MP demands Dousa’s resignation – responds: “Elves and trolls”
The Green Party demands that Benjamin Dousa resign and the Left Party reports him to the Constitutional Court.
The criticism concerns the government’s handling of the UN agency Unwra.
“Trust is gone,” writes MEP Isabella Lövin (MP). News, reports and analyses in Sweden and around the world.
The move comes after SVT’s 30 Minuter revealed that the minister’s state secretary actively tried to influence Sida’s actions regarding emergency aid to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa.
The MP leader and the party’s EU parliamentarian Isabella Lövin writes on Facebook that the action is “dangerously close to the border” for ministerial rule.
“Trying to block an expert authority’s analysis because it does not fit the political line risks undermining the independent position that our authorities are supposed to have according to the constitution.”
Like party colleague and spokesperson Amanda Lind, Lövin believes that the government is making a mistake by not resuming support for Unrwa.
“Benjamin Dousa has exhausted his trust. It is time for him to resign. The government must resume support for Unrwa,” writes Lövin.
On Friday, the Left Party notified the Minister of Development Cooperation and Foreign Affairs of the need for ministerial rule.
Dousa’s answer: “Elves”
Dousa now responds and says that MP consists of a party of elves and trolls.
“The Green Party, a party that is mostly composed of elves and trolls, should focus more on how we can together get more EU countries to join us in sanctions against extremist Israeli ministers. That’s how we can put pressure on Israel right now,” he writes to Expressen.
The Minister of Foreign Trade calls the demand “irresponsible” and believes that the conflict in the Middle East is being exploited to score political points.
“Only four countries on the entire globe are currently giving more than Sweden to aid efforts in Gaza. We are record-breaking, but it is obvious that the Green Party does not care about the cause but only about party political games,” writes Dousa.
Attempted to influence Sida
The government has been heavily criticized for its decision to stop so-called development aid to UNWRA. The decision was justified on the grounds that new Israeli laws made it more difficult for the aid agency to operate.
Sida, for its part, considered that UNWRA’s activities were crucial for emergency aid to Gaza and wanted to pay out 30 million in its own saved support, so-called humanitarian aid, during the spring.
Sida informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about its analysis, but the agency was not interested.
Sida decided shortly thereafter not to pay out any support. According to information provided to SVT, State Secretary Diana Janse verbally instructed the Director General of Sida not to pay out any support to Unwra.
“There is no information that I am aware of, and it is also Sida that independently makes its own decisions regarding Unrwa,” Benjamin Dousa told SVT.
