A year before the EU elections, the right-wing Sweden Democrats’ anti-European course is increasingly becoming a burden for the government in Stockholm. party leader Jimmie Åkesson presented iin one Guest article in the newspaper “Aftonbladet” membership of the European Union in question.
“Bureaucrats from other countries” would have a “greater influence on Swedish legislation” than Åkesson and his Swedish colleagues in the Riksdag. It is naïve to hope for “major changes in the near future” within the Union. Åkesson therefore calls for membership in the European Union to be “fundamentally reconsidered”.
In doing so, Åkesson is not only accepting an open dispute with his three coalition partners, but is apparently also trying to launch the European election campaign early on. Since the Sweden Democrats became part of the government last October, support has been falling.
Return to the roots
In the election in September, they became the second strongest force after the Social Democrats. In recent polls, they lost more than four percent, more than any other party. These are their worst values in over five years.
Bureaucrats from other countries, whom we cannot elect or remove, have more influence on Swedish legislation than I do today.
Jimmie Akesson in a guest post
Party leader Åkesson is coming under increasing pressure. As a way out, he apparently wants to concentrate on right-wing core issues such as criticism of the EU.
Before the last European elections in 2019, the Sweden Democrats had shown themselves to be even more moderate – and distanced themselves from their long-standing anti-European positions. Now there seems to be a change of course.
Åkesson recently said on Swedish television: “We will do everything we can to take power back from Brussels.”
It’s a kind of return to the roots of the right-wing party. The Sweden Democrats were founded at the end of the 1980s by members of the neo-Nazi scene, among others. Their motto back then: “Sweden for the Swedes!” In the 90s, they distinguished themselves primarily with sharp anti-European tones. Åkesson has led the party since 2005, gradually opening it up to the middle-class camp.
Today, Åkesson is an indispensable part of the ruling right-wing power bloc; his party supports the right-wing conservative minority government around Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. However, the Sweden Democrats are not officially part of the coalition. It is the first time in the country’s history that right-wingers have a say in government in Stockholm.
Liberals want the euro as their currency
The conflict within the coalition began two weeks ago when the Sweden Democrats’ “chief ideologue”, Mattias Karlsson, publicly attacked the coalition partners for the first time. He threatened to end the cooperation and thus caused the first tangible government dispute.
The background was a vote in the EU Parliament, Sweden’s governing parties voted for the reform of European migration policy. Åkesson’s Sweden Democrats opposed it.
Criticism of Åkesson’s call for a possible exit from the EU came immediately from the Liberals, the smallest coalition partner. In the alliance, they are considered the fiercest opponents of the Sweden Democrats. They reluctantly agreed to cooperate with the right. They are considered the most pro-European party in the Scandinavian country.
At the last European elections, they advertised with the slogan “More EU”. It is “logically completely impossible” for Sweden to leave the EU, says Liberal leader Johan Pehrson.
Instead of reconsidering membership as such, the country should consider introducing the euro.
