Carlsson I Cabinet

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.

Politics

After the assassination of prime minister Olof Palme on 28 February 1986, the second cabinet of Palme continued to serve as an interim cabinet (sv. expeditionsregering) led by Deputy Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson until 12 March 1986. The cabinet of Carlsson acceded formally that day, 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

Between 14 and 17 April 1986 the Prime Minister made a visit to Moscow. 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

Import of agricultural products had already been prohibited on 1 January 1986. The Prime Minister, however, wanted to wait on the decision of the United Nations Security Council. On 12 March 1987 the decision to implement a complete trade embargo towards South Africa and Namibia, starting on 1 July 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 6 December 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

The Ebbe Carlsson affair and the Bofors scandal

Several widely publicised political scandals took place during 1987. In March the Indian newspapers the

.

During the night between 5 and 6 October 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 19 October. 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 1 June 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 authorised Ebbe Carlsson's involvement in the investigation, resigned on 7 June.

Energy and Environment policy

Shortly before Christmas 1985, the Minister of the

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 12 February 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 in the period 1993–1995 and the second during 1994–1996.

In 1988 the

Liberal People's Party and the Centre Party

, 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 policy. The Social Democratic Party wanted to raise child allowances and extend parental allowance. By 28 February the Moderate Party, the Centre Party, and the Liberal People's Party had left the negotiations. The Centre Party later returned to negotiations, and with support from them and the Left Party the proposition passed. The new law^[3] meant that child allowance was raised from 400 SEK/month to 485 SEK/month.

General election, 1988

Main article:

Swedish general election, 1988

Before the general election in 1988, the three conservative parties agree on a 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 the election. The communistic Left Party gained one seat. 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.

Economic policy

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Resignation of the cabinet

Labor market debate, 1990

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Ministers

Portfolio	Minister	Took office	Left office	Party
Prime Minister	Ingvar Carlsson	12 March 1986	27 February 1990		Social Democrats
Minister for Foreign Affairs	Sten Andersson	12 March 1986	27 February 1990		Social Democrats
Minister for Finance	Kjell-Olof Feldt	12 March 1986	16 February 1990		Social Democrats
	Odd Engström	16 February 1990	27 February 1990		Social Democrats
Minister for Education	Lennart Bodström	12 March 1986	29 January 1989		Social Democrats
	Bengt Göransson	29 January 1989	27 February 1990		Social Democrats
Minister for Justice	Sten Wickbom	12 March 1986	19 October 1987		Social Democrats
	Anna-Greta Leijon	19 October 1987	7 June 1988		Social Democrats
	Thage G. Peterson	7 June 1988	30 September 1988		Social Democrats
	Ingvar Carlsson (acting)	30 September 1988	4 October 1988		Social Democrats
	Laila Freivalds	4 October 1988	27 February 1990		Social Democrats
Minister for Health and Social Affairs	Gertrud Sigurdsen	12 March 1986	29 January 1989		Social Democrats
	Sven Hulterström	29 January 1989	11 January 1990		Social Democrats
	Ingela Thalén	11 January 1990	27 February 1990		Social Democrats
Minister for Employment	Anna-Greta Leijon	12 March 1986	19 October 1987		Social Democrats
	Ingela Thalén	19 October 1987	11 January 1990		Social Democrats
	Mona Sahlin	11 January 1990	27 February 1990		Social Democrats
Minister for Agriculture	Svante Lundkvist	12 March 1986	10 October 1986		Social Democrats
	Mats Hellström	10 October 1986	27 February 1990		Social Democrats
Minister for Defence	Roine Carlsson	12 March 1986	27 February 1990		Social Democrats
Minister for Communications	Sven Hulterström	12 March 1986	29 January 1989		Social Democrats
	Georg Andersson	29 January 1989	27 February 1990		Social Democrats
Minister for Civil Service Affairs	Bo Holmberg	12 March 1986	4 October 1988		Social Democrats
	Bengt K. Å. Johansson	4 October 1988	27 February 1990		Social Democrats
Minister for Housing	Hans Gustafsson	12 March 1986	4 October 1988		Social Democrats
	Ulf Lönnqvist	4 October 1988	27 February 1990		Social Democrats
Minister for the Environment and Energy	Birgitta Dahl	12 March 1986	27 February 1990		Social Democrats
Minister for Enterprise	Thage G. Peterson	12 March 1986	30 September 1988		Social Democrats
	Ingvar Carlsson (acting)	30 September 1988	4 October 1988		Social Democrats
	Ivar Nordberg	4 October 1988	11 January 1990		Social Democrats
	Rune Molin	11 January 1990	27 February 1990		Social Democrats
Ministers without portfolio
Sports, Tourism and Youth	Ulf Lönnqvist	10 October 1986	4 October 1988		Social Democrats
School	Bengt Göransson	12 March 1986	29 January 1989		Social Democrats
	Göran Persson	29 January 1989	27 February 1990		Social Democrats
Culture	Bengt Göransson	12 March 1986	29 February 1990		Social Democrats
Foreign Trade	Mats Hellström	12 March 1986	10 October 1986		Social Democrats
	Anita Gradin	10 October 1986	27 February 1990		Social Democrats
Nordic Cooperation	Svante Lundqvist	12 March 1986	10 October 1986		Social Democrats
	Ulf Lönnqvist	10 October 1986	4 October 1988		Social Democrats
	Mats Hellström	4 October 1988	27 February 1990		Social Democrats
Salaries and Consumer	Bengt K. Å. Johansson	12 March 1986	4 October 1988		Social Democrats
Consumer and Youth	Margot Wallström	4 October 1988	27 February 1990		Social Democrats
Budget	Odd Engström	12 March 1986	16 February 1990		Social Democrats
International Development Cooperation	Lena Hjelm-Wallén	12 March 1986	27 February 1990		Social Democrats
Family and Disabled	Bengt Lindqvist	12 March 1986	27 February 1990		Social Democrats
Equality	Anita Gradin	12 March 1986	10 October 1986		Social Democrats
	Anna-Greta Leijon	10 October 1986	19 October 1987		Social Democrats
	Ingela Thalén	19 October 1987	29 January 1989		Social Democrats
	Maj-Lis Lööw	29 January 1989	27 February 1990		Social Democrats
Migration	Anita Gradin	12 March 1986	10 October 1986		Social Democrats
	Georg Andersson	10 October 1986	29 January 1989		Social Democrats
	Maj-Lis Lööw	29 January 1989	27 February 1990		Social Democrats
Church	Bo Holmberg	12 March 1986	4 October 1988		Social Democrats
	Margot Wallström	4 October 1988	27 February 1990		Social Democrats

Secretaries of State

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Bibliography

• ISBN 92-64-17175-4
  .
• Mayadas, M. (1999). How the Bofors Affair Transformed India, 1989–1999. Lancer Publishing.
  ISBN 1-897829-64-7
  .

Notes

1. ^ The Swedish Instrument of Government, which is one out of four parts of the Constitution of Sweden, states in Chapter 6, Art. 7, that “If the Prime Minister is discharged or dies, the Speaker shall discharge the other ministers.”
2. ^ "Rediff On The NeT: Vir Sanghvi looks back at the Bofors scandal".
3. ^ Lag (1986:378) om förlängt barnbidrag. [Law (1986:378) regarding extended child benefit].

External links