Former Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt’s “open your hearts” speech marks the end of a more liberal migration policy in Sweden. In the same year, the Sweden Democrats made a record election and the following year, hundreds of thousands of people fled to Europe.
Stricter migration laws
Since 2015, Sweden has followed a more strict development, which was initiated in Denmark and Norway in the early 2000s and then in Finland in connection with the financial crisis in 2008. This is confirmed by a new migration report from the Delegation for Migration Studies.
And there are certain connections that explain this development.
– Firstly, we can see that the migration legislation has been significantly tightened in all four countries. It has become much less liberal and more strict, says Jonas Hinnfors, professor of political science at the University of Gothenburg, and one of the researchers behind the report.
Another part is that when parties such as the Sweden Democrats, the Progressive Party in Norway, the Danish People’s Party and the True Finns gained greater voter support, and became more important in forming a government, then the parties also gained a great deal of political influence.
– We see a co-variation between how strong anti-immigration parties such as SD and their sister parties in the Nordics, when they have achieved electoral success and become more important for government formation, then the other parties begin to think about what, for example, SD’s important issues are and then begin to adapt the policy according to the questions, he says.
No pendulum movement over the years
Something that stands out in the report, according to Jonas Hinnfors, is that the increasingly strict migration policy has not backed down during these years – but that it has continued forward.
– There has been no pendulum movement. The policy has been tightened both when immigration increases and when it decreases. Nor is it the case that when the Danish People’s Party or the Progressive Party has weakened, that it has then become more liberal. You can say that this stricter stance has taken hold, says Jonas Hinnfors.
Is that surprising you would say?
– Given what we know from previous research outside the Nordics, it is not particularly surprising, but now we know that it is also the case in the Nordics. You could possibly say that it is a little surprising in so far as it is nevertheless so powerful and that it is possible to change the legislation so quickly.
In particular, the migration legislation in the countries has become stricter with regard to asylum and refugee issues and family reunification. Today, all Nordic countries also have temporary residence permits and not permanent ones.