Sweden spends 40 billion kronor on French warships, re-vote on transitional rules quashed in committee meeting, unemployment fund payouts delayed by system error, and more news from Sweden on Wednesday.
Risk of extra high electricity prices this summer
Summer used to be synonymous with low electricity prices. But the situation looks worse compared to previous years.
Electricity prices risk being extra high this summer, with continued large fluctuations. But the electricity supply is considered stable, according to a new report from Svenska kraftnät, the Swedish power grid authority.
Groundwater levels are unusually low for this time of year and there is a low likelihood that water reservoirs will be replenished. The crisis in the Middle East is making gas more expensive, with knock-on effects on the price of electricity on the continent. This primarily affects southern Sweden.
“If it is a windy summer, it will have a dampening effect on prices. But as always, prices will vary greatly,” said Pontus de Maré, operations manager at Svenska kraftnät.
This often means electricity will be cheap in the middle of the day when the rollout of solar panels provides more and more electricity, while prices will skyrocket in the evenings and nights.
Swedish vocabulary: elpriser ‒ electricity prices.
Sweden will purchase four warships from the Frecnh Naval Group with the first to be delivered in 2030. Photo: Anders Humlebo/TT
Sweden buys French warships for over 40 billion
Sweden will buy four French frigates for a price tag estimated to be over 40 billion kronor.
The warships are significantly larger than those Sweden currently has. They are 120 meters long compared to the current 72 meters and they are almost seven times heavier.
Sweden has not had such large combat ships since the last destroyers were decommissioned in the 1980s.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson described the upcoming deal as one of the largest Swedish defence investments since the Gripen fighter jet in the 1980s.
A frigate is estimated to cost around 10 billion kronor, but the price tag could be higher depending on how they are armed.
The decisive factor in choosing the French frigates was that the first one could be delivered as early as 2030 with one per year delivered thereafter.
Another decisive factor was that the ships have an integrated and proven air defence. They will be equipped with long- and medium-range air defence and they are described as floating air defence against ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, aircraft and drones.
“This is a tripling of the Swedish air defence capability compared to today,” said Kristersson.
Michael Claesson, Commander-in-chief of the Swedish armed forces, said that Nato membership had raised Sweden’s ambitions. “The [current warships] have been there to prevent an enemy from controlling the Baltic Sea. With the frigates, the goal is for Nato to control and dominate the area,” he said.
Sweden has not made any demands that France buy Swedish defence equipment within the framework of the deal. But the Prime Minister still believes that the deal will create more Swedish jobs. The frigates will be equipped with several Swedish systems, such as Saab’s RBS15 anti-ship missile.
Swedish vocabulary: överbefälhavare (ÖB for short) ‒ commander-in-chief.
Drugs worth millions stopped at the Öresund Bridge
Customs personnel at the Öresund Bridge, which connects Malmö with Copenhagen in Denmark, have found drugs worth well over ten million kronor in a hidden compartment in a van. The driver is now being prosecuted in Malmö District Court.
The hidden compartment contained 5 of cocaine, almost 30kg of the amphetamine-like drug 3-CMC, and just over 31kg of an anesthetic ketamine, the Swedish Customs wrote in a press release.
The driver, who was stopped on December 30th last year, claims that he did not know what was in the cargo. He states that he was on his way to Norway to work, but one of the reasons he was selected for inspection was that his GPS was set to an address in Malmö.
The man is charged with particularly serious drug smuggling and also with violating the Act on Prohibition of Knives and Other Dangerous Objects, since he also had two long machete knives in the cargo.
Swedish vocabulary: skåpbil ‒ van.
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Swedish MPs shut down transitional rules re-vote bill
An initiative filed by the Green Party calling for a new bill adding transitional rules to the upcoming stricter citizenship law has been voted down by a parliamentary committee in what the Green Party have called “a serious problem for democracy”.
The initiative, which would have meant parliament voting again on the issue the far-right Sweden Democrats blocked by breaking a longstanding ‘gentleman’s agreement’ on pairing between the parties, was voted on by all committee members represented by opposition parties.
As the government parties have a majority of one member on the committee, however, the initiative failed to pass, meaning the proposed law will not be put to a vote in Sweden’s parliament, called the Riksdag.
“It is a serious problem for democracy that the government parties accept the Sweden Democrats’ cheating in the Riksdag,” Annika Hirvonen, group leader in parliament for the Green Party, told The Local in a written statement.
Swedish vocabulary: kvittning ‒ the Riksdag’s pairing system.
Construction industry continues to be a climate culprit – but Sweden’s industry is among the most green
The construction and real estate industry accounts for enormous emissions – which continue to increase globally, according to a report from the UN environmental agency UNEP.
Energy efficiency and recycled materials are becoming increasingly common, but in 2024, cement, steel and aluminum in building materials together accounted for nine percent of the world’s emissions.
Since the Paris Agreement in 2015, construction emissions have remained stable while operational emissions increased by 6.5 percent.
A positive exception is Sweden, which together with Denmark, Greece, Slovenia and Finland more than halved their construction emissions between 2005 and 2023. Sweden and Denmark can achieve a reduction of 80 percent by 2030 if further political measures are taken, according to the report.
Swedish vocabulary: byggbranschen ‒ construction industry
Unemployment payouts hit by system error
‘Since Monday May 18th, an IT system error has affected all a-kassa unemployment funds in Sweden and members have not been able to apply for compensation. There is a risk that compensation will be delayed – but by a day, not a month.
Since all 24 unemployment insurance funds, or a-kassa, are part of the same IT system, they are all affected by the outage, which was caused by a major system update over the recent long weekend.
“The upgrade essentially means replacing the entire technical platform. After a successful launch over the weekend, the system began to malfunction on Monday with another outage on Tuesday,” said Johan Ahlgren, Head of Communications at Sweden’s unemployment insurance funds.
Those who reported to their unemployment insurance fund over the weekend – as is most common – will receive their payment as usual on Thursday.
“However, in order to collect reports that came in a little later, we have decided to set an extra payment day on Friday,” said Johan Ahlgren.
People should not have to worry about having to wait a month for the next benefit.
“If you are expecting money on Thursday but it does not arrive, you should receive it on Friday,” Ahlgren said.
Around four million people are members of an unemployment fund, according to Sweden’s unemployment funds. Since new rules for the unemployment fund came into effect in October 2025, the benefit has been calculated and paid out monthly.
It is unclear how many people were affected by the technical outage.
Swedish vocabulary: A-kassorna ‒ unemployment insurance funds.
With reporting from TT