The Liberals' opinion figures have for a long time been at least modest. Internal divisions about the cooperation with the Sweden Democrats have not made the situation easier.
Now, the party leadership has produced a document that they hope will unite liberals across the country and show why the party is needed.
The vision program "A Sweden to Believe In" is being presented at the Liberals' national meeting in Karlstad this weekend.
Without re-examination, no development, said party leader Johan Pehrson in his speech.
Self-critical
In the document, the Liberals devote a significant amount of space to self-criticism. It states that the party has all too often provided irrelevant answers to questions that voters have not asked. And that they have sometimes been "blinded" by principled reasoning and failed to see the practical effects of politics. For example, when it comes to independent schools and migration.
Primarily, a re-examination of the Liberals' view on the role of the state is announced. Traditionally, the party has driven to increase individual freedom.
The document states: "By 2025, a stronger state in several central areas is not a threat to freedom but, on the contrary, necessary for more freedom".
"Yesterday's struggle"
One area for the state is, according to the Liberals, to ensure that the liberal state's fundamental values are anchored in every residential area.
"Those who believe that a state that is rolled back is the answer to all modern problems that restrict people's freedom are stuck in yesterday's struggles", according to the document.
Pehrson also believes that deregulations are not the answer to everything and takes the welfare sector as an example. At a press conference after the speech, two new Liberal proposals were presented. A stop to all foreign ownership in schools and a stop to private HVB-homes for young criminals.
The vision program, which is to be adopted at the party congress in the autumn, does not contain any concrete policy otherwise. That will come later.
Does not affect government cooperation
Pehrson does not see the program becoming a "left turn" for the party or that it would affect the choice of future government cooperation.
And according to him, the program is largely a confirmation that what the Liberals are already doing in government is right. He also points out that the party has already rethought its stance on independent schools.
Pehrson hopes that the internal criticism of some government proposals, such as anonymous witnesses and visitation zones, will now cease. Something that, according to Pehrson, has made voters uncertain about whether the Liberals really want to take tough action against criminal gangs.
One idea with the vision program is that it should make an "unclear party clearer".
