Tomas Ramberg: Despite the lure, C would be forced to adapt the policy to SD

The Center can be described as the last alliance party. All the other bourgeois parties have moved on, but the Center remains in many ways in the Reinfeldt era – the persistent agitation for a centrist government is only one expression of that.

It is therefore no coincidence that Jimmie Åkesson and Ulf Kristersson are now trying to attract the Center with the scent of the old alliance. With the distribution of mandates that occurred after the election, this is the smartest and most center-friendly thing the right can achieve.

However, that does not solve the Centre's fundamental dilemma. Even if the votes of the Sweden Democrats are enough to appoint a bourgeois four-party government, it would find it difficult to govern the country. It collects significantly fewer mandates than S, V and MP – this means that it would not get its economic policy through without negotiations. And since it is unlikely that the Social Democrats want to act as a doormat for a bourgeois government, it will have to negotiate with the Sweden Democrats. This applies not only to economic issues but to many other heavy political areas.

This is also how Jimmie Åkesson motivates his desire to release a bourgeois government which he believes is "better at managing the reforms SD got in place". According to Åkesson, "the possibility of influence for SD would be greater" with a bourgeois government - in contrast to an S-led government where it would be "completely non-existent".

If the Center sticks to its principled position not to become dependent on SD, Åkesson's proposal should be impossible to seize. It may be worth remembering that already after the 2018 election, the Center refused to agree to the Moderates' attempt to form a minority government that would be put forward by the SD - even though Ulf Kristersson promised the Center at the time that he would never negotiate with Jimmie Åkesson's party. Now the offer instead includes a constant negotiation – not least with the Sweden Democrats.

In practice, a bourgeois minority government would have to adapt its policies to SD - without even negotiating. Otherwise, it risks repeatedly being defeated in the Riksdag.

And – not least important from the Center's point of view – the SD leader made it quite clear that he reserves the right to bring down a bourgeois government at any time.

Åkesson's and Kristersson's push may still have an effect by tempting the center activists who feel humiliated and pressured by the Left Party's stoic stance on the government issue. And the Social Democrats will use it to try to pressure V to drop their demand.

In other words, it messes up the discussion both between the red-greens and within the Centre. It may also make some left-wing parties out in the country nervous, even if the party leadership is sure to stick to the course set. This is probably also M and SD's main purpose for the play - to further complicate and complicate the formation of an Andersson-led government.

From Jimmie Åkesson's point of view, the new line is rational. The SD leadership's analysis is that the party lost the election by being too similar to the Moderates. Now Åkesson's message to Ulf Kristersson is that he does tolerate him as prime minister, but then the M leader has to fend for himself. "You are on your own", as Åkesson put it.