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CRIME

Sweden wants to ban suspected criminals from certain areas

Sweden's government has announced plans for a new law giving prosecutors powers to ban youths and adults from areas such as shopping centres or school yards if they suspect them of committing crimes.

Sweden wants to ban suspected criminals from certain areas
Sweden's justice minister, Gunnar Strömmer, announces the new law on banning people from certain public places. Photo: Jonas Ekströmer/TT

According to the new bill, which will be submitted to parliament in the coming weeks with a view to coming into force in February, prosecutors will be able to impose the bans even if the recipient has not been found guilty of committing any crimes. 

“With the support of this law, the idea is that prosecutors, following an application from the police, should be able to forbid a person who is feared to be promoting gang crime from entering a certain area,” Sweden’s Justice Minister, Gunnar Strömmer, said at a press conference. “These are preventative measures we are talking about”. 

Under the proposed law, the bans can be imposed on anyone over the age of 15 without a court decision, with those who ignore the ban at risk of a prison sentence of up to a year.

Bans will last for six months, after which they need to be renewed. 

Those issued such a ban have the right to appeal against it, after which the case can be decided on in court. 

“There has to be a certain level of intelligence underlying such a decision. If you look at the ban on access to libraries, swimming pools or sports facilities, for example, a qualified assessment is still required,” Strömmer said.  

In the most serious cases, he continued, a ban could be imposed on someone entering an entire district of a city. 

The bill is built on the recommendations of the government inquiry on area bans, which was launched by the previous Social Democrat government in May 2022.

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CLIMATE CRISIS

Why did Sweden’s emissions drop in 2023 – and what’s in store for the future?

Sweden's greenhouse gas emissions fell by two percent last year, but the good news may be short-lived.

Why did Sweden's emissions drop in 2023 – and what's in store for the future?

In 2023, the Scandinavian country’s emissions amounted to 44.2 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, a drop of about one tonne from 2022, according to preliminary statistics, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency said in a statement.

The two percent decrease was in line with a 1.6 percent drop announced by Statistics Sweden in late May.

The EPA said the 2023 figure represented a decrease of 38 percent from 1990.

The EPA attributed the year-on-year drop primarily to lower emissions from industry – in particular the cement, iron and steel industries, due to lower production as a result of Sweden’s economic recession – and the electric and district heating sector, due to lower electricity prices.

“Emissions have continued to decrease, not least in industry and electric and district heating, which form part of the EU’s emissions trading system,” Anna-Karin Nyström, the head of the EPA’s climate target division said.

“The pace has slowed compared to the year before, when above all domestic transport and (fuel-based) work machinery contributed to a sharp reduction.”

But in March, an independent panel of experts tasked with reviewing climate policy said the government’s plans would lead to short-term emissions increases in 2024 and knock it off-course from its 2030 reduction target.

The Swedish Climate Policy Council, said in the March report that “policy adopted in 2023 will increase emissions and does not lead towards the fulfilment of Sweden’s climate goals and EU commitments by 2030”.

The council said several measures, such as a reduced fuel tax, put climate ambitions at risk.

But it also lamented a lack of concrete measures in the government’s “climate policy action plan”, a roadmap that the government is required by law to present every four years.

Sweden’s Minister for Climate and the Environment Romina Pourmokhtari said she was “not particularly worried” about the review’s assessments.

“They are based on the government’s policy announcements during 2023, and there are several measures that have been added since then,” Pourmokhtari said.

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