The UK and Sweden had a strong relationship in the EU, regularly aligning on issues within the bloc. But this relationship has come to an end after the UK left the EU and secured a Brexit trade deal, leaving Sweden in a difficult position. Political scientist Mikael Sundstrom told Express.co.uk that Sweden will struggle to forge a new relationship with another EU member state. He said: “That is an almost unresolvable situation, as there is no country which has been so solidly aligned with Sweden than the UK.
“We have lots of stuff in common with Germany for instance, but it takes a long time to build up that relationship and it’s just not the same.
“We use the Anglosaxon created economic systems, we have been naturally aligned with the UK for a long time so we don’t have an equivalent country to switch over to.
“Maybe a number of small countries can build coalitions, but it is clearly a big loss for Sweden.”
Mr Sundstrom added that Sweden will miss an important ally.
He continued: “Clearly Sweden is missing the UK more than most, because the UK and Sweden were very well aligned on a number of issues.
“Now Sweden no longer has that really powerful ally, so Sweden is missing out more than most on British support.
“They shared similar views on exports, trade and foreign policy for example. The UK and Sweden regularly teamed up on other issues.”
Despite this, Mr Sundstrom doesn’t think a ‘Swexit’ would be possible for Sweden, as the country’s economy is smaller than the UK’s.
He added: “The UK was a more difficult partner to the EU than Sweden can be.
“There is no question of Sweden managing economically outside the EU, we have much more to lose.
“The UK is a big economy, a global power in many respects. But Sweden is a small export-dependent country, we simply have to align with EU countries.”
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Denmark is also a country that voted closely with the UK, and Social Democratic MEP Christel Schaldemose told DR in January last year, as the UK officially left the EU, that Brexit is “sad” for the country.
She said: “It will be sad. We are losing a very, very central ally in a large number of areas, whom we have been able to shelter behind a little.
“For example, with regard to making the EU more efficient and a little less federal than some of the other countries would like. That is something we’ll really notice.”
Another MEP, Morten Lokkegaard of the centre-right Liberals, said the UK had been a “political big brother” to Denmark in the EU.
Mr Sundstrom also highlighted that Sweden has concerns about the eurozone, as the country wants to hold onto its own currency as the UK and others in the EU have done.
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Sweden does not currently use the euro as its currency and has no plans to replace the krona in the near future.
Sweden’s Treaty of Accession of 1994 made it subject to the Treaty of Maastricht, which obliges states to join the eurozone once they meet the necessary conditions.
The EU countries that do not use the euro as their currency are Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden.
Mr Sundstrom said: “We’ve been reluctant to adopt the euro because of the problems it has been suffering from – there is no question of Sweden joining the euro at this point.
“It’s a general reluctance to give up on a working currency, something spoken about in the UK as well.”
