Jimmie Åkesson is seeking to become Sweden’s next prime minister – and the key to his election victory is believed to lie in sharply reducing the number of migrants in Sweden.
The leader of the Sweden Democrats also wants to review the possibility of withdrawing Swedish citizenship – and believes that this should also apply to people born in Sweden.
The center-right coalition has been a disappointment to many of the party’s supporters, and many of the party’s promised policies have either not been implemented or have ended in compromises or lengthy investigations.
The party leadership has felt compelled to urge its members to be patient and understand the difficulties of pushing through its core issues – and recently Åkesson came out and threatened to stop supporting Kristersson’s government if a series of justice and migration policy measures are not implemented.
Ahead of the 2026 elections, the party wants to see a much tougher stance and focus on re-immigration and return. Among other things, the party wants to make it possible to withdraw Swedish citizenship.
Under current legislation, no Swedish citizen who has lived or previously lived in Sweden can be stripped of their citizenship – but the ruling parties have set up an inquiry to investigate whether it is still legally possible to expel Swedish citizens who, for example, have committed serious crimes.
Can’t make anyone stateless
The Sweden Democrats have previously proposed that foreign-born people who have immigrated to Sweden and been granted Swedish citizenship should also be able to lose it – but Åkesson believes that this is not enough.
– I see no issue in principle with someone born in Sweden who holds dual citizenship being able to lose it.
– But I think the basis is the dual citizenship. You simply cannot and may not, under international law, make someone stateless, he continues.
The SD leader believes that citizenship should be granted to those who behave and that it should be something you earn – not something handed out casually to destructive and dangerous individuals.
“Cannot be solved with integration policy”
He also points out that voluntary return is very important and that the current situation, where many migrants cannot support themselves and live in ethnic enclaves and parallel societies, cannot continue.
– I believe that this cannot be solved by integration policies. People are not here primarily because they want to integrate, but they are here for other reasons, and then we believe that we must have incentives for people to leave voluntarily.
– Repatriation grants are one thing. But it is a rather small thing in the context. The big effects come from benefit and welfare reforms… The benefit cap, the kind of incentives that encourage those who are here because we have a generous welfare system, I think that’s the single most important incentive we can give for return migration.
Åkesson will soon have led his party for two decades and admits that he has high ambitions for the 2026 election – if the Swedish Social Democratic Party becomes the largest party, he also wants to become Sweden’s prime minister and lead the country.
– Of course I want that… I’m convinced that those who voted for us expect it, and then you have to negotiate.
