Center-linked groups criticise exclusion from Center Party meeting

Three organisations with close ties to the Center Party have criticised their exclusion from a meeting convened by party leader Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist, SVT reported. Företagarna, the Swedish Federation of Business Owners, the Farmers’ Federation LRF and employers’ organisation Almega are not invited to Friday’s meeting on Lidingö.

The organisations are formally independent of the party, but each has had people with Center Party connections in senior positions. Företagarna’s current chief executive, Magnus Demervall, previously led the party’s staff under Annie Lööf. He called it “remarkable” that the organisers had invited public-sector employers, large companies and trade unions but left out the perspectives of small and medium-sized businesses.

Företagarna is close to the Center Party on some issues, including the proposed abolition of the qualifying deduction for sick pay, which is supported by the Social Democrats, the Left Party and the Greens. The Center Party opposes the proposal.

Almega’s press chief, Erik Juhlin, said it was unfortunate that the organisation had not been invited, given that the service sector employs about half of Sweden’s private-sector workers and is directly affected by the issues under discussion. He added that the important thing was for decision-makers to listen to and consider the business sector’s views.

The Center Party has close links with LRF, reflecting its history as a farmers’ party. Anna-Karin Hatt, who became Center Party leader in 2025, previously led LRF. The organisation’s chair, Palle Borgström, said LRF would have welcomed the chance to contribute perspectives on food production and forestry as a driver of growth. He added that LRF maintained regular dialogue with all parties and had recently held good discussions with the Center Party leadership.

People familiar with the planning said one reason for excluding the organisations was to avoid the gathering being seen as a “Center Party meeting”. The event, at a conference venue on Lidingö outside central Stockholm, is intended to give the three other red-green parties a shared assessment from external participants.

Those invited to provide that assessment 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 chairs of TCO, LO and Saco, Sweden’s three major trade union confederations. Other participants include deputy National Police Commissioner Stefan Hector, Swedish Institute of International Affairs director Jakob Hallgren and Fossil Free Sweden national coordinator Svante Axelson. The Center Party has invited the other parties’ leaders, party secretaries, parliamentary group leaders and economic policy spokespersons.