Swedish prime minister sues Ryanair

SWEDISH Prime Minister Goran Persson and an ex-minister are suing Ryanair for using a picture of them in an advertisement for cheap flights with the caption “time to flee the country?”, their lawyer said yesterday.

Social Democrat leader Persson, who faces a tough bid for re-election in September, and former Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds have been widely criticised for their tardy response to the Asian tsunami in which 500 Swedish holidaymakers died.

They are suing Ryanair in Stockholm for what their lawyer called a “symbolic” sum of 75,000 crowns (€8,058) each, for breaking a Swedish law against the unauthorised use of names or images in advertising.

“Ryanair has published an advertisement using a picture of Goran Persson and Laila Freivalds without their consent and that is not something you can do in Sweden because it’s a violation of a quite unusual law,” lawyer Lennart Kanter said.

“It gets worse because the manner in which it is used is offensive,” he told Reuters.

Ryanair, already critical of the government over plans for a new environmental tax on air travel, called the lawsuit “a waste of taxpayers’ money”.

“This government intends to raise tax to stifle competition for low fares in Sweden which consumers show they want,” Ryanair spokeswoman Lotta Lindquist-Brosjo said.