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Almedalen: Sweden’s annual politics extravaganza kicks off on Gotland

Thousands of people from Sweden's political, business and media elite gather each year on the island of Gotland for a week of events and seminars, and the 2019 edition of the event has just begun.

Published: 1 July 2019 07:24 CEST
Almedalen: Sweden's annual politics extravaganza kicks off on Gotland
Visitors arrive at Almedalen for the festival's first day, dedicated to the Green Party. Photo: Henrik Montgomery / TT

Almedalen, the name given to the eight-day event, began on June 30th this year and will continue on Sunday, June 7th. Each of Sweden's major political parties has a day dedicated to them, so the length of the festival is determined by how many parties are represented in the country's parliament at the time.

More than 40,000 people typically attend Almedalen, 95 percent of them coming from outside Gotland. 

The 2019 event has around 750 fewer events than the previous year — around 3,550 in total — which could be because 2018 was both Almedalen's 50-year anniversary and took place in an election year.

The decline in events could also show falling interest in the event. Almedalen began began 1968 when Social Democrat Olof Palme, who would go on to become prime minister, gave an impromptu speech while his family was spending their summer holiday on Gotland. This year, prime minister Stefan Löfven will not attend the event, with three other current ministers also skipping Almedalen.

Instead of appearing at Almedalen, Löfven will go on a tour of the country, which he also did in 2017. 

READ ALSO: Ten things that make a visit to Gotland unforgettable

Vocabulary

island – ö

parliament – riksdag

event – evenemang

prime minister – statsminister

tour – turné

We're aiming to help our readers improve their Swedish by translating vocabulary from some of our news stories. Did you find it useful? Do you have any suggestions? Let us know.

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NORTHVOLT

Northvolt warns work permit salary threshold could jeopardise Sweden’s green transition

Sweden’s minimum salary threshold for work permits has increased by almost 120 percent in less than a year, and there are plans to increase it again to the median salary next summer. Battery manufacturers Northvolt warns that this could stop the company from hiring and retaining key workers.

Published: 3 July 2024 12:32 CEST
Northvolt warns work permit salary threshold could jeopardise Sweden's green transition

“Northvolt’s extensive labour requirements in northern Sweden cannot currently be met by permanently established workers in Sweden or within the EU,” the company wrote in a response to the government’s proposal to raise the salary threshold to the median salary, currently 35,600 kronor.

“This applies in particular to machine operators and technicians, whose minimum wages under collective bargaining agreements are lower than the median wage, and therefore are particularly vulnerable in this context.”

The EU has highlighted qualified machine operators and technicians as professions which are particularly hard to source within the bloc, meaning companies often have no choice but to source these workers from non-EU countries.

Northvolt has the added complication of being located in northern Sweden, an area which in general often struggles to find key workers in a number of industries, and the company isn’t convinced that enough is being done to fix this.

“Northvolt does not believe that the government and the Public Employment Service’s measures to promote geographic mobility in the Swedish labour market is going to be able to cover the company’s need for labour,” it wrote, while adding that it believes the proposed hike to the work permit salary threshold could have “significant consequences” for its facility in Skellefteå.

“Aside from the direct effects on the company, Northvolt sees a risk that staffing in healthcare, services and infrastructure in northern Sweden could be negatively affected by the salary threshold, which would indirectly affect Northvolt’s expansion.”

In addition to this, the company deems the proposed exemptions to the salary threshold – these would be put forward by the Migration Agency and the Public Employment Service based on professions where there’s a labour shortage – to be insufficient and unpredictable.

Northvolt’s criticism highlighted the fact that the exemptions are based on a model which is currently under development and which may not be ready by the time the law is due to come into force, as well as the fact that professions with a labour shortage will be defined using a so-called SSYK code.

Some key roles for Northvolt to do with battery production do not have one of these codes, as they are relatively new roles.

“It remains to be seen how the proposed model would effectively be able to identify professions with a labour shortage when they don’t have an SSYK code,” the company wrote, adding that this all makes it harder for the company to plan, for example, will an employee who is granted a work permit once be eligible for renewal two years later?

“The employee in that situation would risk being deported from Sweden. If that were to happen, it would be deeply unfair for the employee who has contributed to supporting Swedish society in a role where there is a shortage, and a catastrophe for the employer who has invested years of education and talent in the employee.”

“This lack of predictability can be compared to earlier notorious so-called kompetensutvisningar (talent deportations), and will further complicate the recruitment or necessary talent,” it wrote.

TALENT DEPORTATIONS:

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