DIFFERENCES FROM GOVERNMENT TO GOVERNMENT…
Sweden’s Prime Minister announced yesterday that the government plans to halve Value Added Tax (VAT) to 6% in its 2026 budget to support households and the broader economy while emphasising that the reform is expected to have the greatest impact on households that have faced the most difficulties.
Ulf Kristersson leads the right-wing governing coalition in the Scandinavian country. This development raises questions about whether right-wing governments globally govern solely with elites in mind, leaving low- and middle-class citizens vulnerable for the sake of favouring large interests.
This is neither intended nor attempted as an absolution of right-wing politics, particularly at a European level. However, given that Cyprus has been governed by the Right for over 12 years, comparisons inevitably emerge. And this comparison is not about the Right per se, but about the spirit from which the various governments emanate.
Sweden’s government may have its own internal and micro-political reasons for pursuing this reform. Nevertheless, the practical impact remains significant, as hundreds of thousands of households will find relief.
With a diametrically opposite policy, both on the prices of essential goods and on the burning issue of energy (hold on a bit because the best is yet to come), Nikos Christodoulides’s right-wing government not only does not act with the good of the many as its guiding principle, but opposes the common good, with green taxes as the most characteristic example.
The dependency on big businessmen is so great that they cannot take a step without their approval, or it is their ideological-political rigidity that defines and determines their policy.
My personal assessment is that it is a combination of both, since the first reason has to do with the establishment order that calls the shots, and the second has its eye on political survival, advancement and re-election.
In any case, this is not a matter of comparing right-wing governments on ideological grounds but comparing governments in the field of action for the common good, because this move in Sweden will not ‘trouble’ big capital but will help even more people. Perhaps it is a matter of education or of how the state mechanism is set up and the relationship between politics and business in each state.
This article was originally published on 06.09.2025