‘We will see a new renaissance of economic policy’

In recovery from the first phase of the corona outbreak, what will be the most important political issues this autumn?

– The Employment Protection Act will undoubtedly dominate much of the autumn seeing as there are many indications that the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise and the Swedish Trade Union Confederation will not be able to reach an agreement. I think, however, the idea that this would trigger a government crisis is exaggerated. I also believe we will see a new renaissance of economic policy and the classic right–left conflict. Should the government take over more companies or not? Should the increase in unemployment benefit be permanent? and so on. This autumn will certainly be exciting.

Will the corona crisis have a longer-term effect on the political landscape?

– Less so than what it feels like at the moment. We are seeing dramatic gains in the polls for the Swedish Social Democratic Party and socialists, who are trying to take advantage of the crisis in order to shift Sweden and the world leftwards; things will, however, return to normal. The number of shootings has increased since the turn of the year, and the government has failed to solve the migration issue; all of this has been pushed to one side by the media debate, but it will resurface.

What do you see as the choices facing Swedish conservatism, liberalism and the non-socialist bloc in the coming years?

– In terms of ideology, I am not worried in the slightest; liberalism and conservatism are conjoined in how they view many of the core values about ownership, the individual and the market economy. What this ‘conflict’ is really about, but where ideologies are used as a weapon in the debate, is who will form the government and how the Sweden Democrats are viewed. More people need to realise that it will never be possible to form a non-socialist government if they are not prepared at all to talk to the Sweden Democrats. The sooner it happens the better.

Benjamin Dousa was interviewed by Mattias Keresztesi, Senior Consultant & Associate Partner at New Republic. ´Three Quick Questions…’ is a series of interviews conducted by New Republic.