At Långholmen in Stockholm, Jimmie Åkesson (SD) gave his traditional spring speech.
He says that Sweden has “changed” and that we should evaluate our EU membership, not least when it comes to migration.
– Nif it’s about who should live in Sweden, then I swear it’s the Swedish people who should decide, not Brussels.
Sweden Democrats party leader Jimmie Åkesson devoted a large part of his spring speech to migration policy.
– Many people who are not part of Swedish society and who live here on benefits and have no intention of supporting themselves – there are a lot of other countries where they can live. We must have a policy for them to leave the country, he says.
Jimmie Åkesson believes that immigration must be kept to the “minimum possible level”
– Many Swedes do not recognize the country they once grew up in, he says.
“To be followed to the last letter”
Åkesson also placed great importance on the fact that the Tidö Agreement must be followed to the letter – otherwise “the basis for the government ceases to exist”.
– It is an agreement that must be followed, down to the last letter in the parts that are concrete. And if it doesn’t, it ceases to be an agreement. It just makes perfect sense. Then the basis for the government sitting where it sits ends.
So far, the collaboration has worked well, says Jimmie Åkesson. But he also points out that every fifth Swede voted for the Sweden Democrats in the 2022 election and that the other government parties must be prepared to face SD.
– The Sweden Democrats are a party that influences today. We really make a difference, he says to TV4 Nyheterna.
The “straitjacket” EU
Earlier this week, Jimmie Åkesson wrote a debate article in The evening paper that Sweden should evaluate its membership in the EU, which he likened to a “straitjacket”. The Liberals’ party leader Johan Pehrson was quick to condemn the statement and called it “difficult to understand”.
– We look at fuel prices, energy policy, migration, the forest, hunting, snus, alcohol policy. There are a number of individual issues where we have negotiated good policies with the government, but where during the negotiations or after the negotiations we have come across patrols because then EU legislation comes and puts a stop to it, he says in the spring speech.
He describes it as “completely unreasonable”.