Now the Red-Greens Are Going to Save the Planet Again – Scrap the Government's Climate Line in the EU

Government negotiations are at a standstill and there is no red-green government. Nevertheless, it is increasingly the Social Democrats (S), Left Party (V), Centre Party (C), and Green Party (MP) who decide Sweden’s position in the EU. With 176 seats against the Tidö parties’ 173, they overrule the outgoing government in the Swedish parliament’s EU committee, something most evident in climate policy, where air travel and industry are targeted for tougher requirements.

Before every European Council of Ministers meeting, the government must anchor its negotiation line in the parliament’s EU committee. The four parties have now started cooperating to change the government’s positions, something that has become routine.

The Social Democrats’ spokesperson on climate policy, Åsa Westlund—who is married to Aftonbladet’s political editor-in-chief Anders Lindberg—tells the news agency who is holding the reins in parliament.

“It’s basically every week now that we come together and change the government’s positions,” she says.

At the committee’s meeting on October 9, ahead of the environmental ministers’ meeting in Luxembourg three days later, Minister for Climate and Environment Romina Pourmokhtari (Liberal Party) consulted on the EU’s emissions trading scheme.

According to the parliament’s protocol, there was finally support for the government’s revised position, while members from the Moderate Party, Sweden Democrats, Christian Democrats, and Liberals registered dissenting opinions. The Tidö parties thus voted against it, but the minister still has to advocate the stricter line in Brussels.

The same morning, C, S, V, and MP also managed to get their position through to pause the trade part of the EU’s association agreement with Israel. The committee is led by the Social Democrats’ Matilda Ernkrans.

Air Travel and Industry to Pay More

The issue concerns the review of the EU emissions trading system, where companies must hold emission allowances for their carbon dioxide emissions. The government also criticizes parts of the EU Commission’s proposal, which could allow industry to emit more for a longer period.

The red-greens, however, have pushed through three tightenings: more international air travel is to be included in the system, unused emission allowances are to be cancelled, and it should not be permissible to use so-called international credits to reduce one’s own emissions.

No one has provided an accounting of what the tightenings will cost. But it is airlines and industrial companies who will pay for their emissions, and that cost may ultimately fall on travelers and customers. Pourmokhtari, whose own party counter-reserved, must nonetheless advocate the red-green line in negotiations.

“She now has to relate to the position we have adopted, which is much more ambitious than what the outgoing government’s original position was,” Åsa Westlund (S) tells Aftonbladet.

Climate Holds the Bloc Together

On the question of government, the red-greens are characterized by red lines toward each other and policy areas that are difficult to reconcile. Climate, however, is described by Westlund as the issue that most clearly unites the four parties, with a more ambitious line in everything from the bioeconomy to climate policy.

She believes that the cooperation will be noticeable in more issues going forward. These include emission demands for cars and fisheries policy, where all four parties, according to her, have a tougher line than the government.

The red-greens are not entirely certain the government is fighting for their cause in Brussels. Westlund says she is a bit concerned that the government is not working “one hundred percent” on the issue, since it does not share the same view and is furthermore divided within the Tidö cooperation. She nonetheless assumes that the government is doing its best.

Voters have not given S, V, C, and MP any government power, and Magdalena Andersson was voted down when parliament tested her as prime minister. But in the EU committee, it is already these four parties holding the pen when Sweden’s climate line is written.