First cabinet of Ingvar Carlsson
Encyclopedia
The first cabinet of Ingvar Carlsson
was the cabinet
of Sweden
between March 12, 1986 and February 1990. The cabinet was formed as a direct consequence of the assassination
of the incumbent prime minister Olof Palme
on February 28, 1986. After which the Speaker of the Parliament, Ingemund Bengtsson
, in accordance with the Constitution of Sweden
discharged all ministers.
In the course of the first cabinet of Ingvar Carlsson, Sweden — as well as most other western countries in the late 80s — enjoyed a period of economic expansion. The cabinet undertook a reform of the Swedish tax system, which meant that more income tax
went directly to the municipalities
, instead of the state. The reform also meant that a flat capital gains tax
was implemented. During these years Sweden saw two widely publicised political scandals; the Ebbe Carlsson affair and the Bofors scandal
.
(sv. expeditionsregering) led by Deputy Prime Minister
Ingvar Carlsson until March 1, 1986. The cabinet of Carlsson acceded formally on March 12 the same year, after Carlsson had been elected prime minister by the parliament with 178 votes for and 0 against. 159 members refrained from voting, and 12 were not present.
Apart from the new prime minister, the first cabinet of Carlsson was almost identical with the second cabinet of Palme. However the Minister for Energy Affairs, also acceded Carlsson's former office as Minister of the Environment
. The purpose of the visit was to discuss the ongoing border dispute between Sweden and Soviet in the Baltic Sea
. The exact stretch of the border had been a matter of disagreement since the late 1960s. Both parties wanted to draw the border through the middle of the Baltic Sea, however they did not agree on what constituted the middle. They disputed area consisted of 13 500 km².
Sweden wanted to draw the border in a middle, calculated between Gotland
and the Baltic states
, while Soviet wanted to the count from the Swedish mainland. The Soviet proposal would have meant a borderline stretching just east of Gotland.
In January 1988, the Premier of the Soviet Union
, Nikolai Ryzhkov
made an official visit to Stockholm
. Among the issues discussed was the border dispute. It was decided that Sweden were to be given seventy-five percents of the disputed area, while the Soviet Union received the remaining twenty-five percents. Furthermore, the two parties agree on a transition of fishing regulations for the coming twenty years.
In the middle of 1986 a debate concerning whether or not Sweden should implement a complete trade embargo
towards apartheid South Africa
emerged. Denmark and Norway had already announced that they intended to implement an embargo. The Centre Party
, the Liberal People's Party
, the Social Democratic Youth League
, the league of Social Democratic Women in Sweden and the Swedish Association of Christian Social Democrats
had all announced their support of an embargo.
Import of agricultural products had already been prohibited on January 1, 1986. The Prime Minister, however, wanted to wait on the decision of the United Nations Security Council
. On March 12, 1987, the decision to implement a complete trade embargo towards South Africa and Namibia
, starting on July 1 the same year, was taken.
In May 1988, Carlsson traveled to the capitols of several of the member states of the European Economic Community
(EEC). The Prime Minister visited Madrid, Brussels, Bonn and London. The purpose of the visits was to explain Sweden's attitude towards the EEC. Carlsson line was that Sweden was to collaborate with the EEC in all areas except, foreign policy, where Sweden's policy of neutrality hindered it from participate. Therefore Sweden could not become a member of the EEC.
Early in 1988 the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sten Andersson
visited Syria
, Jordan
and Israel
. On December 6, 1988 the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization
Yasser Arafat
visited Sweden on an official state visit
to Stockholm. During his visit, Arafat acknowledge Israel's right to exist and condemned terror as a weapon.
In November the following year Sten Andersson visited the Baltic states, where he declared that the Baltic states were not occupied by the Soviet Union. For this statement Andersson received severe criticism in Sweden. In his memoirs the minister defends his statement, writing that the Baltic states were annexed
which, according to Public international law, is not the same thing as occupation.
accused the then Indian Prime Minister
Rajiv Gandhi
and several others of receiving kickbacks from the Swedish weapons producer Bofors
for winning a bid to supply India's 155 mm field howitzer
. The scale of the corruption was far worse than any that India had seen before, and directly led to the defeat of Gandhi's ruling Indian National Congress
party in the November 1989 general elections. The affair became known as the Bofors scandal
.
During the night between October the 5th and 6th Stig Bergling
, a former officer in the Swedish Security Service
who had been convicted of espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union, managed to escape while on furlough. After receiving heavy criticism, the Minister of Justice Sten Wickbom resigned on October 19. During the year the much troubled police investigation of the assassination of Olof Palme lingered on. Due to failure to present results the Stockholm county administrative chief of police Hans Holmér
was forced to resign.
On June 1, 1988 the Ebbe Carlsson affair started, when the newspaper Expressen
revealed that the publisher Ebbe Carlsson
had been given access to top secret documents concerning the Palme investigation. The new Minister of Justice Anna-Greta Leijon
, who had authorized Ebbe Carlsson's involvement in the investigation, resigned on June 7.
and Energy Affairs
Birgitta Dahl
, pledged to present a plan to phase out nuclear power in Sweden
by the year 1995. After the 1986 Chernobyl accident in Ukraine, an expert committee was formed by the government. The committee was to investigate the security of nuclear energy. To form a broad consensus regarding the future of nuclear energy in Sweden, the cabinet invited the other political parties for discussion. On February 12, 1987 the discussions failed. The following day Dahl announced that the government intended to start the phase out between 1990 and 1997. In the beginning of 1987 they presented a Motion (parliamentary procedure)
to close the first nuclear reactor sometime between 1993–1995 and the second between 1994–1996.
In 1988 the Moderate Party
proposed a national Carbon dioxide limit. Which meant that nuclear power plants could not be replaced by fossil fuel power plant
s. The same year the cabinet revised their nuclear proposition; now the first reactor was to be closed by 1995, and the second by 1996. The plants where reactors were to be closed were Barsebäck
and Ringhals. Dahl declared that the decision was "irreversible." But after debates in parliament the Liberal People's Party
and the Centre Party
, together with members of the social democratic party, reverted the decision in 1991.
. The Social Democratic Party wanted to raise child allowances
and extend parental allowance. By February 28 the Moderate Party, the Centre Party, and the Liberal People's Party had left the negotiations. The Centre Party later returned to negotiations with support from them and the Left Party
, the proposition passed. The new law meant that child allowance was raised from 400 SEK
/month to 485 SEK/month.
Before the general election in 1988, the three conservative parties agree on an proposal to implement a taxed health care allowance on 15 000 SEK per child and year. Cost of childcare up to the same amount would be deductible in the declaration. In total the proposal would have costed 8 billion Swedish crowns. The social democrats instead wanted to extend parental allowance during a period of three years, from nine to eight months. The Social Democrat's proposal were to cost 5,5 billions. The Social Democratic Party lost three seats in he election. The communistic Left Party gained one seat. The Green Party
passed the election threshold
for the first time, receiving 5.5 percent of the votes and thus twenty seats in parliament. The conservative parties together lost nineteen seats.
Ingvar Carlsson
Gösta Ingvar Carlsson is a Swedish politician, Prime Minister of Sweden and leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party ....
was the cabinet
Cabinet (government)
A Cabinet is a body of high ranking government officials, typically representing the executive branch. It can also sometimes be referred to as the Council of Ministers, an Executive Council, or an Executive Committee.- Overview :...
of Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
between March 12, 1986 and February 1990. The cabinet was formed as a direct consequence of the assassination
Olof Palme assassination
The assassination of Olof Palme , the Prime Minister of Sweden, took place on 28 February 1986 in Stockholm, Sweden, at 23:21 hours Central European Time . Palme was fatally wounded by gunshots while walking home from a cinema with his wife Lisbet Palme on the central Stockholm street Sveavägen...
of the incumbent prime minister Olof Palme
Olof Palme
Sven Olof Joachim Palme was a Swedish politician. A long-time protegé of Prime Minister Tage Erlander, Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 to his assassination, and was a two-term Prime Minister of Sweden, heading a Privy Council Government from 1969 to 1976 and a cabinet...
on February 28, 1986. After which the Speaker of the Parliament, Ingemund Bengtsson
Ingemund Bengtsson
Sten Bertil Ingemund Bengtsson was a Social democratic politician, and Speaker of the Riksdag from 1979 to 1988.He was born 30 January 1919 in Veddige, Sweden, and was a Member of Parliament from 1951....
, in accordance with the Constitution of Sweden
Constitution of Sweden
The Swedish Constitution consists of four fundamental laws :* The 1810 Act of Succession * The 1949 Freedom of the Press Act * The 1974 Instrument of Government * The 1991 Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression...
discharged all ministers.
In the course of the first cabinet of Ingvar Carlsson, Sweden — as well as most other western countries in the late 80s — enjoyed a period of economic expansion. The cabinet undertook a reform of the Swedish tax system, which meant that more income tax
Income tax
An income tax is a tax levied on the income of individuals or businesses . Various income tax systems exist, with varying degrees of tax incidence. Income taxation can be progressive, proportional, or regressive. When the tax is levied on the income of companies, it is often called a corporate...
went directly to the municipalities
Municipalities of Sweden
The municipalities of Sweden are the local government entities of Sweden. The current 290 municipalities are organized into 21 counties...
, instead of the state. The reform also meant that a flat capital gains tax
Capital gains tax
A capital gains tax is a tax charged on capital gains, the profit realized on the sale of a non-inventory asset that was purchased at a lower price. The most common capital gains are realized from the sale of stocks, bonds, precious metals and property...
was implemented. During these years Sweden saw two widely publicised political scandals; the Ebbe Carlsson affair and the Bofors scandal
Bofors scandal
The Bofors scandal was a major corruption scandal in India in the 1980s; the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and several others were accused of receiving kickbacks from Bofors AB for winning a bid to supply India's 155 mm field howitzer...
.
Politics
After the assassination of prime minister Olof Palme on February 28, 1986, the second cabinet of Palme continued to serve as an interim cabinetCaretaker government
Caretaker government is a type of government that rules temporarily. A caretaker government is often set up following a war until stable democratic rule can be restored, or installed, in which case it is often referred to as a provisional government...
(sv. expeditionsregering) led by Deputy Prime Minister
Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden
The Swedish constitution allows the Prime Minister to appoint one of the Ministers in the cabinet as Deputy Prime Minister , in case the Prime Minister for some reason is prevented from performing his or her duties...
Ingvar Carlsson until March 1, 1986. The cabinet of Carlsson acceded formally on March 12 the same year, after Carlsson had been elected prime minister by the parliament with 178 votes for and 0 against. 159 members refrained from voting, and 12 were not present.
Apart from the new prime minister, the first cabinet of Carlsson was almost identical with the second cabinet of Palme. However the Minister for Energy Affairs, also acceded Carlsson's former office as Minister of the Environment
Ministry of the Environment (Sweden)
The Ministry of the Environment is a government ministry in Sweden responsible for environmental issues and construction. The ministry also has the overall responsibility for coordinating the government's work on sustainable development....
Foreign Affairs
Between the 14th and 17 April 1986 the Prime Minister made an visit to MoscowMoscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. The purpose of the visit was to discuss the ongoing border dispute between Sweden and Soviet in the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
. The exact stretch of the border had been a matter of disagreement since the late 1960s. Both parties wanted to draw the border through the middle of the Baltic Sea, however they did not agree on what constituted the middle. They disputed area consisted of 13 500 km².
Sweden wanted to draw the border in a middle, calculated between Gotland
Gotland
Gotland is a county, province, municipality and diocese of Sweden; it is Sweden's largest island and the largest island in the Baltic Sea. At 3,140 square kilometers in area, the region makes up less than one percent of Sweden's total land area...
and the Baltic states
Baltic states
The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
, while Soviet wanted to the count from the Swedish mainland. The Soviet proposal would have meant a borderline stretching just east of Gotland.
In January 1988, the Premier of the Soviet Union
Premier of the Soviet Union
The office of Premier of the Soviet Union was synonymous with head of government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics . Twelve individuals have been premier...
, Nikolai Ryzhkov
Nikolai Ryzhkov
Nikolai Ivanovich Ryzhkov was a Soviet official who became a Russian politician following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. He served as the last Chairman of the Council of Ministers or Premier of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991...
made an official visit to Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
. Among the issues discussed was the border dispute. It was decided that Sweden were to be given seventy-five percents of the disputed area, while the Soviet Union received the remaining twenty-five percents. Furthermore, the two parties agree on a transition of fishing regulations for the coming twenty years.
In the middle of 1986 a debate concerning whether or not Sweden should implement a complete trade embargo
Embargo
An embargo is the partial or complete prohibition of commerce and trade with a particular country, in order to isolate it. Embargoes are considered strong diplomatic measures imposed in an effort, by the imposing country, to elicit a given national-interest result from the country on which it is...
towards apartheid South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
emerged. Denmark and Norway had already announced that they intended to implement an embargo. The Centre Party
Centre Party (Sweden)
The Centre Party is a centrist political party in Sweden. The party maintains close ties to rural Sweden and describes itself as "a green social liberal party". The ideology is sometimes called agrarian, but in a European context, the Centre Party can perhaps best be characterized as social...
, the Liberal People's Party
Liberal People's Party (Sweden)
The Liberal People's Party is a political party in Sweden. The party advocates social liberalism and is part of the governing centre-right coalition The Alliance, which achieved a majority in the general election of 17 September 2006...
, the Social Democratic Youth League
Swedish Social Democratic Youth League
The Swedish Social Democratic Youth League is a branch of the Swedish social democratic party Socialdemokraterna and the Swedish Trade Union Confederation...
, the league of Social Democratic Women in Sweden and the Swedish Association of Christian Social Democrats
Swedish Association of Christian Social Democrats
The Swedish Association of Christian Social Democrats organizes Christian members of the Swedish Social Democratic Party. The organization was founded in 1929...
had all announced their support of an embargo.
Import of agricultural products had already been prohibited on January 1, 1986. The Prime Minister, however, wanted to wait on the decision of the United Nations Security Council
United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the establishment of...
. On March 12, 1987, the decision to implement a complete trade embargo towards South Africa and Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
, starting on July 1 the same year, was taken.
In May 1988, Carlsson traveled to the capitols of several of the member states of the European Economic Community
European Economic Community
The European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) The European Economic Community (EEC) (also known as the Common Market in the English-speaking world, renamed the European Community (EC) in 1993The information in this article primarily covers the EEC's time as an independent...
(EEC). The Prime Minister visited Madrid, Brussels, Bonn and London. The purpose of the visits was to explain Sweden's attitude towards the EEC. Carlsson line was that Sweden was to collaborate with the EEC in all areas except, foreign policy, where Sweden's policy of neutrality hindered it from participate. Therefore Sweden could not become a member of the EEC.
Early in 1988 the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sten Andersson
Sten Andersson
* Not to be confused with Sten Christer Andersson , who was a long-time member of the centre-right Moderate Party and subsequently a member of the far-right Sweden Democrats ....
visited Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. On December 6, 1988 the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization
Palestine Liberation Organization
The Palestine Liberation Organization is a political and paramilitary organization which was created in 1964. It is recognized as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people" by the United Nations and over 100 states with which it holds diplomatic relations, and has enjoyed...
Yasser Arafat
Yasser Arafat
Mohammed Yasser Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf Arafat al-Qudwa al-Husseini , popularly known as Yasser Arafat or by his kunya Abu Ammar , was a Palestinian leader and a Laureate of the Nobel Prize. He was Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization , President of the Palestinian National Authority...
visited Sweden on an official state visit
State visit
A state visit is a formal visit by a foreign head of state to another nation, at the invitation of that nation's head of state. State visits are the highest form of diplomatic contact between two nations, and are marked by ceremonial pomp and diplomatic protocol. In parliamentary democracies, heads...
to Stockholm. During his visit, Arafat acknowledge Israel's right to exist and condemned terror as a weapon.
In November the following year Sten Andersson visited the Baltic states, where he declared that the Baltic states were not occupied by the Soviet Union. For this statement Andersson received severe criticism in Sweden. In his memoirs the minister defends his statement, writing that the Baltic states were annexed
Annexation
Annexation is the de jure incorporation of some territory into another geo-political entity . Usually, it is implied that the territory and population being annexed is the smaller, more peripheral, and weaker of the two merging entities, barring physical size...
which, according to Public international law, is not the same thing as occupation.
The Ebbe Carlsson affair and the Bofors scandal
Several widely publicised political scandals took place during 1987. In March the Indian newspapers the Indian Express and The HinduThe Hindu
The Hindu is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded and continuously published in Chennai since 1878. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it has a circulation of 1.46 million copies as of December 2009. The enterprise employed over 1,600 workers and gross income reached $40...
accused the then Indian Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Rajiv Gandhi
Rajiv Gandhi
Rajiv Ratna Gandhi was the sixth Prime Minister of India . He took office after his mother's assassination on 31 October 1984; he himself was assassinated on 21 May 1991. He became the youngest Prime Minister of India when he took office at the age of 40.Rajiv Gandhi was the elder son of Indira...
and several others of receiving kickbacks from the Swedish weapons producer Bofors
Bofors
The name Bofors has been associated with the iron industry for more than 350 years.Located in Karlskoga, Sweden, the company originates from the hammer mill "Boofors" founded 1646. The modern corporate structure was created in 1873 with the foundation of Aktiebolaget Bofors-Gullspång...
for winning a bid to supply India's 155 mm field howitzer
Howitzer
A howitzer is a type of artillery piece characterized by a relatively short barrel and the use of comparatively small propellant charges to propel projectiles at relatively high trajectories, with a steep angle of descent...
. The scale of the corruption was far worse than any that India had seen before, and directly led to the defeat of Gandhi's ruling Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
party in the November 1989 general elections. The affair became known as the Bofors scandal
Bofors scandal
The Bofors scandal was a major corruption scandal in India in the 1980s; the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and several others were accused of receiving kickbacks from Bofors AB for winning a bid to supply India's 155 mm field howitzer...
.
During the night between October the 5th and 6th Stig Bergling
Stig Bergling
Stig Svante Eugen Bergling, later Sandberg and Sydholt is a former police officer who spied for the Soviet Union.- Espionage and conviction :...
, a former officer in the Swedish Security Service
Swedish Security Service
The Swedish Security Service , former name Rikspolisstyrelsens säkerhetsavdelning , is the security service of Sweden, belonging to the Swedish National Police Board....
who had been convicted of espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union, managed to escape while on furlough. After receiving heavy criticism, the Minister of Justice Sten Wickbom resigned on October 19. During the year the much troubled police investigation of the assassination of Olof Palme lingered on. Due to failure to present results the Stockholm county administrative chief of police Hans Holmér
Hans Holmér
Hans Holmér, , Chief of the Swedish National Security Service and later Stockholm county administrative chief of police. He became well known during his tenure, spanning barely a year, as Chief of the special investigation unit into the assassination of the Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme...
was forced to resign.
On June 1, 1988 the Ebbe Carlsson affair started, when the newspaper Expressen
Expressen
Expressen is one of two nationwide evening tabloid newspapers in Sweden, the other being Aftonbladet. Expressen was founded in 1944; its symbol is a wasp and slogans "it stings" or "Expressen to your rescue", always on the reader's side....
revealed that the publisher Ebbe Carlsson
Ebbe Carlsson
Nils "Ebbe" Knut Carlsson was a Swedish journalist and publisher with connections within the Social Democratic leadership and the Cabinet of Sweden...
had been given access to top secret documents concerning the Palme investigation. The new Minister of Justice Anna-Greta Leijon
Anna-Greta Leijon
Anna-Greta Leijon is a former Swedish social democratic politician.She was Minister of Justice from 1987 to 1988, and was forced to step down when the Ebbe Carlsson affair exploded.She has been the chairman of the Swedish Television SVT....
, who had authorized Ebbe Carlsson's involvement in the investigation, resigned on June 7.
Energy and Environment policy
Shortly before Christmas 1985, the Minister of the EnvironmentMinistry of the Environment (Sweden)
The Ministry of the Environment is a government ministry in Sweden responsible for environmental issues and construction. The ministry also has the overall responsibility for coordinating the government's work on sustainable development....
and Energy Affairs
Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications (Sweden)
The Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications is a ministry within the government of Sweden. Its areas of responsibility include business development and competition, electronic communications, energy, forestry, information technology , postal communications and cashier service, primary...
Birgitta Dahl
Birgitta Dahl
Rut Birgitta Dahl is a Swedish former politician of the Social Democratic Party.- Education and career :Birgitta Dahl was born in Råda, Härryda Municipality, Västra Götaland County. She earned a B.A. at Uppsala University in 1960. During her studies she was politically active in the Uppsala...
, pledged to present a plan to phase out nuclear power in Sweden
Nuclear power in Sweden
Sweden has an energy policy focused on hydroelectricity, which has been supplemented by nuclear power starting in 1965.The country began research into nuclear energy in 1947 with the establishment of the Atomic Energy Research Organization. In 1964, the country built its first small heavy water...
by the year 1995. After the 1986 Chernobyl accident in Ukraine, an expert committee was formed by the government. The committee was to investigate the security of nuclear energy. To form a broad consensus regarding the future of nuclear energy in Sweden, the cabinet invited the other political parties for discussion. On February 12, 1987 the discussions failed. The following day Dahl announced that the government intended to start the phase out between 1990 and 1997. In the beginning of 1987 they presented a Motion (parliamentary procedure)
Proposition
In logic and philosophy, the term proposition refers to either the "content" or "meaning" of a meaningful declarative sentence or the pattern of symbols, marks, or sounds that make up a meaningful declarative sentence...
to close the first nuclear reactor sometime between 1993–1995 and the second between 1994–1996.
In 1988 the Moderate Party
Moderate Party
The Moderate Party is a centre-right, liberal conservative political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1904 as the General Electoral League by a group of conservatives in the Swedish parliament...
proposed a national Carbon dioxide limit. Which meant that nuclear power plants could not be replaced by fossil fuel power plant
Fossil fuel power plant
A fossil-fuel power station is a power station that burns fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas or petroleum to produce electricity. Central station fossil-fuel power plants are designed on a large scale for continuous operation...
s. The same year the cabinet revised their nuclear proposition; now the first reactor was to be closed by 1995, and the second by 1996. The plants where reactors were to be closed were Barsebäck
Barsebäck nuclear power plant
Barsebäck is a closed boiling water nuclear power plant in Sweden, which is situated in Barsebäck, Kävlinge Municipality, Skåne. Located just 20 kilometers from the Danish capital, Copenhagen, the Danish government pressed for its closure during its entire lifetime. As a result of the Swedish...
and Ringhals. Dahl declared that the decision was "irreversible." But after debates in parliament the Liberal People's Party
Liberal People's Party (Sweden)
The Liberal People's Party is a political party in Sweden. The party advocates social liberalism and is part of the governing centre-right coalition The Alliance, which achieved a majority in the general election of 17 September 2006...
and the Centre Party
Centre Party (Sweden)
The Centre Party is a centrist political party in Sweden. The party maintains close ties to rural Sweden and describes itself as "a green social liberal party". The ideology is sometimes called agrarian, but in a European context, the Centre Party can perhaps best be characterized as social...
, together with members of the social democratic party, reverted the decision in 1991.
Social policy
During February 1986 the cabinet held negotiations about with the conservative opposition about social policySocial policy
Social policy primarily refers to guidelines, principles, legislation and activities that affect the living conditions conducive to human welfare. Thus, social policy is that part of public policy that has to do with social issues...
. The Social Democratic Party wanted to raise child allowances
Child benefit
Child benefit is a social security payment disbursed to the parents or guardians of children. Child benefit is means-tested in some countries.-Australia:...
and extend parental allowance. By February 28 the Moderate Party, the Centre Party, and the Liberal People's Party had left the negotiations. The Centre Party later returned to negotiations with support from them and the Left Party
Left Party (Sweden)
The Left Party is a socialist and feminist political party in Sweden, from 1967 to 1990 known as the Left Party – The Communists .On welfare issues, the party opposes privatizations...
, the proposition passed. The new law meant that child allowance was raised from 400 SEK
Swedish krona
The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it, but especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value...
/month to 485 SEK/month.
General election, 1988
Before the general election in 1988, the three conservative parties agree on an proposal to implement a taxed health care allowance on 15 000 SEK per child and year. Cost of childcare up to the same amount would be deductible in the declaration. In total the proposal would have costed 8 billion Swedish crowns. The social democrats instead wanted to extend parental allowance during a period of three years, from nine to eight months. The Social Democrat's proposal were to cost 5,5 billions. The Social Democratic Party lost three seats in he election. The communistic Left Party gained one seat. The Green Party
Green Party (Sweden)
-External links:**...
passed the election threshold
Election threshold
In party-list proportional representation systems, an election threshold is a clause that stipulates that a party must receive a minimum percentage of votes, either nationally or within a particular district, to obtain any seats in the parliament...
for the first time, receiving 5.5 percent of the votes and thus twenty seats in parliament. The conservative parties together lost nineteen seats.