This was not a good week for Sweden either. The biggest opposition party that nobody wants to share power with, the Swedish Democrats (the brother party of the True Finns, and a Miss Trump LePen look alike) decided to bring down the minority government in Stockholm. It was a shocking piece of politics that any Trumpian would be proud to have achieved.
It started when the Social Democrats decided to abolish rent restrictions for residential housing. The rental market is a farce in Sweden because nobody is allowed to charge a market rent for renting out an empty property. Many apartment cannot even be rented out if the coop board decides to stop owners renting apartments in their buildings. The result of all this is that it is really hard to rent a place without passing a brown envelope to the owner, or somehow disguising the tenant as a family member!
The rules on renting are based on 18th century rules about what is fair for tenants and do nothing to increase the supply of much needed accommodation in the cities where jobs are found. The market is a true black market…
So after the Social Democrats made this announcement, the Sweden Democrats decided to censure the government in Parliament. This was supported irrationally by the Left (not really that Leftish, and certainly not Communists) who opposed the removal of rent limitations. They are exactly the people who cannot find homes in the cities! The Right Wing Block also declared that they opposed the removal of rent limitations which is also irrational in since they are meant to be market hawks in their orientation… However, they also happen to be the biggest real estate owners and probably the biggest recipients of brown envelopes…
Anyway the vote in Parliament was such that Mr. Löfven, the PM, must decide in the next week if he should resign or call new elections. Whatever happens do not expect too much change because they too will all be off to their summer houses just now…
