Social Europe

  • EU Forward Project
  • YouTube
  • Podcast
  • Books
  • Newsletter
  • Membership

Stefan Löfven—welding progressives together and keeping the far right at bay

Lisa Pelling 1st September 2021

The Swedish social-democrat leader, shortly to step down, didn’t buckle under pressure despite a slender parliamentary hold.

Löfven,Social Democrats,Sweden
Not standing out—Ulla and Stefan Löfven on the May Day march in Umeå, 2019 (Emmoth/Shutterstock.com)

He still has two months to go until he leaves his post at the party congress in the first week of November. But it is already time to ask what lessons can be drawn from Stefan Löfven’s near-decade-long leadership of the Swedish Social Democrats.

It certainly came as a surprise when Löfven, party chair since 2012 and prime minister since 2014, announced his resignation. It was expected, after such a stint, that he would step down during the coming legislature period. But straight after a defeat at the general election scheduled for September 2022 or, in the case of victory, a few months later seemed more likely. It is a strategically wise decision, though, giving the Social Democrats an opportunity to fight that campaign with new energy.

Löfven became head of the party very reluctantly. He had been affiliated since his youth via the social-democratic youth association but had spent most of his adult life in the trade union movement. A welder by training, it was as president of the metalworkers’ federation, IF Metall, that he held a post on the executive board of the party—and, in 2012, appeared the only option as its chair.

Turbulent time

Löfven has led the party, and Sweden, through a very turbulent time. He was elected prime minister with the smallest possible margin, forming a government—including the Greens, with budgets negotiated with the Left Party—only because the liberal and conservative parties agreed not to coalesce with the radical-right Sweden Democrats. Such a coalition was however a constant threat, which remained after the election in 2018, forcing the Social Democrats to accept a far-reaching agreement with two liberal parties and to distance itself from its former Left co-operation partner.

In June this year, he was forced to resign as prime minister after the Left submitted a no-confidence motion in the parliament, over the introduction of market rents. But he was reinstated when the other parties failed to agree an alternative.

Löfven has not only handled a difficult and unstable parliamentary situation. He has also had to deal with a number of crises: the refugee influx of 2015, when Sweden received 163,000 asylum-seekers in a single year (more than any other European country per capita); the fatal attack by an Islamist who drove a truck through central Stockholm in April 2017; and, latterly, the global pandemic.



Don't miss out on cutting-edge thinking.


Join tens of thousands of informed readers and stay ahead with our insightful content. It's free.



Indeed, remaining in power, despite the parliamentary situation, has been his greatest achievement—although to some he has clung to power ‘at any cost’. Sweden has sustained a social-democratic prime minister despite a right-wing majority in parliament, but the price has been far-reaching compromises with other parties and he has often enjoyed low rates of approval in the polls.

Political activism

Löfven was born in Stockholm to a single mother who did not have the means to raise him. He grew up as a foster child in a village outside the northern town of Örnsköldsvik. It’s a small place but its local industry is part of a global production chain, and his political activism was international from the start.

There were solidarity projects with metalworkers in Nicaragua and Brazil—he treated his fellow metalworker and trade unionist (and later Brazilian president), Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to many Swedish saunas. He was for many years international secretary of the metalworkers’ federation, as well as a member of the board of the European Metalworkers’ Federation and of the Olof Palme International Center. He has never been a good speaker but tends to deliver better speeches in English than in Swedish.

A worker, a trade unionist and a very humble personality, following one of his first press conferences as party leader he cleared the dishes from the tables after lunch. Last winter I participated in a small ceremony to inaugurate a commemorative plaque at Blekingegatan 57, where the late Austrian social-democrat chancellor Bruno Kreisky lived as a refugee in the 1940s. Löfven and his wife, Ulla, turned up in the small crowd that had gathered in the winter cold, drinking their coffee from the same paper mugs as the rest of us—not because he had a formal role but just to pay his respects.

Positive aspects

If lessons are to be drawn from Löfven’s time in power, it is important to remember there are many upsides to refusing the ‘easy way out’ of opposition. The most obvious is that the xenophobic Sweden Democrats, founded by neo-Nazis, have been kept out of influence in parliament. It is telling that Löfven’s latest travel abroad was to Norway for the tenth-anniversary commemoration of the far-right attack on young social democrats on Utøya.

Other convincingly positive aspects of remaining in power have become apparent not least during the pandemic. Sweden has been led by a foster child and metalworker who knows how important it is to defend and strengthen welfare institutions and to protect jobs. Hundreds of thousands of jobs have been saved thanks to the government’s short-time-working scheme, the unemployment benefit has been improved and the long-term trend of declining trade union membership has been broken: the blue-collar union confederation, LO, won 20,000 members in 2020—its largest gain since 1985.

In Sweden, the question of the day is: who will replace Stefan Löfven as party leader and prime minister? The minister of finance, Magdalena Andersson, is well placed. But it is just as relevant to ask: what will he do now?

Löfven has a unique background—and some special negotiation and leadership skills—put to hard test in the Swedish parliament for the past seven years. The progressive movement should make sure he can continue to contribute to it.

Lisa Pelling
Lisa Pelling

Lisa Pelling (lisa.pelling@arenagruppen.se) is a political scientist and head of the Stockholm-based think tank Arena Idé. She regularly contributes to the daily digital newspaper Dagens Arena and has a background as a political adviser and speechwriter at the Swedish foreign ministry.

Harvard University Press Advertisement

Social Europe Ad - Promoting European social policies

We need your help.

Support Social Europe for less than €5 per month and help keep our content freely accessible to everyone. Your support empowers independent publishing and drives the conversations that matter. Thank you very much!

Social Europe Membership

Click here to become a member

Most Recent Articles

u4219834676 bcba 6b2b3e733ce2 1 The End of an Era: What’s Next After Globalisation?Apostolos Thomadakis
u4219834674a bf1a 0f45ab446295 0 Germany’s Subcontracting Ban in the Meat IndustryŞerife Erol, Anneliese Kärcher, Thorsten Schulten and Manfred Walser
u4219834dafae1dc3 2 EU’s New Fiscal Rules: Balancing Budgets with Green and Digital AmbitionsPhilipp Heimberger
u42198346d1f0048 1 The Dangerous Metaphor of Unemployment “Scarring”Tom Boland and Ray Griffin
u4219834675 4ff1 998a 404323c89144 1 Why Progressive Governments Keep Failing — And How to Finally Win Back VotersMariana Mazzucato

Most Popular Articles

u4219834647f 0894ae7ca865 3 Europe’s Businesses Face a Quiet Takeover as US Investors CapitaliseTej Gonza and Timothée Duverger
u4219834674930082ba55 0 Portugal’s Political Earthquake: Centrist Grip Crumbles, Right AscendsEmanuel Ferreira
u421983467e58be8 81f2 4326 80f2 d452cfe9031e 1 “The Universities Are the Enemy”: Why Europe Must Act NowBartosz Rydliński
u42198346761805ea24 2 Trump’s ‘Golden Era’ Fades as European Allies Face Harsh New RealityFerenc Németh and Peter Kreko
startupsgovernment e1744799195663 Governments Are Not StartupsMariana Mazzucato
u421986cbef 2549 4e0c b6c4 b5bb01362b52 0 American SuicideJoschka Fischer
u42198346769d6584 1580 41fe 8c7d 3b9398aa5ec5 1 Why Trump Keeps Winning: The Truth No One AdmitsBo Rothstein
u421983467 a350a084 b098 4970 9834 739dc11b73a5 1 America Is About to Become the Next BrexitJ Bradford DeLong
u4219834676ba1b3a2 b4e1 4c79 960b 6770c60533fa 1 The End of the ‘West’ and Europe’s FutureGuillaume Duval
u421983462e c2ec 4dd2 90a4 b9cfb6856465 1 The Transatlantic Alliance Is Dying—What Comes Next for Europe?Frank Hoffer

Eurofound advertisement

Ageing workforce
The evolution of working conditions in Europe

This episode of Eurofound Talks examines the evolving landscape of European working conditions, situated at the nexus of profound technological transformation.

Mary McCaughey speaks with Barbara Gerstenberger, Eurofound's Head of Unit for Working Life, who leverages insights from the 35-year history of the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS).

Listen to the episode for free. Also make sure to subscribe to Eurofound Talks so you don’t miss an episode!

LISTEN NOW

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

Spring Issues

The Summer issue of The Progressive Post is out!


It is time to take action and to forge a path towards a Socialist renewal.


European Socialists struggle to balance their responsibilities with the need to take bold positions and actions in the face of many major crises, while far-right political parties are increasingly gaining ground. Against this background, we offer European progressive forces food for thought on projecting themselves into the future.


Among this issue’s highlights, we discuss the transformative power of European Social Democracy, examine the far right’s efforts to redesign education systems to serve its own political agenda and highlight the growing threat of anti-gender movements to LGBTIQ+ rights – among other pressing topics.

READ THE MAGAZINE

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

WSI Report

WSI Minimum Wage Report 2025

The trend towards significant nominal minimum wage increases is continuing this year. In view of falling inflation rates, this translates into a sizeable increase in purchasing power for minimum wage earners in most European countries. The background to this is the implementation of the European Minimum Wage Directive, which has led to a reorientation of minimum wage policy in many countries and is thus boosting the dynamics of minimum wages. Most EU countries are now following the reference values for adequate minimum wages enshrined in the directive, which are 60% of the median wage or 50 % of the average wage. However, for Germany, a structural increase is still necessary to make progress towards an adequate minimum wage.

DOWNLOAD HERE

S&D Group in the European Parliament advertisement

Cohesion Policy

S&D Position Paper on Cohesion Policy post-2027: a resilient future for European territorial equity

Cohesion Policy aims to promote harmonious development and reduce economic, social and territorial disparities between the regions of the Union, and the backwardness of the least favoured regions with a particular focus on rural areas, areas affected by industrial transition and regions suffering from severe and permanent natural or demographic handicaps, such as outermost regions, regions with very low population density, islands, cross-border and mountain regions.

READ THE FULL POSITION PAPER HERE

ETUI advertisement

HESA Magazine Cover

With a comprehensive set of relevant indicators, presented in 85 graphs and tables, the 2025 Benchmarking Working Europe report examines how EU policies can reconcile economic, social and environmental goals to ensure long-term competitiveness. Considered a key reference, this publication is an invaluable resource for supporting European social dialogue.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Social Europe

Our Mission

Team

Article Submission

Advertisements

Membership

Social Europe Archives

Themes Archive

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

Ecology Archive

Miscellaneous

RSS Feed

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641