Sweden, with changes to its immigration policy, has managed to achieve what is being presented here as “impossible”!
At the same time that the Minister of Migration Nikos Panagiotopoulos is trying to serve us the doubling of immigration flows to our country as a “successful” policy and to convince us that the flows will continue … endlessly, Sweden is proving that the problem can only be addressed with internal policies. It must be treated as a “problem” and not as an “opportunity”!
As highlighted in the relevant report from the European Conservative: For decades, Sweden was known as “the destination” for non-European migrants due to its excessively generous social welfare system and the “willingness” of Swedes to accept “persecuted” individuals. However, this era seems to be coming to an end. The Swedish Ministry of Justice recently announced that Sweden is on track to record the lowest total number of asylum seekers this year since 1997, having already reached net migration for the first time in half a century, meaning that more people left in 2024 than arrived.
According to data from the Swedish Migration Agency, only 5,600 asylum applications have been recorded in the country so far in 2024, representing a 27% reduction compared to the same period last year. At the same time, immigration (or “return”) has increased by over 60% – particularly among people born in Iraq, Somalia, and Syria – resulting in a current net “surplus” of approximately 5,700 individuals departing.
Det är nu fler som återvandrar än invandrar ifrån Irak, Somalia och Syrien. pic.twitter.com/pLhTnM2dDr
— Mattias Karlsson (@sdkarlsson) August 8, 2024
According to the Minister of Migration Maria Stenergard:
The government’s efforts have yielded results. The number of asylum applications appears to be historically low, residence permits related to asylum continue to decrease, and Sweden has what is called net migration for the first time in 50 years. This development towards sustainable migration is necessary to enhance integration and reduce social exclusion.
What makes this achievement even greater is the fact that, on average, the number of asylum applications remains consistently high across the EU, so internal policy is likely playing a much larger role in affecting these numbers than any external factors. Most current migrations do not involve the flight of native Swedes, alleviating demographic concerns about “brain drain.”
The change in policy is a result of the 2022 elections, where immigration was a dominant issue. The center-right “Moderate” government is supported by the national-conservative Sweden Democrats party, which systemic media outlets describe as far-right. To secure this support, the Moderates announced last year a complete overhaul of the immigration and asylum system. The reforms carried the ambitious goal of transforming Sweden from one of the most “lenient” countries where one could gain citizenship to one of the most stringent.
What a contrast to Greece, where the government prioritizes the “quick” processing – almost automated if you look at the statistics – of asylum applications.
In addition to making the acquisition of citizenship much more difficult, the government has also begun to close legal loopholes to tackle abuses of labor migration and family reunification, while incentivizing voluntary returns and increasing deportations of illegal immigrants. At the same time, labor migration has become easier for meticulously vetted, highly skilled workers.
“We were given a very clear mandate to organize immigration, not just to combat crime. And this is what we work daily to deliver to the voters,” said Stenergard.
In response to criticisms from the left that fewer migrants in Sweden should be considered a “tragedy” rather than celebrated, the minister said it is up to the voters to decide to change course again in a few years, if they wish, but until then this will remain the official direction of Stockholm. For now at least: Sweden has stopped being a country of asylum migration.
There have been increasing pressures within Sweden for a dramatic change in direction regarding migration in the years leading up to this paradigm shift within the Moderate party. Over the past decade, it has become increasingly clear that large segments of first-generation migrants are either unable or unwilling to properly integrate, leading to a surge in organized crime and gang violence.