Social Democrats doubt a joint budget can meet November deadline

The Social Democrats see little prospect of completing a joint red-green budget by 12 November, opening the way for a caretaker-government draft to become the starting point for negotiations over Sweden’s 2027 spending.

Economic spokesperson Mikael Damberg told SVT’s Agenda on Sunday that assembling a full budget by then was “almost impossible”. He said negotiations could continue using a caretaker budget as their foundation if no new government submitted one.

The 12 November deadline is for submitting the government’s budget bill to parliament, rather than completing parliament’s spending decisions. Election-year rules allow submission three weeks after a prime-minister vote or change of government, subject to that final date.

The uncertainty is already complicating planning by municipalities and regions, according to Anders Henriksson, chair of their association SKR. He told Sveriges Radio that they did not know whether additional welfare funding would come, what it would cover or how it would be provided.

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