{"id":183,"date":"2025-04-25T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/?p=183"},"modified":"2025-04-25T06:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T04:00:00","slug":"back-then-it-was-like-north-korea-around-ebba-busch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/?p=183","title":{"rendered":"“Back then, it was like North Korea around Ebba Busch.”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ebba Busch’s message from the stage in Karlstad brings smiles to the faces of the gathered Christian Democrats. When she delivers her speech at the KD Days in April 2025, she will soon have held the party leadership for ten years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During her tenure, the small party has managed to shift the dynamics of the political playing field. She was the first to open up to cooperation with the Sweden Democrats. She brought the Moderates on board, negotiated the Tid\u00f6 Agreement, and secured six KD ministerial posts after the 2022 election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there have also been times of crisis. Ahead of the 2022 election, Christian Democrats in the influential J\u00f6nk\u00f6ping district opposed cooperation with the Sweden Democrats\u2014going against the party line. From the grassroots in the Bible Belt came protests against the campaign being dominated by tough messages on migration and crime. Core issues such as healthcare, eldercare, and family policy were overshadowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ebba Busch tried to strike a balance between the different factions within the party. A year later, that balance was close to tipping.
\u201cThere\u2019s a mood of sorrow in my party,\u201d said Per H\u00f6gberg, chairman of the municipal executive in the free church-dense town of Mullsj\u00f6, in March 2023, a turbulent time for the party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elsewhere in the party, there were concerns about a shift to the left.
\u201cThey think we\u2019re heading back to Bullerbyn, and we\u2019re not,\u201d a KD politician told Dagens Nyheter<\/em> in October that same year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When DN<\/em> meets Per H\u00f6gberg at KD Days in April 2025, the tone is entirely different. As a municipal commissioner and district chair in the Sm\u00e5land Bible Belt, and active in the Mission Church, he is a heavyweight within the party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He now describes a “journey” the party has made since the last election. He points to the three words displayed on large screens behind Ebba Busch during her speech in Karlstad:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Healthcare. Everyday life. Values.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Per H\u00f6gberg, these three V\u2019s are the result of intense internal advocacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose of us active in the inner circle of the party have spoken up and persisted. I\u2019m the chair of\u2014not the largest\u2014but the most important district. That gives you access to channels.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this slogan, he believes the party has found its way home. It\u2019s about making it clear to voters why KD wants stricter migration policies and tougher crime-fighting: to make everyday life safer, to ensure healthcare and other welfare services function, and to hold society together.
\u201cWe\u2019ve tweaked and refined the message and achieved clarity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The free church wing sees itself as the winner, even though it has had to give and take along the way. Susanne Lindholm Henningsson, municipal commissioner in \u00d6rebro and one of the free church KD politicians who previously protested, has been influenced by arguments from the other side.
\u201cWe needed to get out of the kindness trap. We have to face reality, and there are so many problems,\u201d she says to DN<\/em> in Karlstad, citing examples such as marginalized areas and welfare-related crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What has happened, according to one Christian Democrat, is that the entire party has come to terms with the need to address failed integration. Furthermore:
\u201cEveryone now understands that if you express a different view on migration, you’re essentially saying no to being in government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The appointment of outspoken right-wing commentator Alice Teodorescu M\u00e5we as the new EU parliamentarian is seen as proof that the tougher profile remains. But it\u2019s no coincidence that she\u2019s been paired with Susanne Lindholm Henningsson and others in a working group meant to discuss what continues to be the party\u2019s shared campfire: values<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Louise Hammargren, chair of the youth wing\u2014which has often nudged the party to the right\u2014believes that it\u2019s in the area of values that KD finds its reason for being.
\u201cNot everything is about some moderate Excel spreadsheet. It\u2019s about the people behind the numbers. I think KD has a unique position there,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The major conflicts seem to have calmed down, but as Ebba Busch approaches her tenth anniversary as party leader, clouds remain on the horizon. KD remains consistently below the parliamentary threshold in the polls. And trust in Ebba Busch has declined, according to DN\/Ipsos surveys. Among core voters, it\u2019s still relatively strong, but across the electorate, she is now the party leader with the lowest overall trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KDU\u2019s Louise Hammargren says the party leader has a significant responsibility for the party\u2019s performance.
\u201cTrust is tested every day. You can\u2019t think you\u2019ll stay in your position forever\u2014you\u2019re on borrowed time,\u201d she says. In Svenska Dagbladet<\/em>, she even proposed a leadership reshuffle\u2014without removing Ebba Busch.
\u201cBut she could take another step in her role as party leader and demonstrate what justifies our existence in Swedish politics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For now, Ebba Busch seems fairly secure. Several people point to the successful 2018 election as a lasting legacy.
\u201cHer trust isn\u2019t as strong as it was then\u2014it was like North Korea back then. But even if someone grumbles about her, we don\u2019t have a culture of ousting people,\u201d says one Christian Democrat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Per H\u00f6gberg believes that by taking on tough debates and showing strength as a leader, Ebba Busch has made the party one that people now listen to.
\u201cWe have our tradition, where many think we should be kind. But with just the free church kindness, we probably wouldn\u2019t exist today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January, the party council amended a clause in the election platform to allow for government cooperation with both the Sweden Democrats and the Left Party. The conflict over whether KD can be in the same government as SD is considered by many DN<\/em> spoke to as settled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in the free church-dominated J\u00f6nk\u00f6ping district, the SD cooperation is still difficult to defend. Per H\u00f6gberg is more drawn to the idea of building bridges across political blocs.
\u201cOur main alternative is clear: the Moderates. But fundamentally, I\u2019d find it easier to cooperate with the Social Democrats than with the Sweden Democrats. We share many values.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Susanne Lindholm Henningsson expresses the same concern about SD cooperation in the free church circles around \u00d6rebro.
\u201cWhat I hear is that no one wants it. We want to grow and push them out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ebba Busch celebrates nearly ten years as leader of the Christian Democrats, having shifted party dynamics through partnerships and ministerial positions. Despite internal controversies over migration policies, the party has refined its messaging on core issues like healthcare. However, confidence in Busch is wavering, and future challenges loom as the party struggles in polls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swedishpost.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}