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POLITICS

Sweden’s PM grilled by EU MEPs on his dependence on the far-right

Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson faced a barrage of questions in the European Parliament on Tuesday over his dependence on far-right support, with one MEP accusing him of being "a hostage" to the Sweden Democrats.

Published: 17 January 2023 16:22 CET
Sweden's PM grilled by EU MEPs on his dependence on the far-right
Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson delivers his speech at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Photo: Jean-Francois Badias/AP/TT

Kristersson protested that governments had been formed with far-right support in Finland, Norway and Denmark, and that Sweden was no different. 

“This government which Sweden has established has been a completely normal Nordic government since 2001,” he said. “This has been tried in Finland, Norway and Denmark with good results.” 

Kristersson, leader of Sweden’s conservative Moderate Party, was in Strasbourg to present Sweden’s programme, as President of the European Council, to the parliament. Some of the most challenging questions came from MEPs from the green and left parties. 

READ ALSO: Sweden’s top priorities for its EU presidency

“Your government is now hostage to the Sweden Democrats,” declared the Belgian MEP Philippe Lamberts, who is chair of the parliament’s green group, adding that his group were extremely concerned that a government with such a dependence on the far-right would be responsible for working on EU laws. 

Manon Aubry, the French MEP who leads the Left grouping, warned that the Sweden Democrats “neo-Nazi use of language” was already widely spread in Europe. 

“You can’t play games with the extreme right, because when they take power, they will refuse to give it up in a democratic way,” he warned. 

Iratxe Garcia Perez, the Spanish MEP who leads the Social Democrat group in the parliament said that she believed that Sweden’s programme for its presidency lacked sufficient engagement in issues like women’s rights, migrant rights, and efforts to reduce climate impact. 

“Please, be nice and promise that this Swedish Presidency will continue to lead the work against climate change,” she said. 

Kristersson said that his government was committed to being “a constructive and enthusiastic leader for the council’s work”. 

The Nordic countries, he added, were among the most open, tolerant and stable democracies in the world, and he felt “confident”, he said in the government he had put together. 

He presented Sweden’s programme under the headlines “greener, safer, and more free”, and spoke about the war in Ukraine, the coming energy crisis and the economic downturn. 

“Nothing else is as important,” he said of Ukraine. “This is not only about handling a crisis, this is about the fight for democracy.” 

Sweden, he added, also hoped to “strengthen the EU’s role as a pioneer in the green transition”, but he pushed back at those who asked whether the EU should not heavily subsidies companies planning to put in place green projects, as the US recently did in its Inflation Reduction Act, saying that it was important that companies were able to compete in the market on their own strengths. 

Member comments

  2. Typical of the Left as we also see in the US: they don’t simply disagree with the philosophy and policies of their colleagues to the right, but they don’t want them to participate in or influence government with those philosophies and policies. They must accept that “democracy” means an opportunity for ALL voters to have some influence on how they are governed!

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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.

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