15 November 2018

Swedish Moderate-led council to ban halal meat in deal with populists

A municipality in Sweden has vowed to ban religiously slaughtered meat from school menus after the centre-right Moderate Party formed a coalition government with the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats.

The three-year action plan for the town of Staffanstorp outside Malmö, published on Tuesday, betrays the strong influence of the Sweden Democrats, and is likely to be used as ammunition by Moderate party members who oppose cooperation with the populist party on a national level.

"Special cultural demands should not exist in the municipality's operations, for example separate bathing times and such like," reads the plan, signed by the local leaders of the Moderate and Sweden Democrats.

"The municipality's operations should also be free from expressions of religion, for example ritually slaughtered meat."

Sonesson downplayed the symbolic significance of the ban, presenting the policy as a question of simple municipality economics. [The Local] Read more