Conference turris::scandia

229.0. "Swedish opposition leader, Bengt Westerberg" by TLE::SAVAGE (Neil, @Spit Brook) Mon Sep 14 1987 10:56

    The following is from an article by William Echikson that appeared in
    the September 10, 1987 issue of The Christian Science Monitor. 

    
    Sweden's top opposition politician is People's (Liberal) Party leader
    Bengt Westerberg. "We in the Liberal Party stand on two legs," said Mr.
    Westerberg, "One is a hard belief in the free market and individual
    liberty; the other is a belief in social justice." 

    For a long time, this relatively conservative philosophy appeared to
    have little future in Sweden. Formed in the 1920s by temperance
    activists and urban middle-class reformers, the Liberals appeared to
    lose their sense of mission in the early 1980s. From more than 10
    percent of the vote in the 1970s, they won only 5.9 percent in 1983. 

    "Our image was blurred," recalls Daniel Tarschys, a Liberal parliament
    member and a professor of political science. "We flirted with the
    [ruling] Social Democrats and people took us for soft compromisers." 

    Westerberg was a surprising choice to lead the party out of near
    obscurity. After siding with the radical left as a youth, he studied
    economics and became a technocratic assistance finance minister in
    Sweden's non-socialist coalition governments between 1976 and 1982. 

    In the 1985 election, Westerberg and the Liberals were the big news.
    The Social Democrats hung on to power, but the Liberals nearly trebled
    their size, winning some 13 percent of the vote. Westerberg was seen as
    the next non-Socialist prime minister. 

    In his interview with the Monitor, Westerberg spoke clearly and softly,
    never raising his voice, even when he questioned long-held Swedish
    assumptions. "Swedes pay up to 80 percent of their incomes in taxes.
    That's too high," said Westerberg. In his opinion, "People should keep
    at least half of what they earn." 

    Swedes also enjoy state assistance from cradle to grave. They are born
    in state-run hospitals, go to state-run day-care centers, receive state
    grants for university, attend state training schemes if they lose their
    job, and finish their days in state old-age homes. 

    To Westerberg, this giant public sector smacks of "big brother." He
    does not oppose the social services. He simply say the state is
    squeezing off private initiative and itself is unable to provide these
    services efficiently. His solution is to allow private companies to
    compete with public monopolies in such fields as day and health care. 

    We want to give people the freedom of choice," he says. "In the US, you
    have the choice, but a lot of people have no insurance. Here everybody
    [has to] be insured." 

    Will this message make him prime minister? The next election is a year
    off and polls show Westerberg winning 16 to 17 percent, a figure which
    puts the Liberals ahead of all other non-Socialist parties. 

    But the governing Social Democrats remain strong. In many ways, their
    new leader, Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson, is a Westerberg copy: a
    soft-spoken, soothing politician. Mr. Carlsson is also beginning to
    take up Westerberg-type issues. While he insists in maintaining public
    monopolies for social services, he, too, is planning to cut personal
    income taxes. 

    "I like Ingvar," Westerberg admits. "It's easy for us to discuss
    things."                     

    How does he hope to oppose so similar a man? Westerberg hesitates. "The
    truth is I don't know," he says. "Last time, I came from nowhere. Next
    time, it will be difficult."