Long queues and fatal crashes mark Sweden's busy Midsummer weekend
One of Sweden's busiest travel weekends of the year is drawing to a close, with several fatal accidents over the Midsummer holiday.
On the whole, the Swedish Transport Administration described the situation as normal, but traffic leaving the major Midsummer celebrations was gridlocked at times. According to public radio broadcaster Sveriges Radio's traffic news desk, traffic was brought to a complete standstill on the bridge from the island Öland, with queues of several kilometres.
Five people were reported to have been killed in various accidents over the weekend.
The first fatal crash occurred on Midsummer Eve on Route 40, outside Borås. A couple in their 80s attempted to drive through a gap in the central barrier to change direction, when they were hit from behind by another car. The couple later died on the way to hospital.
Just after 3am on Midsummer's Day, a motorcyclist went off the road outside Länna in Stockholm. The motorcyclist was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries and passed away later that night.
On Sunday afternoon, two men aged around 20 were killed in a single-vehicle accident in Kalix, northern Sweden, according to police. Regional newspaper NSD reported that the car had veered off the road.
Swedish vocabulary: an accident – en olycka
Swedish companies push for return to the office
More and more employers in Sweden want their white-collar staff to go back to the office.
"There's been a shift for some time now," Camilla Frankelius, head of negotiations at the Engineers of Sweden union, told the TT newswire.
During the pandemic four to five years ago, hordes of office workers left their workplaces to work from home. And at many workplaces it became the new normal post-pandemic.
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But recently, a similar trend to elsewhere in the world has emerged in Sweden, where employers want their workforce back in the office. A reason often cited is that the power of innovation is boosted by face-to-face meetings.
According to the latest figures from Statistics Sweden for the first quarter of 2026, over 1.6 million employees work from home at least one day a week, which accounts for 38 percent of all employed people. Twenty years ago, that figure was around 20 percent.
In recent years, however, the number of people working from home is again on the decrease.
Trucking giant Scania's demand to call staff that have been able to work from home back to the office was recently met with protests. Similar demands at other major companies such as Volvo and Ericsson have also been met with some dissatisfaction. But similar directives are coming from an increasing number of companies, according to Frankelius.
"Both within mining and tech, pharmaceuticals, and even the paper industry, these issues are on the table, or are at least being discussed right now."
Peter Mellin, Swedish CEO at Sodexo, which manages various types of facility services for companies, also notices the change among clients.
"More people are coming into the offices now than they were a while ago," he told TT.
Previously, Mondays and Fridays were fairly quiet days.
"I would say Monday is gone. However, we still see a Friday difference," said Mellin, who notices that companies have begun to regulate what applies at the workplace more clearly.
Swedish vocabulary: work from home – jobba/arbeta hemifrån
Sweden next in line for summer scorcher as temperatures set to soar
Following heatwaves in France and Spain, temperatures are now on the rise in Sweden too.
"We could get over 30C in some parts of the country," Erik Höjgård-Olsen, meteorologist at Swedish weather agency SMHI, told TT on Sunday.
After a sunny Midsummer weekend across much of Sweden, temperatures are set to drop slightly over the coming days. But the heat is expected to return in just a few days.
"A high-pressure system is coming from the south, reaching southern Sweden on Thursday and lasting at least until the end of the week," said Höjgård-Olsen.
The south-eastern parts of the country will bear the brunt of the heatwave, with temperatures of over 30C.
"In the rest of Götaland and Svealand, it will be just over 25C, while the coast and inland areas of Norrland will see temperatures of just above 20C," said Höjgård-Olsen.
Swedish vocabulary: a weekend – en helg
Swedish parliament slams brakes on bill to extend child migration detention
Last week the Swedish parliament stalled the government's bill to expand the state's powers to hold children in migration detention.
The decision was made at the request of the Centre Party and the Green Party.
A minority of at least one-sixth of MPs can vote to put laws that restrict fundamental rights and freedoms on hold for a year. This is a rare occurrence. The mechanism was previously used in 2007 for a controversial wiretapping law and in 2011 for a data retention law.
The legislative amendment, which must now wait a year for a final decision, is part of a government bill aimed at ensuring that foreign nationals facing deportation can be detained or placed under supervision in more cases than today. It would also allow them to be held in detention for longer periods if there is a risk that they might go into hiding.
The specific section that has been shelved would have meant, among other things, that children applying for asylum could be held in migration detention for a maximum of 12 days, compared to the current limit of six.
Swedish vocabulary: to shelve a bill – vilandeförklara ett lagförslag