Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

POLITICS

Swedish opposition leader: ‘In Sweden, we speak Swedish’

In Sweden, people should speak Swedish, said the leader of Sweden's opposition party in his Christmas speech on Friday.

Published: 15 December 2017 16:44 CET
Swedish opposition leader: 'In Sweden, we speak Swedish'
Ulf Kristersson gives the speech in Stockholm. Photo: Henrik Montgomery/TT

Ulf Kristersson, who leads the Moderates party, spoke about integration at some length in the speech, highlighting three key points which he said could “solve Sweden's problem”.

These were: In Sweden people work, in Sweden people speak Swedish, and in Sweden Swedish laws apply.

“Perfect Swedish is snobbishly overrated, but fully comprehensible Swedish is deeply underestimated. If you don't speak the Swedish language, you'll find it really hard to enter Swedish society,” said Kristersson.

He also pointed out that new arrivals have a responsibility to make an effort to integrate.

“That's why you shouldn't be able to live on subsidies year after year without doing your utmost to learn Swedish so you can get a job,” he said.

OPINION: Why it's time for Swedes to fully accept English in the workplace

“It takes nine years before even half of new arrivals have any kind of job. There are primary schools where the majority don't make it into high school. Gang crime is spreading: 279 shootings already this year, 124 injured and 38 dead,” Kristersson continued, highlighting some of the issues linked to social segregation.

Sweden offers free language lessons to all new arrivals under the SFI (Swedish for Immigrants) programme, but many English-speaking foreigners find it easy to live in the country without the language, especially in bigger cities. Swedes are frequently ranked among the best non-native English speakers worldwide and people in for example Sweden's growing tech sector are likely to find themselves in an English-speaking workplace, as several startups have told The Local.

READ ALSO: Dear Swedes, please let us speak Swedish with you

Kristersson's speech also touched on the #MeToo movement to highlight sexual harassment, and the enormous response it has had in Sweden. Kristersson said he was “appalled but not surprised” by the allegations which were brought to light and have sent shockwaves through a country frequently lauded as one of the world's most gender-equal.

The Moderates will present their planned measures to tackle sexual harassment, the party leader said, adding that he had spoken about the #MeToo campaign with his three teenage daughters and encouraging other parents to speak to their children about it.

And he spoke about anti-Semitism in light of the recent attacks against Jews in Sweden. Kristersson said that it was important to condemn all hate crimes equally strongly, whether committed by “native Nazis” or “immigrants from the Middle East”. 

“I'm disheartened that so many find it easy to condemn the one, but so hard to use plain language about the other,” he said.

For members

POLITICS

‘Very little debate’ on consequences of Sweden’s crime and migration clampdown

Sweden’s political leaders are putting the population’s well-being at risk by moving the country in a more authoritarian direction, according to a recent report.

Published: 29 April 2024 08:56 CEST
'Very little debate' on consequences of Sweden's crime and migration clampdown

The Liberties Rule of Law report shows Sweden backsliding across more areas than any other of the 19 European Union member states monitored, fuelling concerns that the country risks breaching its international human rights obligations, the report says.

“We’ve seen this regression in other countries for a number of years, such as Poland and Hungary, but now we see it also in countries like Sweden,” says John Stauffer, legal director of the human rights organisation Civil Rights Defenders, which co-authored the Swedish section of the report.

The report, compiled by independent civil liberties groups, examines six common challenges facing European Union member states.

Sweden is shown to be regressing in five of these areas: the justice system, media environment, checks and balances, enabling framework for civil society and systemic human rights issues.

The only area where Sweden has not regressed since 2022 is in its anti-corruption framework, where there has been no movement in either a positive or negative direction.

Source: Liberties Rule of Law report

As politicians scramble to combat an escalation in gang crime, laws are being rushed through with too little consideration for basic rights, according to Civil Rights Defenders.

Stauffer cites Sweden’s new stop-and-search zones as a case in point. From April 25th, police in Sweden can temporarily declare any area a “security zone” if there is deemed to be a risk of shootings or explosive attacks stemming from gang conflicts.

Once an area has received this designation, police will be able to search people and cars in the area without any concrete suspicion.

“This is definitely a piece of legislation where we see that it’s problematic from a human rights perspective,” says Stauffer, adding that it “will result in ethnic profiling and discrimination”.

Civil Rights Defenders sought to prevent the new law and will try to challenge it in the courts once it comes into force, Stauffer tells The Local in an interview for the Sweden in Focus Extra podcast. 

He also notes that victims of racial discrimination at the hands of the Swedish authorities had very little chance of getting a fair hearing as actions by the police or judiciary are “not even covered by the Discrimination Act”.

READ ALSO: ‘Civil rights groups in Sweden can fight this government’s repressive proposals’

Stauffer also expresses concerns that an ongoing migration clampdown risks splitting Sweden into a sort of A and B team, where “the government limits access to rights based on your legal basis for being in the country”.

The report says the government’s migration policies take a “divisive ‘us vs them’ approach, which threatens to increase rather than reduce existing social inequalities and exclude certain groups from becoming part of society”.

Proposals such as the introduction of a requirement for civil servants to report undocumented migrants to the authorities would increase societal mistrust and ultimately weaken the rule of law in Sweden, the report says.

The lack of opposition to the kind of surveillance measures that might previously have sparked an outcry is a major concern, says Stauffer.

Politicians’ consistent depiction of Sweden as a country in crisis “affects the public and creates support for these harsh measures”, says Stauffer. “And there is very little talk and debate about the negative consequences.”

Hear John Stauffer from Civil Rights Defender discuss the Liberties Rule of Law report in the The Local’s Sweden in Focus Extra podcast for Membership+ subscribers.

SHOW COMMENTS