The Confederation of Swedish Conservative and Liberal Students ( sv, Fria moderata studentförbundet, ''FMSF'', "Free Moderate Student League") is a
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
student organisation. It considers itself to be
non-partisan
Nonpartisanism is a lack of affiliation with, and a lack of bias towards, a political party.
While an Oxford English Dictionary definition of ''partisan'' includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc., in most cases, nonpartisan refers s ...
, but is politically close to the
Moderate Party
The Moderate Party ( sv, Moderata samlingspartiet , ; M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a liberal-conservative political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free market, civil liberties and economic lib ...
. The organisation is a founding member of the
European Democrat Students
European Democrat Students (EDS) is a pan-European centre-right student and youth political association, and the official student organisation of the European People's Party. Founded in Vienna by Scandinavian, German and Austrian students in 1961, ...
.
History
The Confederation of Swedish Conservative and Liberal Students was formed in 1942 as the Swedish Union of Conservative Students (''Sveriges konservativa studentförbund'', SKSF) but changed its name in 1969, a couple of months before the Moderate Party adopted its current name.
The European Democrat Students arose from cooperation between the Swedish Union of Conservative Students and the
Association of Christian Democratic Students
The Association of Christian Democratic Students (german: Ring Christlich-Demokratischer Studenten) is a German student organisation founded in 1951 and based in Berlin. It contains more than 100 groups at universities with 8,000 members in tot ...
, that started when a delegation from Sweden attended the annual meeting of the Association of Christian Democratic Students in
West Berlin
West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...
in 1958.
Organisation
The Confederation of Swedish Conservative and Liberal Students consists of several independent student clubs, found in many universities across Sweden. The biggest is the one at
Lund University
, motto = Ad utrumque
, mottoeng = Prepared for both
, established =
, type = Public research university
, budget = SEK 9 billion FMS Freja in Västerås and FMSF Uppsala. The Council of Chairmen (''Ordföranderådet''), consisting of the chairmen of each constituent club, is formally the board of the League. In practice most power is in the hand of the
Presidium
A presidium or praesidium is a council of executive officers in some political assemblies that collectively administers its business, either alongside an individual president or in place of one.
Communist states
In Communist states the presid ...
which is made up by the Chairman and four deputies.
Ideology
The organisation takes great pride in its approach to politics. It claims that "the arguments are more important than the opinions" and "the debate is more important than the decisions". It takes more care in fostering open debate than taking policy decisions or writing manifestos.
The League has, however, been known for its fierce libertarianism. At its annual conference debate has through the years centred on things like legalisation of narcotics, free
immigration
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, a ...
and abolishing the ban on prostitution. It, in contrast to the Moderate Party, opposed Sweden's membership of the
euro
The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...
.
Relationship with the Moderate Party and the Moderate Youth League
Even though no formal links exists, there is considerable personal contacts between the League and the organisations of the Moderate Party. Former
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
Carl Bildt
Nils Daniel Carl Bildt (born 15 July 1949) is a Swedish politician and diplomat who was Prime Minister of Sweden from 1991 to 1994. He was the leader of the Moderate Party from 1986 to 1999. Bildt served as Sweden's Minister for Foreign Affair ...
is a former chairman, as well as his predecessor as leader of the
Moderate Party
The Moderate Party ( sv, Moderata samlingspartiet , ; M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a liberal-conservative political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free market, civil liberties and economic lib ...
Ulf Adelsohn
Ulf Adelsohn (born 4 October 1941) is a Swedish politician, leader of the Moderate Party from 1981 to 1986 and Governor of Stockholm County from 1992 to 2001. He was a member of the Riksdag from 1982 to 1988 and served as Chairman of the Board o ...
and the Minister for Finance
Anders E Borg
Anders Erik Borg (born 11 January 1968) is a Swedish politician who served as Minister for Finance in the Swedish government from 2006 to 2014. He is a member of the Swedish Moderate Party.
Youth and education
Borg was born in Skarpnäck, Sto ...
.
Sven Otto Littorin
Sven Otto Julius Littorin (born 1966) is a Swedish former politician and architect of major structural reforms. As Minister for Employment in the cabinet of Fredrik Reinfeldt, he was in charge of the major overhaul of Swedish labor policies between ...
, the former Party Secretary and current Minister for Employment, has also been an active member.
There is widespread cross-membership between the Student League and the Moderate Youth League, which perceived as less radical than its student counterpart and remains formally connected to the party. In
Uppsala
Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019.
Located north of the c ...
, for example, most local leaders of the Youth League are also active in the Student League. This means that the neoliberalism of the Student League can also be found in the local Youth League.