The Foreign Ministry estimates that there are between 2,000 and 3,000 Swedes in Lebanon. The government has not decided on any evacuation.
Magdalena Andersson thinks that Swedes who chose to stay in Lebanon have their own responsibility, but believes that Sweden should evacuate children.
– The Swedish children who may now be in Lebanon, they have not gone there of their own free will. It is not their decision, she says and continues:
– I assume that the government has tried to map how many children are in Lebanon, as well as drawn up a plan for how to evacuate them.
Åkesson: “What on earth are you doing there?”
Jimmie Åkesson says that he has no insight into Sweden’s foreign policy, but wonders why Swedes are in Lebanon at all.
– We have many people with Swedish passports who should not have Swedish passports. So you have come to Sweden as a refugee, then you have chosen to go back to a country you fled from, he says and continues:
– Then I wonder: What on earth are you doing there?
Andersson: It is reasonable that children are allowed to return
Magdalena Andersson thinks it is good that the government has advised against travel to Lebanon and urged Swedes to leave the country, but notes at the same time that several countries choose to evacuate their citizens.
– Ukraine, which is a country at war, has helped its citizens to come home. Then it is quite reasonable that the children who are Swedish citizens get the opportunity to return to Sweden.
Jimmie Åkesson says that it is still possible to leave the country without help from the state. However, he does not see the idea of Swedish children being separated from their parents as “unreasonable”.
– If you as a parent choose to take your children to Lebanon, then you may not be such a good parent. Then maybe social authorities should get involved, he says.
The party leaders also discussed the economy and drew attention to the S-lotteries.
See the debate in its entirety below: