Re:Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf says coronavirus approach 'h...
by ErikBjare on Friday December 18, 2020 @01:01PM
(#25469909)
Non-swedes have to understand that our prime minister does not have the power to call for a lockdown. It would require a change in our constitution, which can't be done in a hurry. (there is legislation being worked on to address the cases the shortcomings of the law but it is not being rushed)
Our PM also doesn't have the authority to tell our public health agency what to do, this amounts to ministerial governance, which is illegal [1]. (if the US would have such a law, for example, then we would have seen a lot less involvement of POTUS)
And re our king: he's (arguably) not an idiot, but he's not very bright either. We generally don't take his opinion seriously.
The king isn't an infections disease expert, but he's not an idiot, and he can get any experts he want to tell him what's going on. He's also the one person "in government" who can speak truth about the prime minister without fearing the prime minister's wrath. This lets the king be the one who can say what needs to be said when nobody else will say it.