Andersson Cabinet
The Andersson Cabinet is the present Government of Sweden following the resignation of Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and the hasty election of Magdalena Andersson as his successor. It was expected to be a coalition government consisting of two parties: the Swedish Social Democratic Party and the Green Party.

 

In a late turn of events after the confirmation vote, the Green Party left the government cooperation due to the government's budget proposal failing in the Riksdag. The cabinet was originally planned to be installed on 26 November 2021 during a formal government meeting with King Carl XVI Gustaf, but Andersson decided to resign due to a precedent regarding changes in a government's composition; this happened just seven hours after the vote in the Riksdag. The Speaker then set Andersson up for a new confirmation vote to make sure she still had the Riksdag's approval.

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On 29 November 2021, Andersson won the vote in Riksdag and became the new prime minister of Sweden. She governs with a minority government by the Social Democrats. When Andersson's cabinet took office on 30 November 2021, it became the smallest Swedish government since 1979, relying on only 100 of 349 parliament members (28,65%).

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Löfven III Cabinet (9 July 2021 to 30 November 2021)
The third cabinet of Stefan Löfven was the Government of Sweden from 9 July 2021 to 30 November 2021. It was a coalition consisting of two parties: the Social Democrats and the Green Party. The cabinet was installed on 9 July 2021, during a formal government meeting with King Carl XVI Gustaf. The government is the result of the aftermath of the 2021 government crisis, which saw Löfven's government removed from power in a vote of no-confidence over proposed reforms to liberalize the rent control system.

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The cabinet was a caretaker government since 10 November 2021, when Löfven asked to be dismissed as Prime Minister. Magdalena Andersson was appointed prime minister in his place on 24 November 2021 but resigned the same day after the Green Party withdrew its support for the government after the failure of the proposed budget and the passage of a different budget by right-wing parties.

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Löfven II Cabinet (21 January 2019 to 9 July 2021)
The second cabinet of Stefan Löfven was the Government of Sweden from 21 January 2019 to 9 July 2021. It was a coalition, consisting of two parties: the Social Democrats and the Green Party. The cabinet was installed on 21 January 2019, following the 2018 general election.

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In a vote of no-confidence held on 21 June 2021, the Prime Minister was voted out of office.

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General elections were held in Sweden on Sunday 9 September 2018 to elect the 349 members of the Riksdag. Regional and municipal elections were also held on the same day. The incumbent minority government, consisting of the Social Democrats and the Greens and supported by the Left Party, won 144 seats, one seat more than the four-party Alliance coalition, with the Sweden Democrats winning the remaining 62 seats. The Social Democrats' vote share fell to 28.3 per cent, its lowest level of support since 1911, although the main opposition, the Moderates, lost even more support. The Sweden Democrats made gains, though less than anticipated.

 

Following the elections, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven lost a vote of no-confidence on 25 September, forcing a parliamentary vote on a new government. In the meantime, his government remained in power as a caretaker government.

 

After several failed negotiations, Löfven was finally re-elected as prime minister on January 18, 2019. Löfven was elected Prime Minister with 115 Riksdag members voting for him and 77 members who abstained (total of 192 votes). Due to the low number of yes votes Löfven received, he has the third weakest government since the end of World War II as at the time of his election.

 

In the new government agreement, a 73-point long settlement between the four parties (Social Democratic Party, Green Party, Centre Party, Liberal Party), point 23 opens a door for farm sales: “An investigation into farm sales of alcoholic beverages should be carried out. A prerequisite is that Systembolaget's monopoly is secured.”

 

It is primarily the Center Party that has repeatedly pushed for small-scale alcohol sales directly on farms and Skåne region wants to start trials. At the same time, at least two state investigations have previously concluded that this would collide with Sweden's exemption in the EU to keep Systembolaget's monopoly for public health reasons (parallel sales on Swedish farms would be interpreted as discrimination against foreign alcohol producers).

 

Alcohol researchers reacted to farm sales plan by pointing out that it would threaten Systembolaget's monopoly and allowing alcohol in the grocery trade would increase sales significantly and lead to over 1400 more deaths annually.

 

"It appears to be both worrying and unnecessary because two previous state investigations found that farm sales are not compatible with Systembolaget's monopoly," writes scientists Sven Andréasson, professor of social medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Johanna Gripenberg, head of STAD and KI researcher, Thor Norström, professor in sociology at Stockholm University, and Mats Ramstedt, associate professor and KI researcher.

 

They were all co-authors of a new study "Estimating the public health impact of disbanding a government alcohol monopoly: application of new methods to the case of Sweden" that was published in December 2018 at BMC Public Health. The study concluded: "There would be substantial adverse consequences for public health and safety were Systembolaget to be privatised. We demonstrate a new combined approach for estimating the impact of alcohol policies on consumption and, using two alternative methods, alcohol-attributable harm. This approach could be readily adapted to other policies and settings. We note the limitation that some significant sources of uncertainty in the estimates of harm impacts were not modelled."

 

If alcohol could be sold in grocery stores, alcohol consumption would increase 31 per cent in Sweden and lead to increased health injuries and more than 1,400 more deaths per year, (including 29 per cent more alcohol-related cancer deaths). Also, health days and social costs would increase, as well by 34 per cent more abuse cases and 58 per cent more drunk driving.

 

The four researchers also see problems with today's approach and want rules against distance selling of alcohol from abroad to be tightened and recommend the government to introduce minimum unit pricing for alcohol, already introduced in Ireland and Scotland, to protect vulnerable groups.