Liberal Vision

GUEST POST: Niklas Smith – a Liberal cheer from Sweden

Lest we dwell too much on the election of two BNP MEPs in Britain, I thought it would be worth cheering Liberal Vision readers up with some good news from the European elections in the rest of the EU. Though the biggest liberal victory (in terms of seats gained) was in Germany, Sunday’s election in Sweden is especially interesting because of the rolling back of the Eurosceptic tide and strong results for broadly liberal forces.

Sweden’s electorate of seven million elects 18 MEPs this year, down from 19 in 2004. When the Lisbon Treaty is ratified Sweden will gain two new seats, which will be filled on the basis of yesterday’s vote. Here are the preliminary results; the first four parties in the table are the current Swedish government:

Moderate Party (EPP): 18.8% (+0.6) 4 seats (n/c)
Liberal People’s Party (ALDE): 13.6% (+3.8) 3 seats (+1)
Centre Party (ALDE): 5.5% (-0.8) 1 seat (n/c)
Christian Democrats (EPP): 4.7% (-1.0) 1 seat (n/c)
Social Democrats (PES): 24.6% (n/c) 5 seats (n/c)
Green Party (EG-EFA): 10.9% (+5.0) 2 seats (+1)
Left Party (GUE-NGL): 5.6% (-7.1) 1 seat (-1)
Pirate Party (no group): 7.1% (+7.1) 1 seat (+1)
June List (Ind/Dem): 3.6% (-10.9) 0 seats (-3)
Sweden Democrats: 3.3% (+2.2) 0 seats (n/c)

Turnout: 43.8% (+6.7)

The Eurosceptic June List fell under the 4% threshold and lost all three of its MEPs. The Greens, who have abandoned their opposition to EU membership, did well while the Left Party (the last mainstream party to remain opposed to EU membership) did badly. The xenophobic nationalist Sweden Democrats will not be joining Mr Griffin and Mr Brons in Brussels as they failed to reach the threshold.

The good news for us is that our sister party, the Liberal People’s Party, has managed to win a third seat after a vigorous campaign led by Marit Paulsen, a popular former Liberal MEP who now returns to the Parliament. The Liberals have the most pro-European record of the Swedish parties and ran an unabashedly Europhile campaign.

The prize for most interesting new party in Europe goes to the Pirate Party, who campaign against surveillance of the internet and for the legalisation of filesharing. They came from nowhere to take a seat – and they have also won one of the extra seats Sweden will gain when Lisbon comes into effect. Their top candidate Christian Engström joins other Swedish MEPs, such as the Moderate Christofer Fjellner, who have fought against proposals to cut people accused of filesharing off from the internet without legal process.

Overall, the result shows a clear defeat for Eurosceptics and a victory for liberals and (internet) libertarians. The incoming Swedish presidency of the EU (with Liberal EU Affairs Minister Cecilia Malmström playing an important role) has been given a solid mandate.

The author is Junior Treasurer of the Cambridge Student Liberal Democrats and a member of the International Committee of the Liberal Youth of Sweden.