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full screen Elisabeth Svantesson during Monday’s press conference. Photo: Henrik Montgomery/TT
Sweden’s invisible finance minister made one of his rare appearances today.
Elisabeth Svantesson called a press conference a few hours after new inflation figures were presented, which was of course no coincidence.
– These are pleasing numbers. The government’s economic policy has had an effect, she opened the event by saying in a visibly pleased tone.
The place was Rosenbad, a lot of journalists were there, it was 1 p.m., a perfect time, with a press conference in the morning the news risks being too old for the evening news on TV, while the late afternoon leads to stress and poorly edited features.
“The fight against inflation has yielded results” … “tight budgets have had a positive outcome” … “many actors have done their part, but the government’s policy has been important” …
It is claimed that the third Monday in January is the most depressing day of the year, but Svantesson just smiled and smiled and even smiled when she told that the number of bankruptcies will increase.
Inflation had gone down! What is it then that the municipalities and regions are running towards their largest deficit ever this year, that the number of evicted children last year was the highest since the financial crisis in 2008 and that households are suffering from rising interest rates?
Svantesson continued to look happy, not even the opposition’s constant lamentation about how expensive it has become under the Tidö government seems to be able to shake her off.
But everything was now not upwards. A bit into the press conference, Svantesson warned that the economic winter is not over, the forecast continued falling inflation may even temporarily be replaced by rising.
It has been cold in January, electricity prices are being pushed up, in addition the world is troubled, shipping costs are rising, Germany has problems and to top it all there is a real estate crisis in China.
Perhaps Svantesson’s constant smile was due to the fact that, for once, she got to do what all ministers love, get to stand in the limelight, get her message out, conduct politics.
It is strange that she takes or gets so few opportunities to do just this. The finance minister is the second most important person in the government after the prime minister, it is he or she who must coordinate all the ministers’ wishes and present the government’s heaviest document, the proposal for the state budget.
It is no coincidence that the person who holds the post is also seen a lot in newspapers, radio and television.
A week without that finance ministers such as Magdalena Andersson, Anders Borg or Göran Persson figured in the press and the journalists began to wonder if they had fallen and broken their leg.
Possibly the Svantesson invisibility is about the fact that the government’s project is not to implement economic reforms, the Tidö agreement is filled with other things, criminal policy and migration.
Possibly it is simply not fun to be constantly squeezed between different interests, the police should have more money, the defense should have more money, party comrades in municipalities and regions want to see increased state subsidies and welfare reforms, right-wing voters demand tax cuts.
Nobody is satisfied and the equation is not entirely easy to put together.
– It is important not to release the fight against inflation too early, concluded the smiling Svantesson and gave the journalists the opportunity to ask questions.
The Express jabbed half-heartedly, it was pointed out that the national debt had not been this low since the days of Gunnar Sträng, the finance minister replied curtly that it is the same with the tax burden, TT wondered something.
I thought about asking Svantesson why, on the one hand, she finds the banks’ profits “unreasonable” and, on the other hand, says no to proposals for a bank tax.
But suddenly the general question and answer session with Sweden’s most invisible finance minister in modern times was over.
It meant that be as alert as a bird watcher on Öland who has heard rumors that something as rare as a beige-cheeked wood thrush has been seen.