Swedish ministers, close the restaurants or give them a chance

By Krister Bengtsson

Published 03-April-2020

Opinion / Sweden

In an op-ed, Star Wine List founder and publisher Krister Bengtsson asks that the Swedish government makes up its mind. Either close the restaurants or give them a chance to survive.

There are two options to save the industry from starvation:

• Either close the restaurants and give them subsidies for rent and salaries to weather the crisis temporarily.
• Or give them the opportunity to sell wine and beer for take-away.

The second option might upset the monopoly huggers. But honestly it is bizarre that the public is entrusted to handle a deadly virus more or less as they see fit while the government does not trust grown people to buy a bottle of wine from a restaurant.

This is a brief version of the op-ed that is now published in Swedish on our website. If you have any questions, please contact me at [email protected].