Sweden’s application to join NATO has led its government to face turbulent days. But it seems that the Swedish Parliament has avoided a government crisis by rejecting on Tuesday a motion of censure against the Minister of Justice and the Interior, Morgan Johansson, since the Prime Minister, Magdalena Andersson, had threatened the resignation of the Social Democratic Executive in minority if that initiative went ahead.
The motion obtained 174 votes for 97 against, 70 abstentions and 8 absences, but it was one of the majority of the Chamber, a condition established by the Swedish system so that it can prosper.
The result was expected, after the government closed an agreement at the last minute with the independent deputy Amineh Kakabaveh, who compromised her abstention. Kakabaveh justified her decision by the minister’s commitment to issues of gender and sexist violence and because the Social Democrats have assured him that there will be no changes in the relationship with the Kurdish movements.
That last aspect was already essential for the deputy, of Kurdish-Iranian origin, to allow the current government to be elected by Parliament last November and is one of the reasons Turkey alludes to for vetoing Sweden’s entry into NATO.
Sweden and Finland broke weeks ago with their historical non-alignment by announcing their request to join the Alliance, justified by the Russian military intervention in Ukraine, but Ankara maintains its veto, demanding a change in their policy towards the Kurds, including support for the militias in Syria, which these countries and the rest of the European Union do not consider to be terrorists.
“Sweden is in a vulnerable situation and needs a strong government, so it is good that the Justice Minister can continue with his work,” said Andersson, who a few days ago had accused the opposition of “irresponsible” for promoting a motion in the midst of negotiations to join NATO and three months before the general elections.
Andersson, the first woman to lead an Executive in Sweden, heads a Government with just over a quarter of the seats in Parliament, after a crisis caused by the departure of the Green coalition and having to resign a few hours after having been chosen for the first time.
Sweden has been experiencing a situation of political instability for years due to the “sanitary cordon” of several far-right parties, which has allowed a minority red-green Executive to govern since 2014 with the Social Democrat Stefan Löfven at the helm.
Last June, Löfven became the first acting head of government to lose a motion of no confidence in Sweden, although he returned to power two weeks later, until in August he unexpectedly announced that he would leave office to pave the way for his successor. ahead of the elections.
In the last two years, the isolation of the extreme right has been cracking, with conservatives and Christian Democrats at the helm, going from the first exploratory contacts to negotiating budgets.
