Back from a seminar at the Finnish Parliament where a group of social democratic veterans from Sweden and Finland met to discuss current political issues. This was an interesting meeting but also a very pleasant one where very many of the participants – including myself – shared longstanding common experiences, so a meeting among friends in a way.
One of the main issues in discussions was of course the recent Swedish elections where the social democrats lead by Stefan Löfven fared better than expected. He is now discussing with the parties about a coalition government after the head of the conservatives failed to negotiate a majority.
One of the leading members of the present cabinet in Stockholm, the Minister for Enterprise and Innovation Mikael Damberg, made an in-depth analysis not only of the Swedish situation but also of the global events as he sees them. Here, the social democratic values will be an important part in combating the right-wing extremism that we have seen spreading. This was a great speech by a very talented politician who will continue to play a central role both in Sweden and Europe in the years to come.
Listening to Mikael Damberg, my thoughts went also to his late father Nils-Gösta who was a great friend of Finland and our social democracy. I still have a small pen knife somewhere which he dug out of his pocket and gave to me when he realised that it was my 30th birthday when we were having dinner in Stockholm on an August evening far back. Risto Laakkonen, former trade union official and later diplomat, good friend since my youth years, was with us that evening and also present at the seminar today.
This first session of the seminar was shared by Antti Rinne who chairs the Finnish social democratic party. Also he has a trade union background and was for some years a member of the UNI Global Union world executive, the organisation where I worked for many years. He is now leading the party towards an election victory early next year where the social democrats are expected to become the largest party. A possible and even probable outcome would then be that he is Finland’s next prime minister.
The second block of the seminar dealt with the European Union and how Sweden and Finland could cooperate to defend and promote democratic and social values in today’s troubled and unstable situation. The two main speakers were leading Swedish member of parliament Pyry Niemi and veteran Finnish social democratic politician and statesman Ulf Sundqvist. Both underlined the importance of the two countries and their social democracies to take an active and also leading role together in defending and promoting the interests of the people in Europe.
In the discussion I did mention the important contribution that Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and his social democratic government made in creating a strong and progressive social pillar for the European Union. Without a clear social dimension the community risks losing its support as we have already seen alarming signs of through the rise of right-wing populism and extreme nationalism.
The one-day conference was co-hosted by social democratic organisations in the Finnish capital together with the party itself and its parliamentary group.
Welcoming the participants, Maarit Feldt-Ranta who is member of parliament and vice chair of the party underlined the very special nature of cooperation between Sweden and Finland and the role of our labour movements in both bringing it about and keeping it very active.
The seminar proceedings were all held in the Swedish language which shows a strong commitment to Nordism and cooperation with Sweden also from the Finnish side.
