Sweden attracts migrants with its liberal policy
Speaking in Florida on February 18 and discussing terrorist attacks in Europe, U.S. President Donald Trump said: "Look at what happened in Germany, look at what happened last night in Sweden. Sweden – who would have thought? Sweden let in very many. Now they have problems they never thought possible."
These words caused bewilderment among many, and the Swedish Foreign Ministry asked the U.S. Embassy to clarify what Trump meant. Authorities in Stockholm noted that they were unaware of any serious incidents related to terrorism. Later, Trump wrote on Twitter that his words referred to a Fox News report about migrants and Sweden, which discussed rising crime in the Scandinavian country linked to migrants.
And on the evening of Monday, February 21, riots broke out in the Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby. Police faced resistance while arresting a criminal. Stones were thrown at officers, who responded with warning shots into the air. Later, several cars were set on fire near the scene of the clash, and a number of shops were looted.
Political scientist Tobias Etzold, a researcher at the Berlin Foundation for Science and Politics, told Deutsche Welle about the real situation with refugees in Sweden and how successful their integration is.
– Sweden has become an attractive destination for many refugees. This Scandinavian country with a population of less than 10 million is known for its long tradition of accepting immigrants. How has Stockholm's migration policy changed over the past year?
– Since 2009, Sweden has been accepting more than 100,000 refugees per year, thus becoming the country that has taken in the largest number of refugees per capita. In 2015, the flow of migrants peaked: nearly 170,000 people arrived in the country – too many even by Swedish standards. Against this backdrop, it was decided to take measures involving a radical tightening of asylum legislation. These measures were implemented during 2016.
– As a result of this policy, only about 30,000 refugees arrived in Sweden in 2016. How successfully are foreigners integrating into Swedish society?
– The Swedish state tries to integrate asylum seekers: for example, they can attend language courses and advanced training courses. During the period when the number of migrants arriving in the country was still about 100,000 per year, it seemed that, compared to other European countries, the integration process was going well.
For instance, the government always sought to relocate refugees to regular apartments as quickly as possible, precisely to provide them with opportunities for social integration. Sweden prided itself on having managed so far without mass migrant accommodation centers. Now, due to the large number of refugees, this has become more difficult.
At the same time, Sweden has had the following problem for several years: many migrants have settled on the outskirts of a small number of large cities. In some places, their share reaches 80 percent of the total population. Refugees – to a greater or lesser extent – live in isolation from the rest of society. This also applies to urban areas that are considered problematic and where hopelessness prevails.
– According to official data, only a small number of refugees have managed to find employment in Sweden so far. How would you characterize the situation with migrant integration into the labor market?
– This is a serious problem. In Sweden, narrow specialization of production largely prevails: to work in it, one must have high qualifications. Many migrants do not have such qualifications; they first need to be trained. This still affects the number of unemployed. To establish oneself in the labor market, one needs to know Swedish; it is indispensable. Due to the large number of refugees in 2015, the process of reviewing asylum applications slowed down significantly. This also became one of the reasons why many refugees have not yet found work.
– How do ordinary citizens view the reception of refugees?
– Many Swedes have long shown responsiveness and were ready to help refugees. People demonstrated commitment to a certain tradition: it seemed that there was a broad public consensus in the country. On the other hand, there was virtually no open discussion on this topic. If anyone dared to criticize government policy, they were immediately labeled a xenophobe – even if the criticism was justified.
Now the situation has changed; the discussion has become more heated. Long before the large influx of migrants, Sweden had relatively small but very strong and violence-prone groups of right-wing radicals who continue to attack refugee hostels. In 2015 and 2016, the number of such attacks increased again.
– In Germany, the right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) benefits from heated debates on migration policy. Sweden also has a right-wing conservative party, the Sweden Democrats (SD), which uses the refugee issue for its own interests. How do you think events will develop in the country politically?
– In 2015, when the migration crisis reached its peak, the Sweden Democrats gained significant advantage from the situation and public sentiment; their rating reached 20-25 percent. According to some polls, they even briefly became the most popular party.
The situation changed slightly in the first half of 2016, when the Swedish government of the Social Democrats and the Greens tightened legislation on granting asylum. Then many citizens concluded: the government is abandoning the policy of unlimited refugee reception and is taking public concerns seriously.
Since then, the rating of the Sweden Democrats has slightly decreased and now stands at 15-20 percent. However, a couple of percentage points do not negate the fact that this party has become a serious force in Swedish politics. And some conservative parties have at least partially broken the taboo on cooperation with the Sweden Democrats – in particular, at the local level.