V ready to compromise a lot for govt post

The Left Party is ready to compromise on most things for a place in a red-green government.

But not about many more billions for welfare.

– We are the guarantor that there will be no reductions in welfare, says V leader Nooshi Dadgostar in a party leader interview with TT.

– It is extremely important that other expenses should not be paid for by the seriously ill in queues or the children in preschool.

The Left Party is going to the election to push for 100,000 more employees in welfare until 2026, both to increase the number as the population grows and to increase the staff density. According to V, it costs up to 70 billion in increased state subsidies until 2026.

Root and root

It is to be paid primarily with tax increases of up to 60 billion, a reduction of 15 billion from previous V-tax proposals. Cutting the tax and tax deductions has been mentioned as a possible partial financing.

– It is a discussion we must return to, we think that people with very high incomes can contribute and we want to remove the commercial elements in school, care and welfare, there is a lot of money that comes back to welfare, claims V- the leader.

The party wants to abolish the waiting period, strengthen health insurance, arrange Swedish prices for electricity and remove the profit interest from the school – “stop the market school” according to the V slogan.

V’s congress tightened the party line last winter to the point that there should be a total ban on profit-making activities in welfare.

The party wants to see very large investments in infrastructure and new technology to cope with climate change.

Higher pensions are also on the priority list.

Relationship problems

A problem for V is that others in an imagined red-green government, such as the Center Party, or government cooperation do not want to stop welfare gains or raise taxes at all. And S-leader Magdalena Andersson and C-chair Annie Lööf have shown that they prefer not to have V in a government, or at all. For Lööf, V are extremists.

But Dadgostar has said that it is an absolute requirement that V be in the government to support Andersson as prime minister. At the same time, she has said that support for Moderate leader Ulf Kristersson is out of the question. She does not want to talk about the alternative support party to an S-led government, precisely. Government posts are the message now and V is willing to compromise, ready to give and take.

No red lines

– If you step into a room, you cannot have a lot of red lines.

Magdalena Andersson has raised questions about whether V is fit for government. She has criticized that some of the party’s members of parliament stood with the flag of the Kurdish, terror-labeled organization PKK in Almedalen this summer.

– She knows that it was not something I had sanctioned, says Nooshi Dadgostar and calls it a pretext.

In that case, she thinks, the Social Democrats should think about their own ability to govern.

– I note that the Social Democrats are a party that has a very developed technology for receiving money from anonymous financiers in so-called bullban schemes, to round up the voters and attend financiers’ errands, says Dadgostar.

She is referring to Kalla Fakta in TV 4’s revelation that five parliamentary parties (S, M, SD, L and KD) reasoned with potential donors about ways to circumvent the rules on anonymous contributions to the parties.

– How suitable for government is it?

It would be stupid if Andersson, warns the V leader, tries for some kind of collaboration with MP, C and perhaps the Liberals in order to slow down V.

– It would be a very right-leaning government, says Dadgostar and believes that it would not be well received by many S voters.

She wonders if Sweden would really feel good about a shaky January agreement again and advises Andersson to think about the stability that V, according to her, can provide.

Sting in the V-soul

When asked if it wouldn’t be easier to cooperate with a government than to demand seats in it and be forced to take part in even uncomfortable collective government decisions, the V leader says no.

V is, for example, opposed to Sweden’s application for membership in NATO, and on the road to membership many decisions may be required that can sting V’s soul. The party is very critical of the agreement Sweden made with Turkey to soften the country’s attitude towards finally approving Swedish membership in NATO.

Will V be able to participate in the decision to extradite Kurds to Turkey?

– Not on Turkey’s own intelligence information. It is not to be trusted, says Dadgostar.

Can V agree to export arms to Turkey (a Turkish wish) if such a matter ends up on the government’s table?

– Our approach is that we should not do that.

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