If the Sweden Democrats (SD) have their way, Sweden could remove all its constitutional references to the European Union in a shift designed to give Stockholm greater flexibility when negotiating thorny issues such as migration or climate policy. This is a calculated move by the populist Sweden Democrats, signalling that Sweden could eventually choose to leave the bloc.
The idea of a “Sweden First” approach was floated by party leader Jimmie Åkesson and leading MEP Charlie Weimers in a Swedish press op ed this week, stating that “Sweden is prepared to leave as a last resort, and Brussels cannot afford to lose more net payers,” potentially strengthening Stockholm’s negotiating hand in the EU.
The op ed references Brussels’ moves to force through labour reforms and conscript Swedish forests as a ‘carbon sink’ to offset EU CO2 emissions, warning that the Union plans a greater power grab in the next parliamentary term. The move would send out a sovereigntist message ahead of a widely anticipated showdown with Brussels, thereby firming up the case for asylum reform.
While the SD has ostensibly dropped its previous Euroscepticism in the aftermath of Brexit, the party is not ruling out advocating a ‘Swexit,’ should European policies continue transferring powers from member countries to a centralised EU. Pointing to how SD has been the only Swedish party to oppose increased incursions on sovereignty, Åkesson is advocating a new ‘referendum lock’ to block the transfer of powers to Brussels in the coming election cycle. The move would require a nationwide referendum before any significant power transfer or increase in financial obligation to the EU.
“If small countries don’t play hardball, they get run over,” the SD politicians say in their op ed.
Specifically, the two politicians take aim at a 2010 insertion into the Swedish constitution that enshrines EU membership. Only a fifth of the Swedish electorate currently favour potentially leaving the EU, according to polling.
The party has benefited since 2022 from its role in propping up Stockhom’s ruling centrist coalition led by Moderate Party PM Ulf Kristersson, with the populists even influencing Sweden’s stint leading the European Council on immigration and asylum policy.
The political and economic calculus of Sweden’s EU membership is expected to radically alter in the coming years with the country—one of the few net financial contributors to the bloc— likely to shoulder disproportionately the burden of new member states from the Western Balkans.
In a statement to The European Conservative, Sweden Democrat MEP Charlie Weimers explained how “you have to be ready to leave the negotiating table to get the desired result” and that he was confident other parties will follow the Sweden Democrats’ example or risk the insurgent party eating into their mandates.
The party plays a leading role in the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) faction within the EU Parliament and is expected to rapidly increase its share of MEPs in the imminent European elections, to the detriment of more traditional parties on the centre-right, including the ruling Moderates.
In a shrill reply on Tuesday, Social Democrats (S) Heléne Fritzon and Tobias Baudin condemned the SD idea as “threatening Sweden’s security,” saying it aims at dividing Europe, wildly accusing SD of “having a hard time distancing themselves from Putin” and calling EU “a security for the Swedish people.”
