A roundup of the latest news on Friday

US tariffs ‘could impact 40,000 Swedish jobs’

Some 40,000 export jobs in Sweden will be directly impacted by the US’s tariffs against the EU and Sweden, the country’s new labour minister, Johan Britz (L), has said, although he said it was difficult to predict how many jobs would be lost. 

At a press conference, Britz said around 41,000 people worked in companies in Sweden which export to the US, with more employees affected indirectly. The sectors most affected include the forestry, pulp and paper industries, chemical and pharmaceutical companies, and the car industry. 

Swedish vocabulary: läkemedel – medicines  

Municipal worker in Gothenburg ‘took money from a criminal gang’ 

A worker at Gothenburg municipality responsible for ‘democracy and citizenship issues’, took money from a criminal gang and let them use his bank account, the Expressen newspaper has reported. The municipality discovered that the man’s name had come up in an investigation by the Swedish Economic Crimes Authority (Ekobrottsmyndigheten), at the start of the year, later deciding to require that he leave his position. 

In their investigation, the police describe the man as an ‘enabler’, a person who helps the criminal environment without having any major role in operations. One of the transfers that went into the man’s account is said to be worth 100,000 kronor and, according to Expressen, is part of the investigation into a money laundering case in Gothenburg. 

The man denies the accusations, and has appealed the decision to fire him, receiving 16 months’ salary as a settlement. 

Swedish vocabulary: en förlikning – a settlement

Advertisement

Christian Democrats call for end to Swedish Public Employment Service 

The Christian Democrats have called for the Swedish Public Employment Service, or Arbetsförmedlingen, to be abolished, with local municipalities taking over the job of helping unemployed people find work. 

“We Christian Democrats believe that the time has come to abolish the Swedish Public Employment Service in its current form,” Camilla Rinaldo Miller, an MP who sits on the parliament’s labour markets committee, and Lili André, the party’s business spokesperson, wrote in the SvD newspaper.

They argue that many municipalities are already doing a better job than the employment service at helping unemployed residents find work and argue that they should take the main responsibility. Municipalities have better local knowledge and can build better personal contact with unemployed people, they argue. 

“All we need to do is believe in the local and dare to let go of an agency that no longer fulfils its purpose,” they conclude. 

Swedish vocabulary: att avskaffa – to abolish 

Advertisement

Swedish jihadist jailed for life over Jordan pilot burned alive

A Stockholm court on Thursday handed down a life term to Swedish jihadist Osama Krayem over the murder of a Jordanian pilot burned alive by the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, which sparked international outrage in 2015.

The Swedish court was the first to try a person over the infamous killing.

Judge Anna Liljenberg Gullesjo said in a statement that “the investigation has shown that the defendant was at the execution site, uniformed and armed, and allowed himself to be filmed.”

While noting that video evidence showed that another man actually lit the fire “thus directly caused the death of the Jordanian pilot,” the judge said “defendant’s actions contributed so significantly to the death of the victim that he should be considered a perpetrator.”

Krayem, who is already serving long prison sentences for his role in the Paris and Brussels attacks in 2015 and 2016, was given a life sentence for “serious war crimes and terrorist crimes”

Sweden calls on EU to suspend trade pact with Israel

Sweden on Thursday called on the EU to suspend the trade part of its association agreement with Israel over its conduct of the war in Gaza.

“The situation in Gaza is absolutely appalling, and Israel is failing to fulfil its most basic obligations and agreements on emergency aid,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said in a post to X.

“Sweden therefore demands that the EU freeze the trade section of the association agreement as soon as possible,” Kristersson said, calling on the Israeli government to allow “unhindered humanitarian aid into Gaza.”

The EU’s association agreement with Israel is a framework for trade and political relations. The bloc is Israel’s largest trading partner, accounting for nearly a third of Israel’s global trade, according to EU data.