European Union budget controls? Only for countries with financial problems, says Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt who feels it unfair that Sweden’s shining performance be treated the same as countries with runaway budgets. The European Commission’s plan to scrutinize the budgets of nation states before they go to national parliaments did not go down well in Sweden, a country that claims “good public finances” as other countries sink under the weight of soaring debt. The EC, however, brands Sweden as “optimistic” and highlighted that last year its economy suffered its largest annual setback since World War II when GDP dropped 4.9% from 2008. The deficit is another thorny issue as it is expected to swell to 3.4%, above the allowed 3% level. Worrying numbers from the workforce too: in just one month, from February to April, unemployment jumped from 9.1% to 9.8%.
Voices from the field:
Community activist Marium Osman Sherifay, chairperson of the Swedish Centre Against Racism, depicts a Sweden that is more rough than diamond. In the Stockholm neighbourhood of Rinkeby social tensions burst into violent riots in early June. A symptom of the recent economic crisis? Certainly – no jobs means no future. But the solutions are not so easily divined. Read the full interview here
