Centre Party faces pressure to hold red lines at left-green summit

Sweden’s Centre Party is under internal pressure to maintain its opposition to Left Party ministers as leaders of the left-green parties prepare to meet, SVT reports. The party also wants to avoid being blamed for delaying the formation of a government.

Centre Party leader Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist has called the meeting for Friday afternoon at a conference venue on Lidingö, outside Stockholm. Party leaders and other senior representatives from the left-green parties are expected to attend, along with nine outside guests who will share their assessments.

No government negotiations are planned, and the meeting is not expected to resolve the main dispute: the Left Party wants ministerial posts, while the Centre Party will not support a government with Left Party ministers. Centre Party members have welcomed the initiative, with one party source telling SVT that “there is a perception that the Centre Party has been the problem.”

Although the Centre and Left parties will attend the same meeting, people at several levels of the Centre Party say there is strong internal support for keeping the party’s line against Left Party ministers. They also recognise that the Left Party is likely to be needed in some form of cooperation. Thand Ringqvist has not said publicly whether the Centre Party could support such an arrangement, saying that Social Democratic leader Magdalena Andersson, who is leading the consultations, will need to address the issue.

Several Centre Party figures describe a move towards the right as unthinkable. The party’s opposition to the Sweden Democrats is even firmer than its position on the Left Party: the Centre Party does not rule out cooperation with the Left Party outside government, but says the Sweden Democrats must have no political influence. Several people in the party told SVT they consider Moderates leader Ulf Kristersson’s chances of forming a government negligible because it would most likely need Sweden Democrats’ support. “The sharpest line is against the Sweden Democrats,” one Centre Party source said.

Centre Party figures say it is Andersson’s responsibility to resolve the government question. She is due to report to the speaker of parliament on Monday, and a vote on the prime minister can take place no earlier than next Wednesday. At present, she does not appear to have the support needed to become prime minister. “No one has erased any red line,” she said on Tuesday.

The outside guests include Albin Kainelainen, director general of the National Institute of Economic Research; Emelie Värja, chief economist at the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions; Jan-Olof Jacke, chief executive of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise; and the leaders of the TCO, LO and Saco trade union organisations. Also invited are Deputy National Police Commissioner Stefan Hector, Swedish Institute of International Affairs director Jakob Hallgren, and Svante Axelson, national coordinator for Fossil Free Sweden. The Centre Party has invited party leaders, party secretaries, parliamentary group leaders and economic policy spokespeople from the parties.