The Almedalen Week (Almedalsveckan, sometimes also called Politikerveckan i Almedalen) is an annual event taking place in week 27 in and around Almedalen

Almedalen

Almedalen is a park in the Swedish city Visby on the island of Gotland. It is well known in Sweden as the central site of the annual Almedalen Week....

, a park in the city of Visby

Visby

-See also:* Battle of Visby* Gotland University College* List of governors of Gotland County-External links:* - Visby*...

 on the Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 island Gotland

Gotland

Gotland is a county, province, municipality and diocese of Sweden; it is Sweden's largest island and the largest island in the Baltic Sea. At 3,140 square kilometers in area, the region makes up less than one percent of Sweden's total land area...

.

With speeches, seminars and other political activities, it is considered an important forum in Swedish politics

Politics of Sweden

Politics of Sweden takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic constitutional monarchy. Executive power is exercised by the government, led by the Prime Minister of Sweden. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament, elected within a multi-party...

. During the week, representatives from the major political parties in Sweden take turns to hold speeches in Almedalen.

History

The origin of the Almedalen Week is the speeches held by Olof Palme

Olof Palme

Sven Olof Joachim Palme was a Swedish politician. A long-time protegé of Prime Minister Tage Erlander, Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 to his assassination, and was a two-term Prime Minister of Sweden, heading a Privy Council Government from 1969 to 1976 and a cabinet...

 every summer in Almedalen in Visby, beginning in 1968. The first official Almedalen Week took place in 1982, when the Social Democrats

Swedish Social Democratic Party

The Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party, , contesting elections as 'the Workers' Party – the Social Democrats' , or sometimes referred to just as 'the Social Democrats' and most commonly as Sossarna ; is the oldest and largest political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1889...

 started to organise economic seminars. As a response, the other political parties started to take a more active part.

In recent years, the event has grown larger, with hordes of journalists, lobbyists, local and national politicians and representatives of non-governmental organisations all coming to Visby to meet, discuss politics and socialize. Almost 1,400 activities were scheduled in 2010 and about 900 journalists were accredited.