When S-leader Magdalena Andersson presented the draft of the new party programme, she spoke of both renewal and returning to the roots, two circumstances that can be difficult to reconcile.
Still, there are undoubtedly big changes between the current party program, adopted in 2013, and the draft new party program presented on Monday.
And a lot has happened in both the world and Sweden since 2013. The refugee crisis had not occurred, and S was still behind what was called a generous refugee policy. Crime was not a big issue for S, in fact it was not even mentioned in the old party programme. Nuclear power would also be phased out.
Replaced freedom of alliance
Today, the tone is different. In the new party program it is stated that the migration policy must be strict, and a whole section is devoted to the fight against crime with demands for, among other things, tougher punishments. Energy production must be “fossil-free”, which means that nuclear power will remain for the foreseeable future. Only in the “long term” can electricity production become completely renewable.
The freedom of alliance, which was given to S in the party program in 2013, has been replaced with NATO membership. No nuclear weapons on Swedish territory, writes S in the draft, but gone is the wording from 2013 that Sweden must sign the Convention on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. It is not compatible with NATO membership.
The tone sharpens
Magdalena Andersson says based on the changes that are now proposed that it is a renewed party that will face the voters in the next election campaign. The new party program undoubtedly implies a tougher political profile, but several of the changes are already S-politics today and will probably not be perceived by the voters as particularly much of a renewal. The changes are also largely about an adaptation to everything that has happened in the outside world in the last decade and to a new political situation in Sweden.
At the same time, the tone is sharpened against what S calls market failure, that is, private alternatives in schools, care and social care. It will become an important part of the party’s political message in the next election campaign.