For decades, Sweden had been known as the destination for non-European immigrants because of its welcoming culture and perhaps overly generous welfare system. But now that era seems to be ending. The Swedish Ministry of Justice recently announced that Sweden is on track to register the lowest total number of asylum seekers this year since 1997, having already reached ‘net emigration’ for the first time in half a century, meaning that more people left in 2024 than arrived.
Sweden’s ‘snitch law’ immigration plan prompts alarm across society
Doctors, social workers and librarians are among those in Sweden who have sounded the alarm over a proposal being explored by a government-appointed committee that would force public sector workers to report undocumented people to authorities.
The proposal – which has been referred to as the “snitch law” by some – was among the many measures included in a 2022 agreement struck between four rightwing parties in the country. The deal paved the way for a coalition government involving three centre-right parties with parliamentary support from the far-right anti-immigration Sweden Democrats (SD).
The threat of IS has been growing; not just in Europe, but the rest of the world too. This year, there has been an increasing number of foiled plots and threats that are coming from Islamic State networks in Africa. Proof of this came on Tuesday when the US Treasury sanctioned Isis networks across Africa, specifically in Somalia and Mozambique.
Where are these strange anti-Semitic attacks, such as that which happened at the Brooklyn Museum, coming from?
For all the evidence out there that foundations are doing the dirty work, which is perfectly real, an important story linked by Instapundit found that Sweden has accused Iran of paying off street gangs to conduct antisemitic attacks in that country.
Sweden’s Security Service Säpo confirmed on Thursday that the Iranian regime is recruiting criminals to conduct attacks on Jewish targets in the Scandinavian country. This corroborates earlier intelligence reports from Israel’s spy agency Mossad.
At a joint press conference with the Foreign Ministry in Stockholm, Swedish counter-intelligence chief Daniel Stenling described Iran as wanting to use “criminal networks” as “proxies.” He indicated Iran’s chargé d’affaires would be summoned to a meeting on Friday to answer the claims.
Inside the Malmo Arena, Eurovision fans can expect a spectacular show brimming with colourful costumes and carefully rehearsed performances. Outside, the atmosphere may be darker: Swedish police are expecting Quran burnings, protests and a continued elevated terrorist threat.
A polarised debate surrounding the conflict in Gaza and Israel’s participation in the song contest have intensified the workload for law enforcement. About 100,000 visitors are expected in Malmo for the Eurovision week.
The leader of the conservative, sovereigntist Sweden Democrats presented the party’s central European campaign message on Thursday, ahead of EU elections in June that will determine the bloc’s fate over the next five years and beyond.
Like other parties in the European Conservatives & Reformists (ECR) and Identity and Democracy (ID) groupings, the Sweden Democrats have placed the need to stop mass migration at the top of their campaign priorities. They poll presently in second place, with 21% of the projected national vote.
Louise Meijer, an MP for Sweden’s centrist Moderate party, apologised to voters for her previous position on open borders. She regrets “making mistakes” by “pleading for openness and refugees [being] welcome”, she says.
Meijer says she “changed her mind” over her views, in an opinion piece for Expressen this week.
“Now, instead, I am advocating an even stricter migration policy than the one I opposed at the time,” she says.
Demos in Sweden mirror Europe-wide sentiment: citizens are fed up with funding politically biased public broadcasters.
Outraged citizens in Sweden have vented their anger at the state broadcaster for being politically biased and misleading its viewers. In a protest held on Saturday, around a thousand people marched to the headquarters of the public broadcaster to express their dissatisfaction with the reporting of Sveriges Television (SVT) and Sveriges Radio (SR).
Ulf Kristersson’s center-right government, which relies heavily on the support of the national-conservative Sweden Democrats (SD), has announced a landmark reform to its foreign aid policy that will require beneficiary countries to cooperate with its repatriation efforts to continue receiving financial assistance.
The announcement comes after leaders in the SD-supported government, in an op-ed penned for Dagens Nyheter earlier, revealed that the country has witnessed 26% fewer asylum applications in 2023 than the previous year due to policies it enacted aimed at eliminating migration pull factors.
Swedish authorities have shut down a school in Stockholm after the Swedish security police Säpo produced evidence that the students attending the school were at risk of becoming radicalised as several staff members have ties to Jihadism.
The Swedish Schools Inspectorate revoked a permit for ALM Education, which runs the Cordoba International School, named after the capital of Islamic-ruled Spain according to the school, in the Stockholm suburb of Kista as the newspaper Aftonbladet reports that board members of the company had ties to Islamic extremist groups.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has condemned far-right Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Åkesson for saying mosques should be demolished, calling the statement “disrespectful.”
“In Sweden, we don’t tear down places of worship,” Kristersson said on Monday, Swedish outlet SVT reported.
Åkesson came under fire on Saturday for saying that Sweden should ban the establishment of new mosques, while suggesting it should also demolish existing ones in the country.
Where did it all go so wrong for Sweden? The nation once known for ABBA, IKEA and its social-democratic welfare state has now become a byword for gangland killings and grenade attacks. Crime has soared to unprecedented levels. Grenade attacks have become an unwelcome feature of suburban life. Islamism is spreading unchecked. Even some on the Swedish left have been forced to acknowledge that multiculturalism is unravelling and that the state has failed to integrate vast numbers of migrants.
Paulina Brandberg, Minister for Gender Equality, told journalists that the government would review Swedish legislation to determine if there are specific grounds for revoking residence permits. However, she listed potential examples of “lifestyle deficiencies,” including welfare fraud, debts, dishonest lifestyles, drug abuse, as well as connections with criminal networks or violent and extremist groups that “threaten fundamental Swedish values.”
h/t GR
Apologies for writing yet another “Look what’s happening in ultra-liberal, super-tolerant (Nordic country)” column, but there is turmoil in ultra-liberal, super-tolerant Sweden right now that’s worth noticing in Canada. About a year ago, Sweden elected a right-wing government that campaigned on altering the country’s gapingly open immigration policy, which in the past has been partly inspired by the Canadian model.
