Swedish ALDE Party member Liberalerna held its bi-annual National Assembly under the title “Ny start för Sverige” (“A new start for Sweden”) on 19-21 November. During this three-day event, Liberalerna organised several panel debates and discussed liberal policies one year before the general elections, which will take place on 11 September 2022.

Party leader Nyamko Sabuni opened the National Assembly with a moving statistic of more than 10,000 children reported missing in schools by the Swedish Social Security Insurance Agency. These children live in precarious environments but, with a nationwide plan called ‘Förortslyftet’ (Suburban Lift), Sabuni wants to eradicate all vulnerable areas in Sweden by 2030. The plan includes over 200 initiatives to reduce poverty, crime, and violence by investing more in education, peace, and security in order to put an end to all disadvantaged areas.

The plan examines school results in vulnerable areas throughout the country, which show the high number of failing students and high crime rates. Sabuni emphasized that there are  61 vulnerable residential areas who are left out by the red-green government:

“Sweden needs a suburban boost and an offensive reform agenda for the school with a liberal and bourgeois government. The Social Democratic government has abandoned schoolchildren in vulnerable areas.” 

After a 2-year process, member of parliament Robert Hannah proudly presented the “Förortsflyftet”:

“Two years of blood, sweat and tears to produce Förortsflyftet – Sweden’s only national plan to reverse the negative development of vulnerable areas is finally in the finish line.”

Äntligen! 🥂🎉🍾🥳

Två års blod, svett och tårar med att ta fram Förortslyftet - Sveriges enda nationella plan för att vända på utvecklingen i utsatta områden är äntligen i mål. pic.twitter.com/GHKGbqsiYE

— Robert Hannah (@RobertHannah85) November 21, 2021

Furthermore, the National Assembly adopted a statement on the deteriorating situation in Belarus. In this statement the Swedish liberals expressed their support for opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya as rightful President and called for Lukashenko and all those responsible for of the current humanitarian disaster to be brought before an international court. The Assembly also call upon the European Union and United States for additional sanctions:

” … The hybrid war waged by the regime with vulnerable people as weapons, which is currently going on in the forests between Poland and Belarus, must end immediately. The EU, together with the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, needs to agree on additional sanctions packages aimed at entire sectors and both directly and indirectly responsible individuals.”

Read the whole statement on Belarus here

You can re-watch Sabuni’s speech here and have a look at the Förortsflyftet here (in Swedish).

Photo credit: Robert Hannah