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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.

POLITICS

Swedish PM won’t end Sweden Democrats collaboration over ‘troll factory’

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has no plans to break off the government's collaboration with the Sweden Democrats, he told a press conference, after an undercover investigation revealed that the party had been running a so-called "troll factory".

Published: 22 May 2024 17:24 CEST
Swedish PM won't end Sweden Democrats collaboration over 'troll factory'

During a press conference following a party leader debate in parliament, Kristersson, from the Moderates, was asked whether he, as prime minister, would put any pressure on the Sweden Democrats to stop using the anonymous accounts, which had been used to spread content of benefit to the party and degrade its political opponents.

He replied saying that he cannot make demands or take responsibility for the actions of the Sweden Democrats’ communications department.

“If your real question is: ‘Do you want to stop working together to solve Sweden’s major problems because I have strong objections to smear campaigns in Swedish politics’, then the answer is no,” he said.

He did, however, say that he had discussed the issue with Åkesson both in public and in private.

“[I’ve told him] that I dislike smear campaigns, that they need to answer legitimate questions put to them by the media, political opponents and coalition partners. And that I dislike anonymous accounts.”

He added that the Sweden Democrats should “moderate their tone”.

The Sweden Democrats had not only been using the accounts to smear opposition parties, but also the governing coalition of the Liberals, Moderates and Christian Democrats, which the party provides its support to under the Tidö Agreement, named after the castle where it was drawn up.

The Tidö Agreement includes a clause requiring all four parties to “speak respectfully” about each other.

In one clip from the Kalla Fakta documentary revealing the existence of the troll factory, Sweden Democrat communications head Joakim Wallerstein tells the group of troll factory workers to “find shit” on the Christian Democrats’ top candidate for the EU parliament, Alice Teodorescu Måwe, while others make fun of Liberal leader Johan Pehrson.

In another, one of the employees in the troll factory discusses what type of music to use when he should “shit on” the Moderates.

Anti-racism magazine Expo also reported that the Sweden Democrats had used their anonymous accounts to share white power material.

Since Kalla Fakta’s documentary was released, Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson has responded by claiming that Swedish media are carrying out their own campaign against his party, calling the documentary part of a “domestic smear campaign from the left-liberal establishment”.

LISTEN: Uncovering a Sweden Democrat troll factory

Kristersson did not wish to comment on Åkesson’s response, but he disagreed that Swedish media and political parties are carrying out a smear or influence campaign.

“I definitely perceive influence operations from other countries, and we often feed back to you [the media] and tell you what we know about those things. I obviously do not perceive any influence operations from parties, media or anyone else in Sweden.”

As far as Åkesson’s claims that Kalla Fakta had “infiltrated” the Sweden Democrats, Kristersson said that it would be “completely foreign to me to interfere with how free media operate in a free democracy”.

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