Politicians and municipal employees are, according to LKBR, the Local Government Accounting Act, exempt from punishment and liability. Others who are exempt are the infirm who are cared for in institutions to prevent harm to the public.

Are politicians and public servants breaking the Swedish Companies Act? There is no penalty and one can freely repeat serious accounting offences, which in the rest of society result in 6 years in prison. We have a new elite, a new nobility, that has its own laws.

Parasite and Idiot are political concepts from the ancient Greeks, referring to freeloaders and those politically unintelligent near the temple, the centre of political power.

Today's gang criminals have their own rules, and the similarity to today's politicians is striking when it comes to exploiting society's common assets for their own benefit.

Courts could be replaced by AI

Järfälla Municipality has hidden a loss of SEK 715 million, primarily through the depreciation of land in Barkarby promised by the Swedish Parliament as compensation for the underground railway construction.

In the 2023 Annual Report, the opening balance was manipulated so that this significant depreciation did not affect the profit by not recognising the depreciation in the income statement, which would have resulted in a loss of nearly 600 million. .

According to the LKBR, the law with no criminal liability, a loss of equity (the net wealth of the inhabitants of a municipality) must be restored within three years, which means significant savings requirements.

The case has been reported to the Administrative Court, which in its JUDGEMENT did not address, with a single line, the four paragraphs in the LKBR that Järfälla Municipality violated. The case took 14 months to process, normally corresponding cases take 4 months according to the Administrative Court.

The flawed ruling was appealed to the Administrative Court of Appeal, which was unable to grant leave to appeal. A further 5 months passed.

After consulting Gemeni, Google's AI, it took 10 minutes to establish a legal violation, and after another 10 minutes, I received suggestions for an appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court.

The question now is whether I should count Justice's maidservants in ,,,,,,,,?

Appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court

Less than Home

An ongoing constitutional amendment could make it virtually impossible for Sweden to leave the EU – even if a majority of the people and a majority of MPs so wish. If the decision goes ahead, it means that, in matters of constitutional law, Sweden risks being transformed into an undemocratic minority government. Ambition Sverige is now mobilising public opinion to stop this decision.

The first of two parliamentary decisions for this constitutional amendment was made on October 1st. The next and decisive decision is planned to be made immediately after the upcoming parliamentary election.

In 1994, 52.3 % of voters voted in favour of EU membership. In 2010, Sweden’s EU membership was enshrined in the Constitution. To date, such a constitutional amendment has required two simple majority decisions in the Riksdag.

This means that if a majority of the Swedish people later change their minds and wish to leave the EU, this enshrined EU membership must first be voted away. So far, this has been possible with precisely the two simple parliamentary majorities that in 2010 decided to enshrine EU membership in the basic law.

The idea behind constitutional laws is that they should form the backbone of a democratic rule of law. This is now about to change through a government bill in Parliament entitled Enhanced protection for democracy and the independence of the judiciary (2024/25:165). It proposes that a qualified majority should be required for the second and decisive parliamentary decision on a constitutional amendment.

This means that, in future, a parliamentary minority of just 34 % will be able to block such a decision. Even if a majority of the Swedish people and/or a parliamentary majority are in favour. Thus, in Sweden we have moved from democratic majority rule to undemocratic minority rule.

In practice, this means that Sweden's EU membership would likely be cemented forever. Given the current and expected future parliamentary situation, a two-thirds majority for leaving the EU seems unreasonable. Not least when considering the leverage the EU has over Sweden.

Likewise, it ought to be perfectly reasonable that the same simple parliamentary majority that enshrined EU membership in the constitution should also be able to remove it. 

The government's stated reason for this proposal is to prevent ”a suddenly inflamed public opinion from questioning otherwise established fundamental principles.” Critics argue that this reason is difficult to believe, given that a constitutional amendment including two parliamentary votes with a general election in between takes many years to implement, something that can hardly be driven by a ”suddenly inflamed public opinion.”.

This constitutional amendment alone has so far taken five years from directive to the first parliamentary decision. Several critics therefore argue that the proposal is instead intended to protect those currently in power and not the citizens.

The final decision on the bill will be taken after the 2026 election. Ambition Sverige is now mobilising to stop the proposal. We point out that, according to the latest opinion poll by Statistics Sweden (May 2025), up to three million voters are Eurosceptic, and that their ability to influence the outcome could be lost if the electoral threshold is raised. Under the new rules, a third of the Riksdag could thus determine whether Sweden will continue to uphold the constitutional principle of popular sovereignty or not. That is the very crux of the matter.  

Text: Ulf Ström, independent spokesperson on EU affairs, Ambition Sverige | Image: Ulf Ström and the European Parliament in Brussels | Photos: Ambition Sverige and Andrijko Z, CC BY-SA 4.0

Case officers at government agencies dictate the terms of what policies are to be pursued in Sweden. Jimmie Åkesson (SD) grumbles, but fundamentally changes nothing about the power of the agencies. He mostly engages in signal politics.

Last Tuesday, March 10th, DN interviewed in the article ”I am one hundred percent sure – the authorities are working against us” Jimmie Åkesson on the SD's direction of travel, what the SD wants to achieve, and how he views Swedish politics and the country's future.

Jimmie Åkesson is absolutely convinced that authorities are working against him and the Sweden Democrats in general. He believes that various authorities are obstructing legislative proposals and other measures required to save Sweden. What he says is correct, that authorities are very much working against both the Sweden Democrats and proposals put forward by the rest of the government.

Examples of good but opposed proposals are the ”body search zone laws” (searches in security zones) and the duty to inform act.

The former concerns the police being able to search people in particularly vulnerable areas without reasonable suspicion. It was nicknamed the ”snitch law” by established media and the red-green bloc.

The second concerns individuals working within authorities having to inform relevant authorities if they become aware of a person residing in the country illegally, with the aim of counteracting both gang-related crime and social parasitism, as well as terrorist acts on Swedish soil.

”The ”visitation zone law" was heavily revised. It can only be used in direct connection to a very serious crime, and then only for two weeks at a time, and must be extended by a prosecutor, not the police chief himself.

According to Akademikerförbundet SSR, the Information Obligation Act should only apply to six authorities: the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, the Prison and Probation Service, the Enforcement Authority, the Swedish Pensions Agency, and the Swedish Tax Agency. Initially, it also included healthcare, schools, and social care, but this has been dropped. It is in these authorities that undocumented individuals are discovered to the greatest extent.

Jimmy Åkesson pretends that he is doing enough to tackle the problems, but it is merely tokenism. The fact is that Åkesson is doing next to nothing to resolve the problems.

The problem is that authorities oppose all proposals they deem to be bad. Thus, individuals within authorities dictate the terms of what policies should be pursued in Sweden. This is called political activism. Police officer Peter Springare and social worker Maria Rennerstam provide good examples in their books.

The power of the authorities

The problem is that regulatory activism – ranging from smaller regulatory bodies to the higher courts – exerts a significant influence on power. Another term for this regulatory activism is the ”deep state”, and it refers to the way in which officials within regulatory bodies determine the country’s political direction.

We in Ambition Sverige therefore believe that we must abolish the principle of the separation of powers in order to resolve these problems. This does not mean that we want a government to have unlimited powers, but the problem with the system we have is that it was designed for a different Sweden.

Very few people in the 1980s and 1990s could have imagined that we would face crime that threatens the very foundations of our system, but that is the reality today. Today, we have criminal clans and networks that threaten our local authorities, county councils and even the state through infiltration.

There are plenty of such examples today, and special measures are required in a force majeure situation such as the one we currently find ourselves in. We cannot wait for officials within the Swedish authorities to see reason. It is our country that is at stake, and whether there will even be a Sweden worth living in for our children and grandchildren.

A Sweden without the principle of the separation of powers could, instead, have a functioning Constitutional Committee. We currently have a Constitutional Committee, but it operates without reprisals and merely involves a hearing. We saw this in the NUON affair.

What we need is a Constitutional Committee that can impose sanctions on politicians who have acted in ways that have been directly harmful to Sweden. This, combined with the reintroduction of professional and civil service accountability – which Ambition Sverige wishes to introduce – means that we can make radical changes relatively quickly if we come to power in Sweden.

If we do not take these steps, power in Sweden will be reserved solely for the Social Democrats, who, through their loyal officials and civil servants, ensure that Sweden pursues social democratic policies regardless of who is in government.

To break this vicious circle, we must therefore break the stranglehold of the balance of power about Sweden, because a system of government by the authorities is profoundly undemocratic.

Ambition Sverige wants to place more power in the hands of the people through democracy. Going to the polls in every election whilst knowing that social democracy is the sole ruling force in Sweden is the antithesis of democracy. Public officials should serve the will of the people, not rule over citizens.

Text: Ambition Sverige | Picture: Jimmie Åkesson and police officers carrying out a search | Original photos: Tommy Winterskiöld Vestlie (CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia) and Johan Nilsson, reworked using Grok AI, ®AmbitionSverige

Related Police can now visit – without concrete suspicion of a crime, 25 April 2024, Sveriges Radio

The war in Iran is slowly but surely creeping closer to Europe. An English airbase in Cyprus has been attacked by Iran. The question is what happens if Iran launches a ballistic missile at Ramstein in Germany, the USA's largest airbase in Europe? Germany could then invoke Article 5, which states that an attack on one NATO country is also an attack on all member countries of the organisation.

Given Sweden's ambition to always be ”best in class”, it is not entirely unthinkable that selected Swedish units would be dispatched to the conflict zone in this situation. Suddenly, Sweden is involved in a world war.

Government Bill 2025/26:6 is a clear decision-making framework for NATO's collective deterrence and defence activities, which the Riksdag voted through last autumn and which came into effect on 1 December 2025, making it now easier to deploy Swedish military forces, with no further approval needed from the Riksdag.

The government may deploy Swedish armed forces within the framework of NATO's deterrence and defence in the event of an armed attack against a NATO ally. Furthermore, there is the possibility of further deployment of a limited-sized armed force for a limited period if a delay would cause considerable detriment to pressing Swedish interests or if the need arises at short notice.

This means that in urgent and unforeseen situations, the government can decide on a limited deployment without prior parliamentary approval.

There is no requirement for a ceasefire or peace settlement for a military operation within the framework of NATO's deterrence and defence activities to be realised.

Two hundred years of successful non-alignment are now a thing of the past.

The war in Iran is about what?

The media are discussing various reasons for what led to the war in Iran, where the US chose to attack the country. It has been about Iran's uranium enrichment, the abhorrent and misogynistic regime, or Israel's dreams of ”Greater Israel. America's will to safeguard the petrodollar is rarely mentioned as a reason for the attacks, but as long as oil is only traded in dollars, America can finance its enormous national debt.

Almost all countries that trade oil require vast amounts of US dollars, and the US can therefore get a market for its government bonds to finance its rapidly growing national debt. Should the petrodollar fall, meaning an increasing number of countries stop trading oil in dollars, US public finances risk being significantly weakened.

Experts today point to recurring patterns. The countries that the USA attacks have in common that they have not wanted to align themselves with the petrodollar system, but instead have chosen to sell their oil in other currencies. This happened in Iraq, Libya, Syria, and most recently in Venezuela. The oppressive regime in Iran has also not wanted to align itself with the petrodollar system.

Who started the war in Iran?

The negotiations concerning Iran's nuclear activities, which took place around the time of the US attack a couple of weeks ago, progressed positively, with Iran, according to former CIA analyst Larry Johnson among others, not opposing the key points.

Iran was attacked by the USA during ongoing negotiations, which also happened during the ”Twelve-Day War” in 2025. This time, Iran was attacked by a massive air raid which, among other things, killed Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei and the country's highest military and political leadership. This war of aggression has met with strong protests around the world and not least within the USA, where only one in four Americans support the war.

The decision to start the war also did not follow the US constitution's order, which stipulates that only Congress can declare war. In this case, it was Trump himself who ordered the attacks. Bill Clinton has expressed himself very critically about the constitution being overridden, but also Norway's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bert Eide, sharply criticises the US and Israel's decision to attack Iran when interviewed on SVT, 30 minutes: ”disliking a regime is not enough,” he says.

Could Iran be bombed into submission?

Beyond provoking a regime change in Iran, the US and Israel's strategy with the war is unclear. Whether the plan, whatever it may be, will succeed remains to be seen, but the death toll among innocent people will likely be in the hundreds of thousands and the desire to acquire nuclear weapons will rather increase, as Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is said to have been against nuclear weapons.

The new leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has seen his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei murdered by the USA, as well as his wife, son, daughter, and mother. The regime in Iran developing in a more democratic direction whilst fighting for its survival does not currently feel realistic.

What does the Iranian resistance look like?

Until today, Iran has defended itself against Israel and most US bases in the region with drone and missile attacks. All countries that have long been under US protection in the region are now also being attacked by Iran.

It is not only US bases that have been attacked, but also oil infrastructure in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar. Iran has also closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s oil previously passed and the bulk of food supplies to the Gulf states entered.

Iran also possesses hypersonic missiles that pose a significant threat to US warships in the area. Aircraft carriers, which are the backbone of the US war machine, are of particular concern.

Can the US presence in the area be questioned?

A significant number of Iran's drones and missiles have penetrated Israel's and the USA's air defence, leading to extensive damage and even the deaths of Americans and Israelis.

The American presence has led to several countries in the region that are currently under American protection now being involuntarily attacked and drawn into the war.

It is therefore not impossible that the war could lead to major changes in the US presence in the region, where the US finds it increasingly difficult to convince the Gulf states why they should be under American protection.

Will Sweden be safer with an American presence on Swedish bases?

The war now casts a completely new light on Sweden's NATO membership. How much can we rely on US protection? Is there a risk that things will go for Sweden as they did for the Gulf states, when these states are now being bombed as a direct consequence of the US using their territory for its war of aggression against Iran?

The current and previous Swedish governments have acted in a way that maximises the risk of war for the Swedish population. Sweden has joined NATO and entered into a DCA agreement with the USA, which, similarly to the Gulf states, grants the USA access to our military bases and training areas.

Sweden has been one of the most ardent cheerleaders of the Ukraine war, and Defence Minister Pål Jonson and the government have allowed Swedish territory to be used as a staging area for NATO troops in a potential war against Russia. A liaison staff, NATO Force Integration Unit (NFIU) has been established in Enköping.

The government's and parliament's foremost task is to ensure the security of their own population. Here, the government and parliament receive the worst possible rating as they are now on the verge of dragging the country into a deadly world war.

Elsa Widding and Ulf Gabrielsson | Image: Official inauguration with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken, and Belgian Deputy Prime Minister David Clarinval | Pressphoto: NATO.int

Ulf Ström, deputy leader of the Ambition Sverige party, who specialises in EU affairs, explains why we are facing an electricity price crisis in Sweden. Ström also discusses energy supply, agriculture, democracy and the environment.

The video is on YouTube

Video Ulf Ström | Photo: Ulf Ström, 18 Feb 2026, Ambition Sverige

Discussions surrounding the re-joining of the Swedish krona to the euro have flared up again. Finance Minister Svantesson recently expressed an intention to investigate joining the euro, but the euro is a stateless currency and therefore not sustainable in the long term. The domestic krona is worth its weight in gold, as evidenced by the strength the krona has shown over the past year. Therefore, Sweden should not join the krona to the euro.

A stateless currency

Since the EU is not a true nation-state, it means that the euro is, in practice, a stateless currency. The 20 members of the EMS (European Monetary System) does indeed share a common responsibility for maintaining the currency through the management of the European Central Bank (ECB).

This works as long as the common interest rate setting works well for all member countries. However, the euro crisis of 2010–2012 – when Greece had enormous difficulties managing its government debt and had to be rescued through bailout packages – shows that the euro has inherent destabilising factors.

The national debt is not consolidated

One of the weaknesses is that member states' public debts are not consolidated. Each member state raises capital independently by issuing its own government bonds to manage its economic policy. Thus, the euro countries have the same short-term interest rate but entirely different long-term interest rate levels because each member state's creditworthiness is assessed individually.

No common capital market

As a consequence, each country has its own capital market, where its own government bonds are traded and the long-term interest rate is set. A common capital market is needed where member states can issue long-term government loans on the same terms and at the same interest rate to ensure common responsibility for the euro's long-term sustainability.

Various banking systems

Nor is there a common banking union, so that the conditions for payments and capital transfers are standardised in the EU. Despite some efforts at harmonisation, different conditions apply in the respective countries' banking systems today. Thus, the banking system in the EU is neither particularly efficient nor sustainable.

No unified tax system

Finally, there is no unified tax system. If the EU is to function as a state, the collection of tax revenue must be standardised through its own tax office. Today, the EU is mainly financed by the willingness of member states to pay their annual EU contributions.

A crown of one's own is worth gold

A currency system that is not fundamentally sound will not survive financial crises. Unlike other currencies, the euro has neither a capital market, a common banking system nor a unified tax authority to fall back on. Consequently, both the euro and the EU are fundamentally fragile. The krona was the strongest currency in 2025, and Sweden is better placed to shape its own future with an independent krona. That is why Ambition Sverige wants to maintain the krona’s independence, not join the euro, but instead leave the EU.

Bo Hansson, spokesperson for the Ambition Sverige party | This article was previously published in Bulletin | Photos: own work (Hansson) and Jonn Leffmann, CC BY 3.0

Over the past year, headlines have been frequent about a world in flux. A world where Sweden today is not only forced to support but is represented by a crisis-ridden and marginalised EU. To save Swedish democracy and Swedish prosperity, the time has now come to do precisely as Iceland, Norway and Switzerland amongst others, to be part of the European Internal Market, but not as an EU member.

WE ARE RUNNING AGROUND

In recent decades, we have seen an EU that has become increasingly marginalised on the international stage. The EU is being neglected and denied access to negotiations concerning peace on European soil. The EU's share of the global economy is plummeting. Internal tensions are increasing, while a large portion of industry is under threat or has already moved out of Europe. The euro currency has not just risked crashing once – but twice – since the turn of the millennium. The situation is so bad that even Christine Lagarde, the head of the European Central Bank, recently stated in the Financial Times that Europe is in an existential crisis.

These are not isolated events. They are markers of an accelerating change in how power is exercised in both Europe and the rest of the world. We need to look at what is happening with clear eyes and reconsider our image of ourselves. Otherwise, we risk, like the EU, being marginalised and destroyed as a sovereign nation.

Sweden is at a crucial stage

We are now at a crucial stage. Our choices today will be decisive for Sweden's future for several generations to come. Fundamentally, it is about values. Similarly, the long-term strategy required to secure our future prosperity and security in a changing world.

We are seeing how the EU Commission and the EU's governing member states (read Germany and France) are openly dividing and conquering Europe. Contributions and transfers are being used as a means of pressure rather than for creating common benefit. Cooperation is no longer measured in shared values, but in demands for loyalty. Democracy is being weakened as the Commission centralises decisions and bypasses individual member states by disregarding the veto right, through threats of fines and/or withheld contributions, and by continuously weakening the influence of especially the smaller member states.

The consequences are devastating. When EU law takes precedence over national legislation, smaller countries like Sweden lose their primary protection. When common rules of the game are replaced by discriminatory agreements, power balances rather than norms determine outcomes. And when dependencies are used strategically, the vulnerability of the entire European system increases. The EU has not collapsed. Not yet. But it is well on its way – with music.

This is it now

Clear vision and decisiveness are now required. The democratic order that has guided Sweden until now is not gone and is not without importance – but it has been temporarily put out of play. This is a reality we must take seriously – and reckon with.

The Swedish constitution and our democratic tradition are not perfect in so far as our government and our MPs have been allowed and continue to allow themselves to disregard them. We must not forget what Swedish democracy is fundamentally about: a political mandate and commitment to uphold and manage Swedish public law. To respect the sovereignty of the Swedish people. To honestly, cleanly, and transparently solve Sweden's challenges above all else. The alternative is a Sweden forced to subordinate itself to an EU where vested interests and the strongest power players dictate the terms at our expense.

SWEDEN NEEDS TO REGAIN CONTROL

From a foreign policy perspective, Sweden has a fundamental interest in the multilateral system holding firm. If it cracks, we, as a nation heavily reliant on exports, will be among the first to lose out. Therefore, together with countries that still believe in an orderly and civilised cooperation between states, we must be a clear voice for both national and international law to apply – and be a driving force to ensure that national sovereignty is not undermined.

This presupposes a strong and cohesive foreign policy. By rebuilding nationally controlled relations with our Nordic neighbours and our most important trading partners, we reduce our vulnerability in a time of trade conflicts and uncertainty. Therefore, it is a mistake to withdraw from important parts of the world through an outsourced foreign policy, something that both the Tidö parties and the Opposition are now pursuing. Sweden's sovereignty is not a trivial matter – it is crucial for our future security and freedom of action.

NEW REQUIREMENTS

The times we live in also place new demands on Sweden. The EU, which was once formed to create peace and increase trade, has evolved into a bureaucratic colossus governed by vested interests that are slowly collapsing under their own weight. We must now shoulder and take responsibility for our own role as defenders of Swedish democracy and our Swedish welfare state. 

To meet future risks, we need to analyse our vulnerabilities to the outside world and reduce dependencies that could become a disadvantage. This requires us to strengthen our own capabilities and build up resilience that allows us to stand on our own feet.

We also need to be honest that democracy is not just threatened from the outside, but also from within. Addressing this requires clearer demands on the functioning of the rule of law and on the fundamental principles of democracy. In that work, Nordic cooperation is also important. The Nordic democracies are among the world's most robust and are based on shared values that we must protect. Deeper Nordic cooperation strengthens us in terms of security policy, economy, and society.

AMBITION SWEDEN STANDS READY

Swedish security must be restored. This presupposes welfare that remains strong even in crisis, a justice system that restores law and order, a strong national defence, a robust energy supply, and functioning transport infrastructure. At the same time, we need to strengthen growth, push back unemployment, and shape an economy that works for and benefits people in their everyday lives. To quickly build capacity in strategically crucial areas, closer and more proactive cooperation between the state and businesses is required, as well as policies that create cohesion instead of division.

Ambition Sverige is ready to embark on that journey – towards a more prosperous Sweden.

Ulf Ström
Independent spokesperson for EU affairs

We cannot afford to lose our talents in a school system lacking a pedagogical compass. The school must be made more efficient so that we educate our pupils in knowledge that makes Sweden a knowledge nation to be reckoned with again.

The vast majority of people should agree that school should be a place that imparts knowledge, sparks a curiosity to learn more, encourages critical thinking and provides pupils with the best possible foundation to be well-equipped for the adult world that awaits them.

A persistent mantra from most people within the entire educational system is: ”We need more resources!”. Resources equate to money, and it seems that the demand for resources is the salvation for all of school's problems. Schools have not suffered from a lack of resources over the past half-century, but rather there is a deficiency in how all these resources are used. There is, in fact, no clear strategy for what school should produce or how schooling should be carried out.

Today, almost all resources are allocated to students who, for various reasons, struggle with learning, have psychological problems, or exhibit behavioural issues. There are no plans or designated resources for the group of high-achieving students who require challenges that cater to a high level of giftedness. This is not only a disservice to these students, who are not given the opportunity to be tested and challenged to their full potential, but it is also a poor long-term national strategy.

We in the Ambition Sverige party wish to resume the development of the knowledge society, which we believe is of great importance in the context of international competition. We believe that a return to a division between general and specialised courses in a number of core subjects, in both primary and secondary education, is a simple and relatively inexpensive way forward. This would give teachers a better opportunity to reach significantly more pupils at the level of knowledge they are currently at – both higher up and lower down the scale.

This level grouping would also mean that the need for various ”specialists” within the school, such as special educational needs co-ordinators and special subject teachers, would be freed up so that their resources could be used to teach, for example, the groups in the general course. Today, they largely provide ’expert advice and guidance’ to teaching staff when, instead, they should be imparting their ’specialist knowledge’ directly to the pupils.

We also believe in a return to using textbooks to a much greater extent. All pupils will be issued with their own textbook in their main subjects, books that they will be responsible for and get to keep after the end of the academic year. The system currently in place, with a mixture of textbooks, loose-leaf systems and digital aids, we believe makes it considerably harder for pupils to get an overview of what they are meant to learn and where to find the collected information in each subject. Torkel Klingberg, professor of cognitive neuroscience at KI, has long researched child development and learning. He is concerned about how digitalisation is affecting young people's cognitive abilities. He advocates for pupils to have a traditional textbook in all subjects. 

Study space is also a scarce resource in today's schools, affecting both high-achieving pupils and those who struggle with learning. Pupils who deprive others of a calm study environment should be offered observation classes. In the observation class, the pupil remains until the day they can return to a regular class without disrupting lessons. Pupils attending school for the right reasons should not be denied their right to a calm teaching and learning environment.

Pupils who, after their time in the observation class, still do not feel compelled to follow the school's regulations are issued a warning (like a yellow card in football), followed by a red card, which, just like in football, means that only those who follow the rules are allowed to remain on the pitch. This is then followed by a suspension of between 1-10 school days. If this is repeated a second time, the guardians are obliged to keep their child/young person at home until they have learned to accept and follow the school's rulebook.

Sweden is a small country and must therefore take extra care of the gifted and talented individuals we have in order to be competitive as a knowledge nation against other countries. Unfortunately, that is not the case today. Of the 90,000 pupils with problematic school absenteeism, there is guaranteed to be a large percentage of pupils who do not consider school to offer stimulating teaching. Education should both set demands and genuinely challenge all pupils according to their abilities. If education does neither, it is easy for both pupils and teachers to lose their motivation.

That six reputable higher education courses – law, journalism, teaching, medicine, engineering, and economics – are raising the alarm about students' poor prior knowledge is clear evidence that our primary and secondary schools have lost their way. 

The Swedish school system must be tightened up and its efficiency improved from the ground up so that we educate our pupils in knowledge that makes Sweden a knowledge nation to be taken seriously again.

Percy Andersson, Mikael Lindgren and Thomas Åkerberg, Ambition Sverige, Education Policy Area | Photo: Depositphotos.com

References

It is time to question JM's right to exist. It serves no meaningful purpose and should be phased out. Instead, resources can be used for practical, goal-oriented initiatives in schools, higher education and the labour market.

The agency has grown rapidly and currently employs approximately 112 women and 24 men. The explanation for the imbalance, the agency says, is that the field of knowledge ”attracts more women.” This implicitly acknowledges that men's and women's interests differ; an assumption that is otherwise often denied in the agency's own ideology.

Sweden is ranked as the most gender-equal country in the EU according to EIGE (European Institute for Gender Equality). The psychologist Jordan B. Peterson often uses Sweden as an example, arguing that the freer choices people can make, the greater the gender differences in occupational choices become. This points to biological differences in interests at a group level: men are more often drawn to technical fields, while women tend to pursue care and social professions.

Swedish gender equality policy starts from the assumption that gender differences are solely social constructs. If the sexes are assumed to be biologically equal, it also follows that unequal outcomes must be corrected through steering or special treatment. The result is that gender equality is reduced to equal outcomes, rather than equal opportunities.

University entrance exams favour men, relative to grades, because school generally suits girls better. Without the university entrance exam, several courses – law, psychology, social work, medicine and dentistry programmes – would have had significantly fewer male students. Stockholm School of Economics recently introduced a requirement of at least a 1.25 on the university entrance exam, to counteract grade inflation, which sharply reduced the proportion of admitted women. The requirement was quickly abolished. When policy instruments favour women, they are accepted; when they favour men, they are perceived as problematic.

The gender balance is even clearer in certain professions. Animal welfare officers are 100 percent women in certain counties, and veterinary training today has 80–90 percent women, which has had practical consequences for agriculture due to a shortage of large animal veterinarians. When women dominate, demands for equality measures are rarely heard.

In ”The Soft State,” Erik J. Olsson and Catharina Grönqvist Olsson describe how the feminisation of central societal functions results in a state with lower demands, weaker authority, and less compliance with regulations. The concept of a "soft state" was originally coined by Gunnar Myrdal. Examples include the police's defensive strategy during riots, schools' lowered achievement requirements, and increased tolerance for errors in public service. Female-dominated work environments are also often described as conflict-ridden, something highlighted in reviews of the County Administrative Board's animal welfare unit in Skåne, which has experienced mass resignations in recent years.

Within academia, the Swedish Gender Equality Agency's gender-based explanatory models face increasing criticism. This is often dismissed as ignorant or backward-looking, undermining academic freedom and the agency's own legitimacy.

The results need to be reviewed. Despite large budgets and extensive administration, concrete improvements are difficult to identify. A lot of work is put into processes and policy documents, while the actual gender differences persist, sometimes being reinforced in line with the so-called equality paradox.

So goodbye to the Gender Equality Agency!

Astrid Lofs, biologist, PhD, Ambition Sverige