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The Minister of Finance is the key in a government.
Some believe that the post is even heavier than the Prime Minister’s job.
My Rohwedder traveled with an Elisabeth Svantesson. There she talks about her political compass and what it means to her as a politician to meet people and their destinies.
ⓘ The summary is made with the support of AI tools from OpenAI and quality assured by Aftonbladet. Read our AI policy here.
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Elisabeth Svantesson has taken a firm grip on the barrel of a marine cannon. She visits BAE Systems Bofors in Karlskoga. The Archer weapon system that Sweden sent to Ukraine is manufactured here.
– A few years ago, it was hardly possible to tell that you worked in the arms industry, says Lena Gillström, CEO at Bofors in Karlskoga.
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full screenElisabeth Svantesson is finance minister in a time of rearmament. Photo: Magnus Sandberg
At best it was met with disinterest, at worst with contempt. But these are new times for the arms industry, and at BAE Systems Bofors we know that it starts with politics. Therefore, they are happy to be visited by Elisabeth Svantesson – she is the one who keeps the money.
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full screenSvantesson during the visit to Karlskoga. Photo: Jerker Ivarsson
Elisabeth Svantesson is finance minister in a new era. Sweden must equip itself and it will cost money, a lot of money. At the same time, we are in the middle of what the finance minister himself describes as an economic winter. Economic winter can well be seen as a summary of recession, increased unemployment and welfare that is on its knees.
“Freedom strong with us”
– We are now putting huge resources into building defence, which no finance minister has done, I don’t even know when, says Svantesson and continues:
– The state’s most important task must be to ensure that we build security, and then it is also about building the judiciary and the police. I have to make sure there is money for it. While we are in a difficult economic environment.
– We want to ensure that purchasing power is not completely eroded, strengthen the line of work and lower taxes, for example.
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fullscreen As finance minister, Svantesson advocates a restrained economic policy. Photo: Magnus Sandberg
Elisabeth Svantesson has been Minister of Finance for a year and a half. Most of this time she has been talking about fighting inflation and money for welfare. A recurring criticism has been that fiscal policy has not been moderate enough.
– Freedom and responsibility lie very strongly, with us (the Moderates, editor’s note) and also with me. That is, freedom to live the life you want. Freedom that you can live on your own salary, that you are not dependent on others in that way.
– But also responsibility, and then I don’t just think that we should take responsibility for ourselves but also responsibility for others. And that’s like my base plate.
It is not an easy thing to depend on Elisabeth Svantesson, she is always one step ahead. She is first up the stairs, first to have coffee, first to finish her lunch. After the meeting at BAE Systems Bofors, she meets local moderates in Karlskoga. Elisabeth Svantesson has fetched coffee for everyone before they have even eaten.
“The profits stick out in people’s eyes”
As finance minister, Svantesson advocates a restrained economic policy. Not always a completely popular attitude after a change of power and rarely a popular attitude among local politicians.
– There is an expectation that we will do everything, but we do one reform at a time and one budget at a time, says Svantesson.
When she opens up for questions, a local moderate wonders about the banks’ profits. It sticks in people’s eyes, he says. Svantesson seems to agree.
– You have to be able to make a profit, but this is absurd, she replies.
– It is provocative. I have heard defense speeches from some banks and I am ashamed of their argumentation.
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On the Berga amphibious flotilla.
1 / 2Photo: Magnus Sandberg
According to Svantesson, the answer is that the government is now working on reviewing the mortgages, that it will be easier to change banks and easier to pay off your loans than it is today.
But as a municipal or regional politician today, you have bigger problems than the banks’ profits.
A concern that the local moderates in Karlskoga share with large parts of the country is how municipalities and regions will get through 2024 without major cuts in their operations. The country’s regions in particular are having a tough time. Above all, the high inflation has led to large costs for salaries and pensions, and almost all regions of the country have flagged cuts in healthcare.
– We are prepared to push for more, but negotiations are now underway, says Elisabeth Svantesson.
Call themselves relationship politicians
The government and the Sweden Democrats have begun negotiations ahead of the spring budget. More money will come to regions above all, but Svantesson does not want to answer how much. She also does not want to get into the twists and turns about whether or not Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson really promised to ensure that no health care workers are laid off. Even Ulf Kristersson no longer seems completely sure of what he has said.
Svantesson is also critical of how the regions managed their finances.
– Basically, I hope, and mean that several of them have to work on making things smarter. When I say efficiency, I don’t mean that people should quit their jobs, but I mean that you can do things in a better way.
– It’s a discussion we also have at home around the kitchen table, me and my husband, who is a nurse.
– There are definitely structural reforms to be made.
Elisabeth Svantesson describes herself as a relationship politician, that it is in the human meeting that she gathers strength and energy and that relationships are also important for political agreements. For her, there are two supporting parts in politics.
One place she often returns to is the non-profit organization By Your Side. By your side is run by the passionate Jeanette Höglund and is a place where vulnerable and poor pensioners can come and have breakfast, lunch or dinner, get help with various things and, above all, get support and company. The organization has seen an increase in the number of vulnerable and poor people who come to them, not least elderly people from Ukraine.
– It is tough, of course, for the Ukrainians, but it is for everyone. They have the same levels as all asylum seekers.
– What we still do for the Ukrainians here in Sweden: they have housing, they meet people. Many have started working and the children go to school.
– But of course it is tough.
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fullscreen “There is a war in our immediate area that we want and must be involved in,” says Svantesson. Photo: Magnus Sandberg
Presented new support package
There are no promises from Svantesson to give the Ukrainian refugees more money at the moment.
And it is Ukraine and Russia’s invasion that will mark Elisabeth Svantesson’s time as finance minister.
How does the large aid to Ukraine affect the Swedish economy?
– Support for Ukraine is an absolute must. It is a war in our neighborhood that we want and must be engaged in. Putin must not win that war.
– Of course it affects the economy, but we can afford it.
This week, the finance minister, together with the prime minister and the defense minister, presented Sweden’s fifteenth aid package to Ukraine. All in all, a package of over seven billion kroner. Among other things, Sweden is to send Stridsbåt 90 to Ukraine.
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full screenSvantesson during the visit to Berga. Photo: Magnus Sandberg
In addition to supporting Ukraine so that they win the war, Sweden needs to equip itself, major infrastructure investments are needed in the coming years, welfare needs major support and nuclear power must be built.
Many want money from Elisabeth Svantesson.
How these investments are to be financed lies smoldering like an unresolved volcano of conflict, not only in politics at large but also in government.
“My task to resist”
In order to free up money for investments, politicians have begun to look at the economic framework, which regulates how much money a government can spend and how much it needs to spend on paying off Sweden’s national debt. Today, Sweden has a surplus target, which means that the state must always save and build up its financial buffer. The discussion is now about switching to a balance target or a deficit target instead.
A balance target means that it can go even, and with a deficit the government can borrow for investments.
Among other things, Svantesson’s government partners the Christian Democrats and Ebba Busch have talked about switching to a deficit target in order to be able to make large investments in, among other things, infrastructure.
To put it mildly, Elisabeth Svantesson thinks it’s a bad idea.
– I find that interesting, how quickly a discussion and a basic foundation can just capsize. From the fact that it’s good that we have order and order, to now sort of going over completely to the other side and just pushing on here because the needs are so great.
– I think it’s interesting and I think it’s also my job to resist.
In November, a parliamentary group will present its views on what the goal might look like. The moderates lean towards a goal of balance. According to the Ministry of Finance’s calculations, it would give 20 billion extra a year to invest in different things.
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full screen Elisabeth Svantesson does not really want to answer questions about her ambitions and her future in the party. Photo: Magnus Sandberg
Hope for lightening in 2025
– I do not rule out changing the goal itself, but for me and for us Moderates, it is a huge political risk to plan several decades ahead with a deficit. Then you trust that politicians in 10-15 years will be able to cope with it.
Finance ministers often keep a high profile. Apart from the prime minister, the finance minister is the person with the most power in the government. Some might even argue that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has more power because it holds the money. If finance says no, then nothing will happen. It has also happened that a finance minister becomes party leader and prime minister. Göran Persson and Magdalena Andersson were both finance ministers before becoming party leaders.
She does not really want to answer what Elisabeth Svantesson’s ambitions and future in the party look like. She is satisfied with her job as finance minister.
– I don’t think about it at all, other than that I will do everything I can.
Do you have party leadership ambitions?
– No, I have been deputy party leader since 2015 and it has been a lot of fun.
– I love the Moderates.
According to the forecasts, it will be a tough year in 2024. Elisabeth Svantesson has hopes for a brighter economy as early as 2025.
What is your target image for the economy at the end of this mandate?
– We do not have an economic winter. We are in for at least a spring and preferably a summer in 2026. And that people have regained their purchasing power. I think that is very important.
– That you feel that these tough years are behind us and now we have a different time ahead of us.
– Spring feelings simply.
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