Analysis: "Brutal reminder to Löfven about the balance of power in Parliament"

The current government was created to prevent political influence of the Sweden Democrats. For both the Center Party and the Liberals, it therefore became important to also block the Left Party from influence.

But parliamentary mathematics cannot be negotiated away. After all, the government with the support of C and L is a minority government.

In situations where the Left Party can do jointly with not only the Moderates and Christian Democrats but also with the Sweden Democrats, the government is smoked.

The political conflict concerning the Employment Service has been clearly demonstrated.

The unholy alliance that arose in the Riksdag about the Employment Service believed the government was not possible.

But the bitterness within the Left Party over having been excluded from all political influence has led to the party no longer hesitating to do a joint thing with the Sweden Democrats. The harsh rhetoric of the last days from the party leader Jonas Sjöstedt should also be seen as a marking inward of his own party and an attempt to rally the party against an external enemy. After all, Sjöstedt has been criticized from time to time for being too dismissive of the Social Democrats.

The government was obviously completely censured when the conflict around the Employment Service was escalated. Sure, the Social Democrats threatened for a while with the opportunity to announce new elections. But that bluff was quickly seen.

That Stefan Löfven would announce new elections in order not to fully privatize the employment services falls obviously on his own unreasonableness. In addition, the reform is quite technical in its design and hardly an issue to base an extra choice on.

Now the government reverses both the timetable for the reform and also withdraws the requirement that it rest on the law of freedom of choice. Thus, judging by the demands made by a parliamentary majority is fulfilled by everything and the Minister of Labor is securely in his post. Thus, the basis for a declaration of mistrust should be removed.

Is the danger over for the government? Yes, at least for the moment. On the other hand, what has happened is a brutal reminder to Prime Minister Stefan Löfven that the January agreement did not solve all the government's problems at all.

The government is a minority government and must adapt to the parliamentary majority. In budgetary matters, the government is likely to succeed, but in other matters, it in theory always runs the risk of being voted down in the House.

This means that more political sensitivity will be required by both Löfven and his Cabinet when they decide in the future to go to Parliament with various political proposals.

The tours around the Employment Service also show the political dynamics that can arise in a new political landscape, where the old blocks no longer form the power bases for government and opposition. Therefore, in all likelihood, this term of office, despite the January agreement, will also be shaky and uncertain.

What argues that these types of crises are still not very common is that agreement from the Left Party to the Moderates, the Christian Democrats and the Sweden Democrats is needed to create a majority against the government. And that is not likely to be possible on many issues.

But once that happens, the government lives dangerously.