Why the 'Sverigehus' is a warning for the Sweden Democrats' future

Local Sweden

5 days ago

The red and white 'Sverigehus', the Sweden Democrats' attempt to bring back an idealised type of Swedish architecture, looks like it has been co-opted by the exact same people behind the modernist concrete sprawl the party was rejecting.
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It looked like it had been lifted from Astrid Lindgren's idealised village Bullerbyn: a Swedish villa painted in traditional falu rödfärg, with a white painted frame and ornate carpentry, snickarglädje, under the eaves.
When the Sweden Democrats in 2022 launched Sverigehuset, "the Sweden house", their vision of a standardised design for a "traditional Swedish wooden house", which would be pre-approved for building permission across the country, it generated both ridicule and approval.
The party which has so successfully campaigned on everything it thought had gone wrong with Sweden, was finally expressing what it wanted instead. For critics it was pure kitsch, a pastiche of an imagined Sweden that never was. But for others, it was, well, at least better than the soulless, unimaginative boxes otherwise being churned out.
On Monday, the proposal became reality.
The government and the Sweden Democrats would, they proclaimed in a press release, "turn people's housing dreams into reality" by "realising the idea of the Sverigehus".
The only issue is that what was proposed did not actually do that.
Indeed, it seemed less about a return to traditional vernacular architecture than about allowing house-builders to bypass municipal building departments and churn out mass-produced cookie-cutter houses unchecked.
The Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning has been given an order to develop "type approval" for series-produced small houses, which will be pre-approved across Sweden so that house builders no longer have to apply again and again to have the design approved by each municipality.
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The board is supposed to develop guidelines for these type-approved houses, but will not actually design them, although it will be asked to ensure that "at least one of the type-approved house models is formed in a traditional Swedish building style".
There should, however be "several different type-approved small house models", and and others could very well be the kind of concrete boxes the Sweden Democrats so despise.
At the press conference, Mikael Eskilandersson, the Sweden Democrats' civic policy spokesperson, somewhat weakly tried to argue that the orders to the housing board were, in fact, a step on the way to realising his party's 2022 proposal.
"We see that our proposal is becoming reality. We have included that fact that even the cultural part of what the building looks like is at least going to be considered," he said. "This is to a large extent a direct result of our proposal. It was 95 square metres on the ground floor, if I recall correctly, for that house. 150 square metres in total. And that is what we have continued to push for in this proposal."
He said that he was still confident that the Sverigehuset would end up being built.
"A red cabin with white beams is perceived as safe and pleasant. If it was a square box made of concrete instead, it probably wouldn't be as easy to gain acceptance from the public,' he said.
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A sign that all was not well was the seal of approval given by Gert Wingårdh, the architect whose projects have won the Kasper Kalkon prize for the ugliest new building no fewer than six times.
"I find it difficult to see anything negative about a red-painted wooden house of 150 square meters, mass-produced by our small-house industry at a good price. Most families with children want to live like that," he told DN.
The problem is the reality may not be that.
Andreas Carlson, Sweden's housing minister, from the Christian Democrats, said the predominant aim was to lower the cost of owning a stand-alone house.
"It should become possible to mass-produce houses that can be erected in different parts of the country without being obstructed by municipal rules and assessments," he said. "We will gladly call it Sverigehuset. That's not the most important thing for us. The most important thing is that more people should be able to get a foot in the door to owning their own home, which for many today is an almost unattainable dream."
It's hard not to see the fate of the Sverigehus as a warning for what might end up happening to the party as it cooperates ever more closely with the economically liberal right.
Might there be other culturally conservative causes from the party in the future that will also end up being twisted out of all recognition to fit the Moderate Party's vision of a low-regulation, low tax economy?
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What else has happened in Swedish politics?
Former Green Party leader tries to set record straight
The former Green Party spokesperson Märta Stenevi, who resigned from the party in February 2024, has hit back with a memoir of her difficult period at the helm which some have interpreted as an act of revenge against her former colleagues.
Her resignation followed months of internal strife, which began when anonymous sources in her party accused her in the media of "toxic management from above" and a "hard leadership style", after which the Saco and Unionen unions began an investigation into workplace abuse.
In her book, "Breathe, survive", Stenevi claims she was never informed about which employees felt abused, and was never confronted with the issues face-to-face, making it impossible for her to respond. She also criticises the dysfunctional way the party is structured, with one male and one female spokesperson instead of a clear leader.
The Battle of Brussels: Teodorescu Måwe vs Left Party staffer
A physical altercation in the European Parliament between Swedish MEP Alice Teodorescu Måwe (Christian Democrats) and a staffer from the Left Party has sparked political fallout.
The Left accuses Teodorescu Måwe of assault, citing visible injuries; she claims she was attacked after confronting the staffer for filming her without consent, allegedly over her views on Israel and Hamas.
The EU Parliament's spokesperson says surveillance footage supports Teodorescu Måwe's account.
Both sides have filed police reports. KD leader Ebba Busch condemns the incident as 'hate-fuelled political activism' and blames the Left for failing to control internal radicalism.
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Swedish politics toughens stance on Israel
Israel's new attack on Gaza appears to be rapidly losing it even its staunchest supporters in Swedish politics.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Monday said that Sweden would summon Israel's ambassador, to protest its refusal to allow critical humanitarian aid into Gaza. Israel's ambassador Ziv Nevo Kulman will be called to meet Cabinet Secretary Dag Hartelius, the top official at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Kristersson said pressure on Israel must increase, floating the idea of EU sanctions.
The call from Kristersson came after Mikael Odenberg, Sweden's former Moderate Party defence minister, and a former chair of the Swedish parliament's Swedish-Israeli friendship association, accused Israel of war crimes and ethnic cleansing in a heartfelt post on Facebook.
"Ethnic cleansing and war by starving out the civilian population is not what I expected from the Israel I have admired for so long," he wrote. "It is not compatible with international law. It is a war crime. Bibi Netanyahu may be elected but he is also corrupt and he has been a destructive force for the peace process for 20 years. His actions now deserve to be tried before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague."
Social Democrats fined 3 million kronor for lottery scandal
The Swedish Gambling Authority (Spelinspektionen) fined the Social Democrats 3 million kronor for violating gambling laws at their Kombispel lottery operations. The Social Democrats, their youth wing SSU, and women's wing S-kvinnor also received official warnings.
The authority found that Kombispel failed to operate with adequate consumer protection and engaged in excessive marketing. Specifically, they relied on aggressive telemarketing tactics, including sending invoices without prior consent and repeatedly contacting people who had declined offers.
This follows a Dagens Nyheter exposé revealing that sales personnel targeted pensioners, many of whom didn't understand that they were subscribing to a monthly lottery. Spelinspektionen called the violations 'neither minor nor excusable.'