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The Liberals’ decision to give the green light to cooperate with the Swedish Democrats at the national level shakes many Lund Liberals. Councilor Philip Sandberg (left) Defends the Nyamko Sabuni line.
– But in Lund, it is not relevant with an organized collaboration with peripheral parties, he says.
“The members of Skåne have given the party leadership a strong mandate for the party board proposal and I think that is important,” says Philip Sandberg (left), City Councilor.
Sunday’s decision that the liberals will try to form a bourgeois government that can seek the support of the SD shakes many Lund liberals. Several members have decided to leave the party immediately.
– For me, it’s very personal. I can’t support the decision and so I can’t stay with the Liberals, says Christina Zoric Persson, leader of the Liberals group on the environmental committee.
– If I could, I would have remained a member of the local party, but I don’t think it’s possible. I must be able to stand behind the national party line, says Martin Palm, deputy member of the Swedish Waste Management Board.
Ulf Nilsson, a liberal heavyweight who has been in the Riksdag for sixteen years, calls the party council’s decision unfortunate.
– I supported the reservation that existed for Christer Nylander. I think they should have clearly stated that they should not have budget negotiations with extremist parties. It’s a shame we didn’t get that supplement. I believe and hope that we still have such a clear liberal instinct that it means that we will not give in to pressure mainly from the Swedish Democrats but also from the Left Party, he says.
“What I think I want to save for internal discussions,” says Mia Honeth (left).
For other liberal politicians in Lund, the issue is so sensitive that they do not want to tell the newspaper what they think about the party council’s decision. Cecilia Barnes, vice chair of the technical committee, says she wants to lead the discussion internally, as does Mia Honeth, who is the leader of the liberals group and chair of the children’s and schools committee.
– Now the decision has been made and now we have to comply with it. Which I think I want to save for internal discussions, says Mia Honeth.
Philip Sandberg, chairman of the municipal board, has previously declined to say what his position is on the issue. But now, the day after the party council vote, he explains why he supported Nyamko Sabuni’s line.
– The reasons are various. In part, the party board’s clarification the week before the vote on how to engage with other parties on budget cooperation was very good. On the one hand, the members of Skåne have given the party leadership a strong mandate for the proposal of the party board, and I also believe that it is important to represent the line that the members have voted for in a vote.
Several Lund liberals disagree with you. How do you look at it?
– We have a debate and I think that is positive. Basically, we think the same, we want a bourgeois government with the least possible interference from outside parties. It is more about how to act. It is healthy to have different points of view.
But have the members left the party in the last 24 hours?
– That’s right and it’s always boring. But members who left us when we signed the January agreement have also joined.
At the national level, Liberals now choose to receive SD support if necessary. Will L in Lund do the same?
– No, it is not relevant. Before the 2018 elections, my message was that it was not relevant to collaborate in an organized way with the extremes of Lund politics. I agree with that, he says.
Philip Sandberg believes that it is an important democratic principle that SD obtains the same conditions as other parties and is therefore invited to different committees to be informed. The Lund Liberals also have no problem voting in favor of the SD proposal, unless they coincide with the Liberals’ policy.
What do you do if the bourgeois parties become smaller than the red-green-pink ones in the next elections?
– We will not form a government or have organized cooperation with the outer borders. But I cannot exclude here and now any form of bourgeois minority government that seeks compromises in the council across the borders of the bloc.
