On Monday, the news came that the government is introducing further restrictions in order to slow down the spread of covid-19.

A decision that was not appreciated by the Liberals who now want to stop the extension of the pandemic law, writes SvD.

The temporary pandemic law gives the government the power to shut down society, an opportunity that party leader Nyamko Sabuni believes the government has not handled properly.

- The government has abused that right.

With Monday's press conference where new restrictions were presented without being able to be justified, we believe that it is time for the Riksdag to take back responsibility for making decisions on restrictions in the future, says Nyamko Sabuni to SvD.

It is one year since the temporary pandemic law, "the law on special restrictions to prevent the spread of covid-19 disease", came into force.

The Riksdag will soon vote on an extension of the law until the end of May, something that the Liberals will therefore say no to.

Still need for rules

According to the Liberals, there is a continuing need for rules regarding distances at, for example, restaurants and shopping centers, and they also believe that vaccine passes should be used to a greater extent.

However, they want the decisions on restrictions to be made by the Riksdag - not the government.

- We have had two years to learn about the pandemic and how covid-19 works.

I believe that it is now time to return responsibility to the Riksdag, says Nyamko Sabuni.

Minister of Social Affairs Lena Hallengren says in Swedish Radio Studio One that she thinks the Liberals' decision is naive.

- I am a little shocked that Nyamko Sabuni does not know that it will take time to do in a completely different way.

We have a pandemic, we have an ongoing pandemic.

We all wished we were not in the situation where we got a variant that is contagious regardless of whether you are vaccinated or not.

According to Lena Hallengren, a no to an extension of the Pandemic Act could have consequences for the spread of infection.

- To believe that one can vote against the pandemic law and instead only make decisions in the Riksdag without it having serious consequences where restrictions can not be implemented.

It's naive and I'm actually a little shocked.

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Stricter participant rules, earlier restaurant closures and homework.

These were some of the restrictions that Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson (S) presented on Monday.

Photo: Marko Säävälä / TT