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Satisfied faces on interior commissioner Ylva Johansson (S) and then migration minister Maria Malmer Stenergard (M) since the EU countries finally agreed on their view on asylum and migration policy in Luxembourg in 2023. Archive image.
1 / 3Photo: Wiktor Nummelin/TT
She has not passed her controversial proposal against child abuse material online. But she is proud of the EU’s asylum pact and the aid to Ukraine.
– We show that migration can be managed, says outgoing EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson.
Few EU commissioners have been in the spotlight as much in recent years as the Swedish one. Ylva Johansson has had five intense years of migration policy, the fight against terror and drug trafficking and online abuse.
Above all, she will be remembered for having put together the EU’s asylum and migration pact, after years of disagreement between the member states. She is not concerned that it is criticized by the far-right, which is always hostile to refugees. Rather, she sees it as the antidote to the growth of the outer parties.
– In the long run, this will remove the oxygen from the far right. They have been fed by our failure to deal with migration. Now we show that it works, especially if you work together, says Johansson at a press conference with TT and other European news agencies in Brussels.
“Chat control”
When she sums up her EU years, she also boasts about how the borders have been opened for refugees from Ukraine and how the Schengen area has been expanded to include Croatia and soon Bulgaria and Romania as well.
However, she has not succeeded in getting through her controversial proposal to combat abuse material against children online. The so-called CSAM directive has been nicknamed “chat control” and is accused of involving too much surveillance.
However, she hopes that the successor, Magnus Brunner from Austria, can carry the matter forward.
– It is quite urgent, because there is a pandemic going on online when it comes to serious sexual violence against children, says Johansson.
Visa and football
To Brunner, she is also handing over an increasing focus on the fight against drug trafficking and organized crime. She also believes that the EU needs to be tougher when it comes to approving visas from Russia. Although the war in Ukraine has caused the number of Russian visas to decrease by 90 percent, more than 400,000 visas are still issued a year – mainly to the EU’s major tourist countries.
– There are quite a few. It is time to review whether we should have an even stricter approach, says Johansson.
What she will do next, she says she has not yet decided. Perhaps it will be the interest in football that prevails, says Johansson, who was previously chairman of the Stockholm Football Association.
– I left football ten years ago and would like to return there – not as a job, but to contribute in some way.
FACTS, Llva Johansson
Ylva Johansson (born 1964) has been Sweden’s EU Commissioner from 2019 until November 2024.
She was previously Social Democratic Minister of Education 1994–1998, Minister of Health and Elderly Care 2004–2006 and Minister of the Labor Market 2014–2019. However, she began her political career as a Member of Parliament for the then VPK 1988–1991.
Johansson was also chairman of the Stockholm Football Association 2011–2014 and is an honorary member of Hammarby football.
In the European Commission, her tasks will be taken over from Sunday by the Austrian Magnus Brunner. Sweden’s place is taken by Jessika Roswall (M), who is given responsibility for the environment and water resilience.
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