The leader of the national-conservative Sweden Democrats, the country’s third largest party which plays a key supporting role in the ruling center-right coalition, has said that EU membership is beginning to look like a “straightjacket,” and called for an “earnest” evaluation of the nation’s membership in the bloc.
In an opinion piece featured in the Stockholm-based newspaper Aftonbladet on Tuesday, May 2nd, Jimmie Åkesson argued that, due to the ever-increasing centralization of power within the bloc which has seen unelected bureaucrats in Brussels continually gain influence over national governments’ decision-making, the EU has become a “democratic problem” that Swedes ought to take “very seriously.”
Åkesson stated that Sweden, despite being represented in the 27-member union, is far too small of a member state to hold any real sway over the overall direction of the bloc.
He lamented that EU membership had caused Sweden to cede much of its sovereignty and ability to determine its own destiny, creating a situation where German, French, and Polish politicians decide which car Swedes can buy, how expensive the fuel should be, and what types of trees Swedes can chop down on their own land.
“Sweden has simply given away significant parts of our right to decide for ourselves. Even if we are represented in the Union by our own politicians, we are far too small in the context to make any real difference,” Åkesson wrote, calling it “astonishing” that “60% of all decisions in Swedish municipalities and regions are influenced by EU decisions.”
“Other countries’ politicians and bureaucrats, whom we cannot elect or depose, today have greater influence over Swedish legislation than me or any of my elected colleagues in Sweden’s Riksdag,” he continued.
As a result of these developments, he continued, the will of the Swedish people, which is reflected in the results of parliamentary elections, will increasingly become less and less relevant. “Of course, we cannot have it this way,” the Sweden Democrat chief declared.
Åkesson, later in the piece, issued a dire warning that Brussels’ influence over individual members is increasing, not waning, pointing to the European Parliament’s recent approval of the Migration and Asylum Pact, which enshrines an asylum seeker relocation system into EU law.
“There is also broad support among the Swedish people for a strict immigration policy. Despite this, today there is an imminent risk that the EU will make decisions that go in the exact opposite direction if we fail to act,” he emphasized.
Åkesson urged Swedish citizens to take a serious look at “the consequences of our membership in the EU and also to see how we can limit the over-implementation of EU legislation that Sweden has so far accommodated.”
As for Sweden’s ruling politicians, he said they must find ways to “better guard Swedish interests” so that national politics can reflect the will of the people to a “greater extent.”
To conclude, he wrote:
Sweden needs to put Swedish interests first. We have extensive problems within our borders to which we need to devote our undivided attention.
