015 14:48 CET
Young leader picked by Christian Democrats
Ebba Busch Thor who is set to lead the Christian Democrats. Photo: TT
The politician, who is currently a councillor in the student city Uppsala, north of Stockholm, is set to take over from Göran Hägglund, who was Minister for Health and Social Affairs in the previous coalition government, led by Fredrik Reinfeldt.
 
He resigned in January after stating that "eleven years as party leader takes its toll".
 
At a press conference to announce her nomination, Busch Thor told Swedish media: "I am extremely happy and grateful for the confidence that Christian Democrat members and the nomination committee have given me".
 

Göran Hägglund announced his resignation in January. Photo: TT
 
Bush Thor added that she planned to promote the party's traditional conservative values and to fight to increase rights for families in Sweden.
 
Busch Thor still needs to be formally elected by the Christan Democrats at a conference in Stockholm on April 25th, but is currently expected to go unchallenged.
 
If selected, she will become the youngest current political leader in the Riksdag. Annie Lööf, who is head of the Centre Party and Green Party co-leader Gustav Fridolin, both now 31, were nominated by their respective parties at the same age as Busch Thor.
 
A graduate in Peace and Conflict Studies at Uppsala University, she also grew up in the nearby town of Gunsta and has been active in the Christian Democrats since 2006.
 
Nominating committee chairwoman Chatrine Pålsson Ahlgren told the news agency TT that it had not been a difficult choice after the other finalist in the race, Jakob Forssmed, dropped out. 
 
"Ebba is an extremely knowledgeable and competent Christian Democrat. A good captain of the Christian Democrats' ship," she said.
 
But the 28-year-old takes over a struggling party. The Christian Democrats only just reached the four percent threshold needed to secure seats in the Swedish parliament in the last general election in September 2014, having previously held top ministerial posts as part of the Alliance – the bloc of four centre-right parties that made up Fredrik Reinfeldt's coalition.
 
“Traditionally, it’s a very religious party, but they have been trying to build wider support for a while now, like the CDU in Germany,” political scientist Jörgen Hermansson at Uppsala University told The Local last month.

POLITICS

Full steam ahead for Swedish economy in new three-part budget bill

Sweden has won the fight against inflation and expects GDP to grow next year, Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson proudly proclaimed as she presented the government's budget bill for 2025.

Published: 19 September 2024 08:33 CEST
Full steam ahead for Swedish economy in new three-part budget bill

“Going forward, the task will be to ensure that high inflation does not return, and at the same time to implement reforms and investments that build a more prosperous, safer and more secure Sweden for generations to come,” said Svantesson in a statement on Thursday morning.

The government predicts that Swedish GDP will grow 2.5 percent next year followed by 3.2 percent 2026.

Unemployment, however, is expected to remain unchanged at 8.3 percent in 2025, only beginning to drop in 2026 (7.9 percent, according to the government’s predictions, followed by 7.6 percent in 2027).

Svantesson told a press conference that a strong focus on economic growth would create jobs.

The 2025 budget, worked out in collaboration between the right-wing government coalition and far-right Sweden Democrats, is far more expansionary than the restrained budget Svantesson presented last year when Sweden was still fighting high inflation: 60 billion kronor towards new reforms rather than 39 billion kronor for 2024. Almost half, 27 billion kronor, will go towards funding lower taxes.

ANALYSIS:

Svantesson highlighted three areas in which new reforms are prioritised:

  • Strengthening household purchasing power after several years of the high cost of living putting a strain on household budgets, with reforms set to push the tax burden to its lowest level since 1980, according to the government.
  • Reinstating the “work first” principle, meaning that people should work rather than live on benefits. Some of the measures include language training for parents born abroad and increasing the number of places in vocational adult education.
  • Increasing growth, focusing on investments in research, infrastructure and electricity supply.

In the debate in parliament on Thursday, the centre-left opposition is expected to criticise the government for lowering taxes for high earners and not investing enough in welfare. 

Investments in healthcare, social care and education are significantly reduced in this budget compared to last year: down from 16 billion kronor to 7.5 billion kronor. 

Meanwhile, the hike of the employment tax credit (jobbskatteavdraget) – a tax reduction given to people who pay tax on their job income – is expected to lead to a 3,671 kronor tax cut for people on the median salary of 462,000 kronor per year.

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