Swedish Greens threatening to oust a Persson government
Date: 27-Sep-02
Country: SWEDEN
Author: Peter Starck
The Greens have underlined their rhetoric by holding coalition talks with the right-of-centre Liberals, rivals to Persson's Social Democrats with the power to push them out.
"Let us into government, otherwise the Social Democrats should not count on support from the Greens," Green Party negotiator Yvonne Ruwaida told TT news agency this week.
Persson's Social Democratic party has ruled for the past four years in a minority government relying on support from the ex-communist Left Party and the Greens to legislate.
A September 15 election gave the Social Democrats and the Left Party, which supports them in parliament a total of 174 seats, one short of a majority in the 349-member assembly.
But a Liberal-Green coalition could topple Persson if it mustered enough support from other centre-right parties to reach the magic 175 seats mark.
"Talks are going on," Liberal Party secretary-general Johan Pehrson told Reuters this week. He declined to elaborate.
The Greens, who made their debut in parliament in 1988 but have never been in government, campaigned on a pledge not to support any cabinet constellation they were not part of.
Liberals leader Lars Leijonborg spied a chance to oust Persson and invited the Greens for coalition talks on election night where the Liberals made strong gains at the expense of other right-wing rivals.
"We have made far more progress with them (the right). It seems as if the Social Democrats are not taking this seriously," Ruwaida said. "Their response has been very, very weak."
DIAMETRICALLY OPPOSED
Persson repeated his refusal to admit Left or Green politicians into his cabinet this week.
Political scientists and financial market analysts say a cabinet including the small anti-European Union and anti-nuclear power Greens would be unstable and lead to greater uncertainty regarding Sweden's euro zone entry prospects.
Under Persson, militarily non-aligned Sweden plans to hold a referendum next year on whether to join the European Union's single currency.
A "Yes" in the referendum would boost the crown and narrow the interest rate spread between Sweden and the euro zone.
Persson has consistently ruled out governing in coalition with either party because both want Sweden to leave the EU and oppose Swedish defence spending, which accounts for less than five percent of the budget and three percent of annual output.
Persson's one saving grace is that the Greens have admitted they would prefer a coalition with his party to joining forces with the centre-right. The prime minister told a news conference he still expected to strike a deal with the Left and the Greens.
"I think the conditions are in place," Persson said, but said he would prefer opposition to allowing Greens into cabinet.
Political analysts say a Liberal-Green coalition would soon collapse from within, because it would place politicians diametrically opposed on such issues as EU, Euro membership and nuclear power into the same government.
"A government made up of the Greens and some non-Socialist parties would highly likely prove short-lived," said Stockholm University political science professor Olof Ruin.
The new parliament convenes on October 1 and its first order of business will be to vote on a new government.
(Additional reporting by Jenny Andersson, Karin Lundback and Johan Sennero).
