Busch says Tidö pact is a means and may pressure allies

Christian Democrat leader Ebba Busch says her party currently gets the most political leverage through cooperation with the Tidö parties, but could reconsider the arrangement if that changes, SVT reports.

“Tidö is a means” of achieving a better Sweden, Busch told SVT while on a campaign bus tour. “If that were to change, we would have to review it. But we are not there now.”

The Christian Democrats are campaigning to govern with the other Tidö parties. At the same time, Busch has said she could form a government with the Social Democrats in an “exceptional situation”.

Asked what the minimum conditions for such a situation would be, Busch said they could not be clearly defined in advance.

Her position has caused friction within the Tidö cooperation. Busch’s overtures towards Social Democratic leader Magdalena Andersson have angered Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Åkesson, who questioned whether she could be trusted.

The two party leaders met on Sunday. Busch said afterwards that she had not changed her position, while Åkesson said he still had doubts.

Busch said that if a blue and yellow government could be formed, that was what the Christian Democrats would create. If not, she said, the party could not know in advance what situation it would cooperate with the Social Democrats in.

She added that the parties had shown they were not afraid of a snap election, but said she did not believe the Swedish public wanted one. Instead, voters should support four more years of a blue and yellow government, she said.

One of the Christian Democrats’ key election promises is to bring healthcare under state control, a policy the party also campaigned on four years ago. Busch believes it will be easier to secure the party’s demands after an election victory this time, partly because it has more alternatives.

“It means that it is not so easy to take us for granted,” Busch said of the party’s position. “It clearly gives us a stronger negotiating position.”

She said the Alliance had been a means of reaching a goal, and that the Tidö cooperation was now a means of reaching the goal of a better Sweden.

Busch said the Christian Democrats had concluded that they would get the most from their policies through the blue and yellow grouping, but would review that assessment if circumstances changed.