Analysis: Several burning issues in tonight's party leadership debate

Sunday's debate in Agenda is the first time since the corona crisis began when all party leaders gathered in a television studio.

Political bourgeoisie is about to fall, which can pave the way for an exciting and interesting debate. Recently, the opposition has sharpened criticism of the government and the opposition parties will not miss the opportunity to try to drum up their message to a wider audience.

At the same time, movements in voter opinion seem to continue. Social Democrats have risen sharply in public opinion during the Corona crisis, but signs now indicate that the party may be in decline again. The confidence that the electorate obviously felt for the government and the Social Democrats during the first phase of the crisis may be about to melt away.

Tonight's debate will be dominated by two main issues with bearing on the corona crisis,  healthcare  and the  economy .

When it comes to health care, the Swedish infection prevention strategy must be one of the issues that the opposition is trying to address. Against the backdrop of high death rates and severely affected housing for the elderly, the opposition parties will question the government's actions during the crisis.

The obvious problems of getting extensive testing started are also a matter of opposition where the opposition is critical, as will be evident from the debate. The government promised 100,000 tests a week, but has so far reached no more than just over 35,000 in one week.

As recently as Thursday, the government announced that another SEK 5.9 billion is now being allocated to the country's regions to start extensive testing. The investment has clear elements of crisis management. Stefan Löfven and his ministers are hard pressed by the criticism of the inadequate testing and it was therefore important for the government to release the news of extended testing before Sunday's TV debate.

Sweden's preparedness and the special corona commission that is now planned can also come up in the debate. However, the lack of preparedness falls back on both government and opposition parties. Both social democratic and bourgeois governments have phased out emergency preparedness and made decisions that weakened Swedish crisis preparedness.

Another part that may come up is the privatizations and the extent to which they have affected care, care and preparedness. This concerns both the abolition of the pharmacy monopoly and the privatization of a significant part of the Swedish elderly care.

But the debate will not only be about care and care, but also about the  economy .

Several gigantic crisis packages have been presented by the government, but the opposition on the right has called for faster and greater efforts to save jobs and businesses. At the same time, it is clear today that the costs of the crisis packages presented may rise. The state's expenditure only for short-term permits is about to crack the 100-billion kroner bank, to take an example. It can be good to keep in mind when politicians debate the need for new support packages.

The job perspective will become clear given that unemployment is now rising rapidly. Here integration can also be a part. Many of those who now become unemployed have a weak foundation in the labor market and are not always captured by the security systems. Conversely, the issue of increased dependency on grants and the importance of creating new jobs will come up in the debate.

Traditional dispute issues between left and right are also the importance of taxes to stimulate the economy. While Social Democrats often talk about the importance of investing in welfare and society, bourgeois politicians tend to emphasize lower taxes or employer fees. This conflict is also built in between the January parties and can become clear in tonight's TV debate.

Both the Center Party and the Liberals stand for a liberal economic policy where reduced taxes are an important part of the parties' policies, while the Social Democrats are rather talking about the need for increased taxes to finance growing needs in welfare, needs that have hardly decreased during the corona pandemic.

It is thus obvious for an exciting and interesting debate in Agenda. The debate can also be an illustration of the fact that Swedish politics is now entering a new phase where national unity is replaced by more traditional political conflict.