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Swedish government counting on Europe to fix energy crisis

(EurActiv, 5 Sep 2022) Social Democrat party leader and Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson is hoping to find a European solution to what her opponents consider a problem her party helped create as Sweden faces soaring energy prices ahead of the elections.

At a press conference on Saturday with Finance Minister Mikael Damberg and Energy Minister and Digitalisation Khashayar Farmanbar, Andersson said that the energy crisis needed an EU solution.

“Electricity prices on Europe’s electricity market must be decoupled from the exorbitant gas prices that Russia has created,” she said, adding that decisions should be taken at the EU level to drive down electricity costs, potentially halving the soaring energy prices.

She noted, however, that bringing electricity prices down and getting new EU rules will take time. “A decision taken by the whole EU before the Swedish elections does not seem likely,” she said.

Moderate leader Ulf Kristersson has accused Andersson of shifting the focus away from her party’s role in the current energy crisis, especially on the nuclear issue.

“Now she apparently wants to cancel the election debate on her own failed energy policy, to instead flee to Brussels. Apparently, to point out that Sweden is behind the energy proposal that the European Commission is already working on and that several other countries support. This is just smoke and mirrors and a diversion because she doesn’t want to have to answer for her own energy policy in the election campaign,” Kristersson wrote on Facebook.

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EurActiv, 5 Sep 2022: Swedish government counting on Europe to fix energy crisis