Wave of reforms in centre-right Sweden but welfare state intact

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2008

STOCKHOLM (AFP) — A wave of liberal reforms has swept across Sweden since the centre-right government came to power in 2006, notably with the sale last week of the state's crown jewel Absolut vodka, but the welfare state is still alive and kicking, analysts insist.

"Swedes are very pleased with, and very strongly support, the welfare state," Barbro Hedvall, an editorialist in Sweden's newspaper of reference Dagens Nyheter, told AFP.

Since winning a general election in September 2006, Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt's coalition has abolished wealth and property tax, cut income taxes, introduced tax breaks for domestic help, tightened rules for sickness benefits and announced plans to relax rent control in Stockholm.

It has also launched a privatisation...