Stefan Lofven: Sweden Is Drastically Reducing Refugee Intakes

Summary: Sweden is drastically reducing refugee intakes for three years, according to Prime Minister Stefan Lofven's press conference Tuesday, Nov. 24.

Stefan Löfven, prime minister of Sweden since October 3, 2014: Frankie Fouganthin, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

At a press conference on Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2015, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven announced that Sweden is drastically reducing refugee intakes for three years by only offering temporary residence permits to the European Union’s minimum level for refugees.

The prime minister revealed that temporary changes in Swedish legislation are intended to direct refugees to other destinations within the European Union and to give Sweden a “respite” from the unprecedented numbers of refugees crossing Sweden’s borders.

Löfven explained: “The situation is untenable. Now, to put it bluntly, more people will have to seek asylum and get protection in other European countries.”

New measures to stem the tide of refugees include adjusting the Aliens Act, imposing time limits for family reunification rights and enforcing ID checks on all public transport modes to Sweden. Under the new Aliens Act, Sweden will cease the issuance of permanent residence permits and will only offer temporary residence permits, valid for three years, to the European Union-mandated minimum level of refugees.

Sweden has been welcoming approximately 10,000 refugees every week since autumn. Sweden’s Migration Agency announced in a press release last month, on Thursday, Oct. 22, that an estimated total of between 140,000 and 190,000 refugees is expected to arrive in Sweden by the end of this year. As the third largest country by area in the European Union, Sweden has a population of almost 10 million and enjoys a low population density of 21 inhabitants per square kilometer (54 per square mile).

The dramatic rise in claims in 2015 has strained resources in Sweden as the humanitarian, neutral superpower has been rushing to provide shelter for the burgeoning influx of desperate refugees. In the weekend prior to the prime minister’s startling announcement, up to 30 male refugees had to sleep outdoors as the result of a bed crisis in Malmö, Sweden’s third largest city.

Sweden’s acute housing situation has led the Migration Agency to consider creative solutions for the refugee crisis. Housing refugees on cruise ships is under current, serious consideration as a viable alternative to the refugee housing shortage. Willis Åberg, accommodation chief of the Migration Agency, said that shipping companies have contacted the agency with offers to shelter refugees on cruise ships moored in large harbors, such as at bustling southern ports of Gävle, Gothenburg, Malmö, Oskarshamn, Stockholm and Uddevalla.

Åberg explained: “These ships should serve as proper asylum accommodation where asylum seekers can be throughout the period of investigation which is usually about one year.”

With public opinion divided in Sweden over the tightened refugee intake measures, Prime Minister Löfven described the difficult turnabout in policy that humanitarian, neutral Sweden is drastically reducing refugee intakes: “It pains me to say that Sweden is no longer able to accept the high number of asylum seekers we’re seeing today.”

Sweden's Deputy Prime Minister Åsa Romson and Prime Minister Stefan Löfven; Nov. 24, 2015, photo by Janerik Henriksson: The Local Sweden @TheLocal Sweden via Twitter Nov. 24, 2015

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

short-finned pilot whale, Tenerife, Canary Islands: Cayambe, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ Stefan Löfven: Frankie Fouganthin, CC BY SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stefan_L%C3%B6fven.jpg

Sweden's Deputy Prime Minister Åsa Romson and Prime Minister Stefan Löfven; Nov. 24, 2015, photo by Janerik Henriksson: The Local Sweden @TheLocalSweden via Twitter Nov. 24, 2015, @ https://twitter.com/TheLocalSweden/status/669196607959777280

For further information:

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Available @ http://www.thelocal.se/20151124/cruise-ships-to-house-swedens-refugees

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Available @ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/24/sweden-asylum-seekers-refugees-policy-reversal

fredag. "No room at Malmö refugee hostels." Radio Sweden > News in English. Nov. 20, 2015.
Available @ http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=2054&artikel=6307276

Hofverberg, Elin. "Sweden: Government Moves to Adopt More Restrictive Rules for Asylum Seekers." The Library of Congress > Law Library > News & Events > Global Legal Monitor. Nov. 30, 2015.
Available @ https://www.loc.gov/law/foreign-news/article/sweden-government-moves-to-adopt-more-restrictive-rules-for-asylum-seekers/

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Available @ https://www.loc.gov/law/foreign-news/article/sweden-limit-on-asylum-seekers-reached-measures-to-cope-with-influx/

Jenkins, Nash. "Sweden Will Seriously Restrict the Number of Refugees It Accepts." Time > World > Sweden. Nov. 24, 2015.
Available @ http://time.com/4126728/sweden-refugee-crisis-asylum/

The Local Sweden @TheLocalSweden. "#Sweden moves to curb asylum numbers in dramatic U-turn on #refugeecrisis policies." Twitter. Nov. 24, 2015.
Available @ https://twitter.com/TheLocalSweden/status/669196607959777280

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/11/after-paris-attacks-italy-and-sweden.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/11/sapo-clears-suspect-arrested-at-north.html

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2015/11/sapo-ups-sweden-terror-threat-to-first.html

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Available @ https://next.ft.com/content/598d3a94-92c1-11e5-bd82-c1fb87bef7af

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Available @ http://www.thelocal.se/20151022/sweden-doubles-refugee-forecast-for-2015

"Sweden split over move to tighten asylum rules." The Local ? refugee crisis: Sweden's news in English. Nov. 24, 2015. Updated Nov. 25, 2015.
Available @ http://www.thelocal.se/20151124/sweden-set-to-tighten-asylum-rules-for-refugees