Ideology and Political Positions
The Moderate Party states that its ideology is a mix of liberalism and conservatism, and corresponds to what is called liberal conservatism. The term liberalism is in Sweden and most of Europe not used in the way that it is currently used in the United States to denote modern liberals and progressives, but is closer to the traditional meaning of classical liberalism.
The Party supports free markets and personal freedom and has historically been the essential force for privatizations, deregulations, tax cuts and a reduction of the public-sector growth rate. However, it still embraces most of the social benefits introduced since the 1930s. Other issues emphasized by the party are such as actions against violent crime and sex crime, increasing and promoting the value of working, and quality in the educational system. The party supports the legalization of same-sex marriage in Sweden and Sweden's membership in the European Union.
The party campaigned for changing currency to the Euro in the 2003 referendum. The official policy of Fredrik Reinfeldt on the issue, as of 2008, is that the result of the 2003 referendum has to be respected and that the issue will not be raised during the present term (-2010).
Since Fredrik Reinfeldt became party leader, the party has slowly started to move further towards the political center and also adopted pragmatic views. The party has abandoned several of its old key features such as a proportional income tax and increased military spending. Its former characteristic, according to some slightly neo-liberal, criticism of the labour laws has changed towards conserving the Swedish model and a careful embracing of balance on the labour market.
The party is in favour of Swedish membership of NATO but will not push for NATO membership in the near future.
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