Today in Sweden: A roundup of the latest news on Friday​on July 18, 2025 at 6:00 am

Justice minister under fire: ‘Are ministers’ children above the law?’

When the news broke that Migration Minister Johan Forssell’s son had been active in right-wing extremist groups, one of the first people to speak out in support of Forssell was Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer. Strömmer said that Forssell’s son had not committed any crime ‒ despite the fact that the son’s actions could potentially be classed as criminal under hate crime laws or laws around associating or promoting a terror organisation. 

Now, free speech expert Nils Funcke has criticised Strömmer for his comments, arguing that it is not his place to determine whether a crime has been committed or not, and that it could constitute an attempt by Strömmer to influence decisions made by Swedish authorities, for example the justice system.

“The son is not formally suspected of committing a crime,” Funcke wrote in an opinion piece for Dagens Nyheter (DN). “But as far as we know, no decision by a prosecutor has been made to dismiss any criminal suspicions.” 

“Are ministers’ children above the law?”, he added.

Swedish vocabulary: står över lagen ‒ above the law

Low groundwater across much of Sweden

Large parts of Sweden have unusually low groundwater levels, and the water shortage in many areas is only expected to get worse, public broadcaster Ekot reports.

Levels in many areas are in line with the low levels normally seen later in the autumn.

“Given the fact that we’ve still got a good way before we can expect reservoirs to be refilled, we can expect them to sink even further,” Erik Öman from the Geological Survey of Sweden told Ekot.

The worst-hit areas are in parts of northeast Norrland, eastern Svealand and more or less all of Götaland ‒ or in other words large parts of southern and central Sweden, as well as coastal parts of Norrland.

Small water sources, like private springs, are especially vulnerable, although groundwater levels are also unusually low in large reservoirs in Gotland, Öland, large parts of Småland and eastern Skåne.

Swedish vocabulary: grundvatten ‒ groundwater

Summer weather reaches Sweden ‒ but for how long?

The last few days have been hot and sunny in much of Sweden, which is a welcome change for many people who have so far had a rather wet start to the summer. According to Swedish weather agency SMHI, more or less all of Sweden can expect the weather to stay warm into the weekend, with temperatures of 25-30 degrees.

There could be patches of rain in western Norrland and southern Götaland, SMHI meteorologist Henrik Reimer told the TT newswire, but the rain looks like it will be more or less concentrated to those areas.

In northern Norrland, he said, temperatures could rise to 33 degrees.

So, how long will the good weather last?

“It’s a bit uncertain when it will change, but it looks like temperatures will become unstable with clouds and rain towards the middle of next week, and that will bring the temperature down too,” Reimer said.

Swedish vocabulary: moln och regn ‒ clouds and rain

Passengers affected by Thursday’s delays may get no compensation

Trains between Malmö and Stockholm were stuck for over ten hours yesterday due to a signal failure, with long-lasting delays also affecting travellers even after the failure was fixed.

Sweden does offer compensation to passengers on delayed buses or trains, but it’s not certain that those affected by the delays earlier this week will qualify.

That’s because train companies are not liable to pay compensation if the delay is due to something they have no control over, like extreme weather events.

One of the companies affected by the delay, Snälltåget, has pledged to compensate its passengers, with press spokesperson Marco Andersson telling TT that the delay is “not an experience we want to stand for”. It’s not clear whether other companies will follow.

Swedish vocabulary: ersättning ‒ compensation