Analysis: "The government risks being hit hard in the wake of the pandemic"

The debate that has flared up over the days of a special corona commission may be the first sign that the peace peace is now about to be broken.

Admittedly, the opposition and the government agree that a special commission will review the management of the corona crisis. But while the Moderates and the Christian Democrats demand that the Commission be appointed already, the Social Democrats want to wait until after the crisis.

There are factual arguments for both positions, but the fact that government and opposition think differently here is perhaps not so surprising. This is, among other things, the government's actions that a commission should review. As the largest government party, the Social Democrats are also the party most at risk of such scrutiny. The party also considers itself to have bad experiences here. The Flood Commission, for example, pointed out a number of shortcomings in the Government Offices following the 2004 tsunami disaster.

But, one can object, when it comes to the corona crisis, the parliamentary parties have emerged as united behind the Swedish strategy. Doesn't that also mean shared responsibility for what has happened? Yes, in some sense it is, but that does not mean that the opposition will be satisfied afterwards with all the government's efforts.

For example, several opposition parties, including the Moderates, have already made markings on several different issues, which can be used at a later stage to attack the government. This applies, among other things, to the testing, which has not been increased at all at the rate the government has spoken of. Extensive testing is considered important both to reduce the spread of infection and thus save lives and to enable people who are not infected to work.

The Government has previously stated the target that 100,000 Swedes will be tested per week from mid-May. That has not happened and nobody seems to be able to answer why. Last week, more than 32,000 people were tested, which is far from the government's target.

Another issue that is likely to be the subject of evaluation and intense political debate is the high death rates in Sweden. Admittedly lower than in countries such as Italy, Spain and the UK, but clearly higher than in comparable Nordic countries such as Denmark, Norway and Finland. So far, no one has been able to answer why death rates are so much higher in Sweden. The same applies to the high mortality rate in Swedish housing for elderly people, which also stands out in international comparisons. But here too, there are still no certain conclusions, and this question is also the subject of scrutiny and discussion.

The fact that Sweden has chosen an overall strategy that deviates from most other countries means that the government risks a difficult post-debate, especially if it turns out that this strategy has led to more deaths than in other countries.

Although the government has leaned on the Public Health Authority's experts in decisions and assessments, it is still the government that is ultimately responsible for the path Sweden has chosen during the corona crisis.