Sweden Democrat (SD) representatives decided, against the will of the party board, to adopt a motion that no bank, restaurant or shop should be able to refuse cash. One of those who went up to the podium and pleaded for the proposal was the local politician from Ale municipality in western Sweden.
In an interview with Swedish outlet Nya Tider, Robert Jansson said that the SD would advance the cash issue in some way before the election next year.
The party’s highest decision-making body voted for a new party board, re-electing Jimmie Åkesson as party leader at their national convention, while the delegates also made decisions regarding submitted proposals.
One of them was that the party should work for more cash in Swedish society. Specifically, the motion proposed was that no bank, shop or restaurant should be able to refuse legal tender in the shape of banknotes and coins.
The party leadership went through all the motions commenting on whether it was recommended that national parliaments adopt such measures and subsequently the motion was rejected. The reason was that the proposal was considered too far-reaching and that was deemed unlikely that any change in the law would be possible in the next few years, but the issue has refused to go away.
In a ballot by delegates, a majority voted for the motion effectively railroading the party leadership, which is quite unusual. One of those who pleaded for the proposal was the local politician Robert Jansson, group leader for SD in Ale municipality.
“I get a little worried when I read the party board’s answer. The party board says that further changes to the law are unlikely in the near future and that the issue is being monitored. But the dismantling of cash handling is going on daily, in store after store. Then we can not sit in the back seat and watch,” he said in a speech that was met with applause.
Another local politician from SD, Johan Karlsson from Småland’s Emmaboda, added that the party must not be afraid to propose measures that force the banks to also handle cash.
“If you want to preserve the cash, you must dare to make it a little tougher, a little more compelling decision,” he said and ended his speech with: “Cash is King!”
When Nya Tider interviewed Robert Jansson, he was happy with the decision, but somewhat hesitant about the future. Even though the party leadership was defeated on this issue, they may not go along with the representatives in the upcoming election campaign.
“Somehow they will probably work for it. We’ll see what they say next year,” Jansson said, not quite convinced.
One country that is currently implementing the type of proposal that the SD representatives voted for, is Poland. On October 7, Nya Tider reported in its online edition that the national conservative president Andrzej Duda has signed a law that stipulates that all banks and shops must handle cash. This law came into force at the end of October.
https://freewestmedia.com/2021/12/10/cash-is-king-sweden-democrat-delegates-take-a-stand/