Last Friday, the Center Party invited the other red-green parties to a meeting with organizations and authorities. According to Center Party leader Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist, the goal is for the parties to get a "situation review" of Sweden's challenges.
It is also a way to get the four parties, despite their different red lines, to sit in the same room.
The Center Party has been tight-lipped about exactly which authorities and organizations have been invited to the meeting. However, the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, LO (the Swedish Trade Union Confederation) and the National Institute of Economic Research have confirmed to TT that they received an invitation.
However, entrepreneurs have not been invited, which the CEO of the industry association, Magnus Demervall, criticizes. He believes the meeting risks becoming too theoretical and academic.
"If you only listen to a few unions and large companies, you miss the perspective of small and medium-sized companies. Together, they are Sweden's largest job creators and employers," he says.
Entrepreneurs have previously expressed concern about various proposals in the election campaign, especially the abolition of the qualifying period deduction proposed by both the Social Democrats and the Left Party.
If you want to keep Sweden competitive, you must not draw the wrong conclusions. You risk doing that if you only listen to a few people who primarily live in a few blocks of Sweden's capital.
“It risks being poorly anchored in reality,” Demervall says.
The meeting, which will take place on Friday between 1 and 5 p.m., will be held at party leadership level. According to information provided to TT, the parties' economic policy spokespeople, group leaders and party secretaries have also been invited.
