Sweden | Chairman of the Swedish Liberal Party: Finnish and Swedish police must cooperate so that Swedish gangs do not spread to Finland

Visby

Laughter fresh when the chairman of the Swedish Liberal Party Johan Pehrson talks with his colleague in the hotel’s green garden in Visby, Gotland.

My colleague is the Minister of Justice of Finland and the chairman of the Rkp Anna-Maja Henriksson.

Rkp and the Liberal Party are sister parties, and here, during Almedalen’s policy weeks, the chairmen of the parties meet for the first time.

Henriksson thanks Pehrson for mentioning Finland and Henriksson in his speech on Tuesday. In his speech, Pehrson thanked Finland and Henriksson for their cooperation in the NATO membership process.

“Of course I singled you out because you’re here,” Pehrson says, sipping from a cup of coffee.

Then the photographer notices something alarming. Henriksson and Pehrson’s coffee cups have a big dark letter Z. It reminds me of Russian war propaganda, although in reality it is related to a coffee brand called Zoégas. Perhaps party leaders shouldn’t appear in magazine photos with Z mugs.

“Oh, terrible,” exclaims Henriksson, and both spin their cups to a new position.

Pehrson jokes that maybe he owns the hotel cafe himself Vladimir Putin.

“Then we wouldn’t have been invited here,” Henriksson laughs.

Party leaders seem to enjoy each other’s company, and both emphasize the importance of personal relationships between Finnish and Swedish politicians.

“Rkp always tends to be here in Almedalen, and I myself have been here four times. I find it amazing to follow Swedish politics because we have so much in common. And in this situation, it is especially important to make sure that we maintain our relationship and build the opportunity to do more together,” says Henriksson.

Both parties have been in support of NATO for a long time, and in addition to NATO, the party leaders see it as important to build cooperation to eradicate gang crime, among other things.

“We can share experiences and lessons learned about how an open society faces serious crime. We have big problems with that, and we have talked about how to maintain the balance between freedom and order,” says Pehrson.

According to Henriksson, it is important for Finland to learn from the experiences of Sweden and Denmark so that Finland does not end up in Sweden’s path.

“Preventive work and good integration,” Henriksson begins.

“It is important that those who move to Finland, children and young people, feel that they are part of this society and not be left out. The integration needs to be better. You have to attack problems where they exist and dare to do it,” says Henriksson.

According to Johan Pehrson, education is crucial in preventing gang crime.

“Very few young people who make it through school end up as gang criminals, clan leaders, Islamists or dangerous nationalists. It is also important that we continue the operational police cooperation, where we are already well advanced.”

Pehrson’s according to Sweden’s gang crime is at the point where the spread of the phenomenon beyond Sweden’s borders is a big risk.

“People in gangs are after money. They don’t care about anything else. It’s about whether the gangs can find receptive people elsewhere and thus transfer their capital of violence across the border to Finland quite quickly.”

According to Pehrson, by expanding, the gangs would grow stronger and threaten both Finland and Sweden.

“If the gangs grow and are able to build operations and larger units in Finland, it will become an even bigger problem for you and us,” says Pehrson.

According to the liberal leader, it is important to cooperate between states and not to be satisfied only with the activities of, for example, the European police organization Europol.

Swedish gang crime is one of the big themes of the September elections, which is on the agenda of all parties. In the elections, the liberals aim for cooperation with the moderate coalition, the Christian Democrats and the Sweden Democrats.

“The liberals’ position is that the government must be changed,” says Pehrson.

Pehrson was elected to the leadership of his party in April, and he has seen the popularity of the Liberal Party rise. The previous party leader Nyamko Sabunin during the period, the Liberal Party fell below the four percent vote threshold, but under Pehrson’s leadership, the party’s support in the polls has risen to five percent.

Anna-Maja Henriksson tells Pehrson about Finland’s political tradition, which always aims to form a majority government.

“We don’t have the traditions of minority governments in the same way that you do. In the Swedish elections, there is actually a situation where you choose whether Sweden will have a minority government led by a moderate coalition Ulf Kristersson or will Sweden have a minority government led by social democrats Magdalena Andersson.”

“It’s just like that,” says Johan Pehrson.

in Sweden a big topic of discussion has been the new line of the bourgeois parties, where they strive to cooperate with the Swedish Democrats, unlike before. Pehrson is ready for cooperation with the Sweden Democrats.

“We see it as a matter of fact. If the elections go well for the bourgeois parties and if the liberals succeed, our goal is to be part of the government. Then you have to sit down with the Sweden Democrats and talk about important issues. Thus, we also show respect for those voters who have chosen to vote for the Sweden Democrats.”

But the government negotiations are becoming difficult, predicts Pehrson.

“Board negotiations are always difficult, that’s how it is,” says Henriksson.

“I’ll call you then, and you can give me some advice,” says Pehrson.

Relaxed the two go their separate ways after their meeting. Both praise Almedalen’s immediate atmosphere, which makes it easy to organize meetings.

It’s Wednesday, and less than an hour later a stabbing attack takes place in the middle of Visby, as a result of which the Swedish Municipal Employers’ Confederation SKR Ing-Marie Wieselgren dies. According to the Swedish media, the perpetrator suspected of the murder has connections to the extreme right, and according to the prosecutor, the victim was chosen on purpose.

Immediately after the bloodshed, both presidents reacted to the events on Twitter.

“A terrible stabbing in Visby. My thoughts are with the victim and his family,” Henriksson wrote on Twitter.

“Tragic. My thoughts are with the victim. Let the police investigate that terrible crime in the best possible way,” wrote Pehrson.