“A few weeks before Christmas, Dan Eliasson, head of the Swedish emergency preparedness authority, sent an SMS to all Swedes in which they were asked to follow restrictions and stay at home during the holidays.
Shortly afterwards, he packed his bags and set off on a two-week trip to the Canary Islands ”.
This is how the New York Times begins an article about the MSB chief's trip to Gran Canaria.
Something that Expressen was the first to report on.
Ended up in bad weather
The article describes how Dan Eliasson ended up in windy weather in Sweden, "where following rules and recommendations is seen as one of the highest virtues, especially in times of pandemic", according to the newspaper.
NYT also describes how Prime Minister Stefan Löfven was seen shopping in central Stockholm the days before Christmas and how Minister of Finance Magdalena Andersson was photographed in a ski rental in Sälen.
The paper then describes how travel abroad has had a negative impact on public representatives in other countries and highlights, for example, Canada, where eight politicians resigned or were forced to leave their posts after it emerged that they had traveled abroad during the Christmas holidays.
BBC: Lift's demand for resignation
The BBC also highlights the fact that Eliasson is responsible for the authority that sent out an SMS to all Swedes in which they were asked to read about the new stricter advice to stop the spread of covid-19.
They point out that the guidelines from the Swedish Public Health Agency call for avoiding unnecessary trips during Christmas and limiting their social contacts.
The BBC also writes that demands have been made for Eliasson's resignation.
The British The Independent describes how the head of the government's trip attracted a lot of attention at the political level and quotes an anonymous government source who tells Aftonbladet that "hardly anyone has not reacted to this".
The independent also highlights that the moderate member of parliament Hans Wallmark also traveled to the Canary Islands over Christmas and how he apologized for this on his Facebook page.
Greta Thunberg mocked
Dan Eliasson's trip abroad is also noticed by the European public service companies' news channel Euronews.
In addition to describing the controversy surrounding the trip, they also write about how climate activist Greta Thunberg mocks Eliasson on Twitter for the explanation he gave about how he gave up many trips during the year but judged that this was necessary.