Scandinavia

An open letter to Göran Persson from the Left Party

This is the translated text of the open letter to the Minister of State Göran Persson which was published in Swedish on the Left Party’s website at: http://www2.vansterpartiet.se/val/template/arkiv/?pressID=48 In the Social Democrat election manifesto that you, together with the party secretary, will soon present we expect a number of promises on urgent welfare reforms. It is also to be expected that you will call attention to the fact that unemployment is still the most important election issue. The question is then if you are prepared also to carry out a concrete policy for full employment...

Electoral meltdown for Sweden's Left Party?

According to the most recent opinion polls published in todays newspapers, the Left Party currently stand at 3.6%- the partys lowest level of support since April 1994. Parties require at least 4% of the overall national vote in order to gain representation in the Riksdag, so if this figure was repeated in the election on September 17th, the Left Party wold lose all of its 30 current seats in the Riksdag. The drop in Left Party support has been dramatic. The party took 8.4% of the vote in the 2002 elections and immediatly after Lars Ohly became leader in November 2003, the partys opinon poll...

Swedish elections: left set to lose grip on power?

Elections to the Swedish Riksdag (parliament) and kommuner (local councils) take place on the 17th September and heavy gains are expected to be made by the right wing alliance at the expense of both the ruling Social Democrats (SAP), and the Left Party which has been a supporter of the Social Democrat government. Opinion polls currently put support for the "Alliance for Sweden" (a right wing alliance made up of four different liberal and conservative parties) at 51% with the SAP at 34.1%, Left Party at 5.9% and Green Party at 4.5%. Unlike the right wing alliance, these three left parties have...

Swedish left coalition on brink of collapse

Sweden has been governed since 1994 by a loose coalition of the Social Democrats (SAP), Left Party (VP) and the Green Party. The SAP makes up the largest part of this coalition and, since the 2002 election, holds 40% of seats in the Riksdag [Parliament] (the VP has 8.3% and Greens 4.6%). All cabinet and ministerial offices are filled by the SAP. The nature of the Swedish political system means that the party with the largest numbers of seats is entitled to form a government but requires majority support to pass legislation. This has led to the creation of unofficial Right and Left blocs, with...

Socialist success in Danish elections

By Bjarke Friborg, Red-Green Alliance On 8 February the Danish right wing government secured four more years in power. The Conservatives and the Liberal party, together with their far right support party Dansk Folkeparti, now hold 93 of the 179 mandates, or three more than needed to form a majority. On the other hand, the opposition bloc gained more votes and mandates than in 2001. The main beneficiary was the Social Liberal party (“the Radicals”), doubling its support to 10% in total and gaining eight new mandates — making their group the same size as the Conservatives. In the elections they...

The Danish left and the EU

By Bjarke Friborg With victory for the social democrats and setback for the "eurosceptics" an established tradition in Denmark seems to have been broken. For the left wing it places the question of an anticapitalist answer to the European integration high on the agenda. Since the first elections for the European Parliament in 1979 the Danish results seems to have been characterised by two constants. First of all - and in common with almost all the other countries - the relatively low participation compared with national elections (varying between 46,2% and 52,9% versus normally around 70-80%)...

Check out these blogs

Ninety-minute nationalist - socialist, anti-nationalist, blog from Edinburgh. Bjarke pa net - a Danish Marxist's blog, contains material in English as well as Danish.

Swedish no will not boost Euro-left

By Rhodri Evans On 14 September Sweden voted 56% to 42% against joining the euro. The Social Democratic government, the main opposition parties, and the major newspapers all favoured the euro. But the voters rebelled. Blue collar workers, 18 to 30 year olds, and the people of small towns in the north of the country all voted strongly to keep Sweden's separate currency, the krona. The Swedish result makes it much more unlikely that Tony Blair will go for a referendum on euro entry in Britain any time soon. It also signals trouble for the European Union. The EU is drafting a new constitution...

Wonderful Copenhagen!

Alan Turvey reports To coincide with the European Union summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, in mid-December, at which ten eastern and central European states were admitted to membership, thousands of mainly young people demonstrated in the bitter Scandinavian cold - in the main not against "the EU" or "Europe" as such, but against "the capitalist EU". At the main demonstration, on Saturday 15 December I was pleasantly surprised by the internationalist tone of the speeches and many placards at the opening rally with speakers from various trade unions and social movements (such as the anti-war...

Norwegian union pledges support for OILC

We are informed that the British Offshore Industry Liaison Committee, OILC, will announced its transition from being a rank-and-file organisation to becoming an independent trade union later today [Friday 4 September]. Let it be known throughout the British offshore industry that OFS, Norway's leading offshore union, is applauding and welcoming your decision. We are organising 6,000 offshore workers on the Norwegian Continental Shelf; highly skilled engineers and technicians as well as utility and catering personnel; oil company employees on fixed installations as well as contracting personnel...

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