Today in Sweden: A roundup of the latest news on Wednesday
Find out what's going on in Sweden today with The Local's short roundup of the news in less than five minutes.
Social Democrat party congress gets under way
The ruling Social Democrat party’s annual convention got under way in Gothenburg today. Prime Minister Stefan Löfven is set to step down on Thursday after almost ten years as party leader and is to be replaced by Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson, after all viable rivals pulled out before it ever really became a contest.
This doesn’t mean that Andersson will immediately become Sweden’s first female prime minister. First, Löfven will have to hand in his resignation to the speaker of parliament, and then parliament will decide whether or not to confirm Andersson.
Swedish vocabulary: a party leader – en partiledare
Crisis meeting after mass resignations from Stockholm’s maternity wards
Around 450 midwives from the six maternity wards in Stockholm were set to take part in a digital meeting today to discuss the ongoing crisis in the region’s maternity care.
“We hope that we will for once be listened to and that midwives are allowed to set the agenda. Improvement measures are needed, now, this is an emergency. Everything else is unsustainable,” the TT newswire quoted Elin Hallberg, chair of the Midwives Association’s local Stockholm branch, as saying.
The meeting comes after a spate of mass resignations in Stockholm. Twenty-six midwives quit their jobs at Danderyd Hospital on Friday, and the number has since risen to 41. All of Södersjukhuset’s maternity care managers also walked out in protest.
The Local has previously written about Sweden's strained maternity care.
Swedish vocabulary: a midwife – en barnmorska
Swedish university renames venues with racist links
Sweden’s prestigious medical university, the Karolinska Institute, will rename auditoriums named after researchers active in Sweden’s eugenics movement in the 19th and 20th centuries, its principal Ole Petter Ottersen said in a statement.
A building and a street bearing the names of Anders Retzius (1796-1860) and his son Gustaf (1842-1919) will be renamed. The Karolinska Institute is also asking the municipality of Solna to rename “von Euler Street” to “Ulf von Euler Street”, in order to distinguish the 1970 Nobel Prize chemistry laureate from his father, Hans von Euler.
Hans von Euler, who won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1929, was an active member of a Swedish-German organisation that became pro-Nazi.
Swedish vocabulary: to rename – att byta namn på
Two die after man falls seven floors at Uppsala concert hall
Two people died after an elderly man fell seven floors at a concert venue in Uppsala, central Sweden, hitting another.
Around 1,000 people had gathered at the Uppsala Konsert & Kongress hall which was hosting a tribute concert to Abba legends Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson with covers of their famous songs from the group and various musicals. The concert hall has an open space in the foyer from which the person fell and hit two other people.
The person who fell, a man in his 80s, as well as a man in his 60s, died. Police said they believed the incident was neither suspicious nor an accident.
Swedish vocabulary: 80s – åttioårsåldern
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Social Democrat party congress gets under way
The ruling Social Democrat party’s annual convention got under way in Gothenburg today. Prime Minister Stefan Löfven is set to step down on Thursday after almost ten years as party leader and is to be replaced by Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson, after all viable rivals pulled out before it ever really became a contest.
This doesn’t mean that Andersson will immediately become Sweden’s first female prime minister. First, Löfven will have to hand in his resignation to the speaker of parliament, and then parliament will decide whether or not to confirm Andersson.
Swedish vocabulary: a party leader – en partiledare
Crisis meeting after mass resignations from Stockholm’s maternity wards
Around 450 midwives from the six maternity wards in Stockholm were set to take part in a digital meeting today to discuss the ongoing crisis in the region’s maternity care.
“We hope that we will for once be listened to and that midwives are allowed to set the agenda. Improvement measures are needed, now, this is an emergency. Everything else is unsustainable,” the TT newswire quoted Elin Hallberg, chair of the Midwives Association’s local Stockholm branch, as saying.
The meeting comes after a spate of mass resignations in Stockholm. Twenty-six midwives quit their jobs at Danderyd Hospital on Friday, and the number has since risen to 41. All of Södersjukhuset’s maternity care managers also walked out in protest.
The Local has previously written about Sweden's strained maternity care.
Swedish vocabulary: a midwife – en barnmorska
Swedish university renames venues with racist links
Sweden’s prestigious medical university, the Karolinska Institute, will rename auditoriums named after researchers active in Sweden’s eugenics movement in the 19th and 20th centuries, its principal Ole Petter Ottersen said in a statement.
A building and a street bearing the names of Anders Retzius (1796-1860) and his son Gustaf (1842-1919) will be renamed. The Karolinska Institute is also asking the municipality of Solna to rename “von Euler Street” to “Ulf von Euler Street”, in order to distinguish the 1970 Nobel Prize chemistry laureate from his father, Hans von Euler.
Hans von Euler, who won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1929, was an active member of a Swedish-German organisation that became pro-Nazi.
Swedish vocabulary: to rename – att byta namn på
Two die after man falls seven floors at Uppsala concert hall
Two people died after an elderly man fell seven floors at a concert venue in Uppsala, central Sweden, hitting another.
Around 1,000 people had gathered at the Uppsala Konsert & Kongress hall which was hosting a tribute concert to Abba legends Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson with covers of their famous songs from the group and various musicals. The concert hall has an open space in the foyer from which the person fell and hit two other people.
The person who fell, a man in his 80s, as well as a man in his 60s, died. Police said they believed the incident was neither suspicious nor an accident.
Swedish vocabulary: 80s – åttioårsåldern
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