Latest news with #JimmieÅkesson
Gulf Insider
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Gulf Insider
Sweden Democrats to Push for Total Migration Halt in 2026 Election
The Sweden Democrats have announced they will campaign in the 2026 general election on a pledge to stop migration to the country. In an op-ed for Svenska Dagbladet published on Wednesday, party leader Jimmie Åkesson and migration policy spokesperson Ludvig Aspling said Sweden's national security must take precedence over the right to asylum, marking a hardening of the party's already tough stance on immigration. 'Sweden's safety must come first — even when it conflicts with the right of asylum,' Åkesson wrote in a Facebook post linking to the article. 'Before the 2026 election, we will therefore demand that Sweden be given the opportunity to completely stop migration.' The article itself proceeds to criticize the foundation of the European Union's asylum system, calling it flawed because it deprives individual member states of the right to determine how many asylum seekers they admit. The nationalist duo suggests that the current rights-based asylum regime, which sets no theoretical upper limit on the number of people who can be granted protection so long as they meet the legal criteria, is not fit for purpose.
Local Sweden
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Local Sweden
Sweden Democrats welcome citizenship freeze as 'step in right direction'
The far-right Sweden Democrats have welcomed a near total stop in citizenship approvals, predicting new security checks ordered by the government will mean fewer foreigners getting citizenship. Advertisement As The Local was first to report, just six applications for citizenship through naturalisation were approved in April, down from 3,234 in March. This is because the Migration Agency has been unable to approve these kinds of applications for over a month because they have yet to set up routines for the in-person identification, a key part of security checks the right-wing government coalition ordered in January. READ ALSO: Swedish Migration Agency expects to resume approving citizenship applications 'soon' The order came less than two months after the Sweden Democrats' leader Jimmie Åkesson argued in a joint article with the leaders of the three government parties that "measures should be taken to prevent more Swedish citizenships from being granted until new legislation comes into force". Ludvig Aspling, the Sweden Democrats' immigration spokesman, told The Local that the freeze in awarded citizenships was "far from mission accomplished but a step in the right direction", and said he expected the security checks, once implemented, would also lead to fewer approvals. "The new stricter and more meticulous process for applications will result in fewer, but more accurate decisions. Because of the security environment we're in it's completely necessary," he added. READ ALSO: Eight key questions to understand Sweden's citizenship freeze Sweden's Migration Minister Joakim Forssell told The Local in January that people who had come to Sweden on a work permit or who came from stable countries without any security concerns should not be concerned that their applications would be delayed by the checks. "I don't think that they should be worried at all," he said at the time. Advertisement Even when the in-person checks are launched, everyone will initially be affected. There are plans to have exceptions for certain nationalities with biometric passports, but the technology to enable that isn't yet in place. There's no information available on when that might be resolved. When The Local asked Forssell's office for a response to the fact that the security checks had so far not lived up to his promise and were now affecting applicants from all countries, a spokesperson recommended that we contact the Migration Agency. 'The minister's answer was linked to the government's order to address and detect security risks in citizenship cases,' she said. 'The Swedish Migration Agency is currently designing how the security checks will be carried out. For questions about their ongoing work, it is best to contact the authority directly.' Advertisement Annika Hirvonen, the immigration spokesperson for the Green Party – a member of the centre-left opposition – told The Local that it should have been obvious from the start that the new security checks being ordered would have an impact on most applicants. "I'm not sure if he's being misleading on purpose or if he just doesn't really understand how these processes actually work," she said. "If you put into place intentional obstacles on processes that are for everyone, of course it's going to affect everyone." For foreigners waiting for a decision on citizenship, every month of delay matters. If a pending application is not approved before major citizenship reforms are expected to come into force in June 2026, it will be assessed under new rules. Among other things, the new rules require that applicants have been living in Sweden for eight years to be eligible rather than the current five.
