Apoteket "spread government propaganda"
Sweden's state-run pharmacy, Apoteket, has been accused of spreading government propaganda, after brochures explaining the latest budget was distributed in stores throughout the country. Now, Apoteket has agreed to withdraw the information.
The Liberal Party [Folkpartiet] member of parliament Carl B. Hamilton said he was disturbed that Apoteket was giving out the budget in brochure form and demanded that they be removed from the stores immediately.
"It's a scandal that the government and Apoteket are working together to spread Social Democratic propaganda. Our pharmacy should not be a propaganda office for the government party," said Hamilton to TV4's news programme.
Apoteket responded almost immediately.
"We are going to take them off our shelves," said Apoteket's communications director, Thony Björk, to new agency TT.
He admitted that this is the second or third year in a row that the government's budget brochures have been available in Apoteket.
"We had an inquiry from the finance department about whether it would be possible to distribute information about the budget proposals. We did not consider at the time that it could have been interpreted as Apoteket taking a political position," said Björk.
He confirmed that in future the budget would not be available in Apoteket.
Would Swedes really swallow this? Discuss!
TT/The Local
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Now, Apoteket has agreed to withdraw the information.
The Liberal Party [Folkpartiet] member of parliament Carl B. Hamilton said he was disturbed that Apoteket was giving out the budget in brochure form and demanded that they be removed from the stores immediately.
"It's a scandal that the government and Apoteket are working together to spread Social Democratic propaganda. Our pharmacy should not be a propaganda office for the government party," said Hamilton to TV4's news programme.
Apoteket responded almost immediately.
"We are going to take them off our shelves," said Apoteket's communications director, Thony Björk, to new agency TT.
He admitted that this is the second or third year in a row that the government's budget brochures have been available in Apoteket.
"We had an inquiry from the finance department about whether it would be possible to distribute information about the budget proposals. We did not consider at the time that it could have been interpreted as Apoteket taking a political position," said Björk.
He confirmed that in future the budget would not be available in Apoteket.
Would Swedes really swallow this? Discuss!
TT/The Local
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