When Climate and Environment Minister Romina Pourmokhtari presented the government’s climate action plan, the no-confidence motions came like a letter in the mail. On Wednesday morning, the Riksdag will vote. But even if the Center Party, the Green Party and the Left Party want to bring down the climate minister, it is unclear if they have the Social Democrats with them.
– I don’t know that yet, but I expect that they don’t have confidence in the climate minister either, says the Green Party’s spokesperson Daniel Helldén.
The Social Democrats have declined to comment on the matter. One possible reason is that the party leader Magdalena Andersson herself was greatly annoyed when censure was directed at the Social Democratic Minister of Justice Morgan Johansson in 2022. Andersson then threatened a government crisis if the opposition pushed through the censure.
– In Sweden, we have collective decision-making in the government. And if you depose a minister because of political decisions, then you also depose the entire government, Magdalena Andersson said in 2022.
Probably won’t fall anyway
Regardless of the Social Democrats’ attitude, everything points to Romina Pourmokhtari passing the vote of no confidence. A minimum of 175 votes is required to remove a minister, and the opposition does not seem to reach that. But Daniel Helldén hopes that some disaffected liberals can break the party line.
– The three parties that are now coming forward show how important the issue is. Then we’ll see how the Social Democrats do. And I hope that there are some liberals with a climate conscience left who follow our line, says Daniel Helldén.