Sweden’s far right party says it won the arguments. Now it wants a share of power
STOCKHOLM: After championing huge policy shifts in Sweden by propping up a minority center-right government for four years, the far-right Sweden Democrats say they have won the political arguments and now deserve a share of power for themselves.
But it is a demand that could prove a step too far for voters in an election in September, and potentially bring down Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. The prime minister, who once told a Holocaust survivor he would never cooperate with the Sweden Democrats, now says he has lifted those “red lines.”
Sweden, the stalwart of European socialism for generations, has undergone a startling rightward shift in policy and public opinion in recent years, especially over immigration in a country where one person in five was born abroad.
The number of asylum seekers last year was down 97 percent from the peak a decade ago. One of Europe’s most welcoming immigration systems has become one of its most stringent: newcomers face employment restrictions, language and culture tests, and reduced welfare payouts. Immigrants who break the law can be swiftly expelled, and others are offered payments to leave voluntarily.
