Today in Sweden: A roundup of the latest news on Wednesday
Opposition calls for government to take over schools which give too generous grades, Nord Stream investigation could be shelved, and other news from Sweden on Wednesday.
Opposition calls for government to take over schools which give too high grades
Sweden's Social Democrat opposition has called for schools to be temporarily taken over by the government if they consistently award overly high grades to pupils.
"The situation is extremely serious," said Åsa Westlund, the party's schools spokesperson. "This is a measure which they should be forced to take because there is such a great and widespread fiddling of grades. There's a form of 'marketisation', where schools benefit from fiddling grades, behind all this."
She said that Sweden's Schools Inspectorate should be tasked with immediately investigating schools where there is a discrepancy between normal grades and those received in Sweden's national tests.
Swedish vocabulary: att fiffla - to fiddle with
Swedish Nord Stream investigation 'could be shelved on Wednesday'
Sweden is preparing to shelve its investigation into the attack on the Nord Stream gas pipeline, German newspapers have reported, with the Swedish prosecutor promising an announcement on Wednesday.
According to an article in the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, Sweden is set to close down its investigation without identifying any suspects, citing a lack of evidence.
After the article was published, the Swedish prosecutor's office issued a short press release, confirming that the prosecutor in the case, Mats Ljungqvist, planned to announce a decision on Wednesday, but gave no details of what would be announced.
Swedish vocabulary: att lägga ner - to close down [an investigation]
Sweden to change law so Ukrainians can get personal numbers
Sweden's government hopes to change the law so that Ukrainian refugees can finally register as resident in Sweden and so obtain personal numbers and access to the BankID digital identification system.
"This means that you get a completely different level of access to Swedish healthcare, the possibility of getting BankID, and even a higher daily allowance than today," Sweden's Migration Minister, Maria Malmer Stenergard, said at a press conference at the Swedish parliament.
Ukrainians who fled to Sweden under the European Union's Temporary Protection Directive are not currently eligible for the same level of protection as others granted asylum.
Many of them have complained that because they are not eligible to be registered as resident, they cannot get a personal number or BankID, and are as a result barred from a large number of essential services.
Once they can be registered, Ukrainians will also be eligible for a daily allowance of 308 kronor, up from the 71 kronor a day they are given to live on today.
Swedish vocabulary: ett lagförslag - a proposed law
Iranian intelligence suspected of plot to kill Swedish Jews
Sweden's public broadcaster SR reported on Tuesday that an Iranian couple, believed to be working for Iranian intelligence, have been deported after being suspected in a plot to kill Swedish Jews.
According to an investigative report by Swedish Radio (SR), the couple, Mahdi Ramezani and Fereshteh Sanaeifarid, had applied for and been granted asylum in Sweden by posing as Afghans.
The couple were arrested in April 2021 on suspicion of conspiracy to commit a terrorist crime involving the murder of Jewish figures in Sweden, SR reported.
Due to a lack of evidence, the two were never charged but they were reportedly deported in 2022 for posing a security risk.
"We have strong belief that they were here on a mission on behalf of Iran. They were seen here in Sweden as a very severe security threat. And that's the reason why they were expelled, even if we couldn't prosecute them," deputy chief prosecutor Hans Ihrman told the broadcaster.
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Opposition calls for government to take over schools which give too high grades
Sweden's Social Democrat opposition has called for schools to be temporarily taken over by the government if they consistently award overly high grades to pupils.
"The situation is extremely serious," said Åsa Westlund, the party's schools spokesperson. "This is a measure which they should be forced to take because there is such a great and widespread fiddling of grades. There's a form of 'marketisation', where schools benefit from fiddling grades, behind all this."
She said that Sweden's Schools Inspectorate should be tasked with immediately investigating schools where there is a discrepancy between normal grades and those received in Sweden's national tests.
Swedish vocabulary: att fiffla - to fiddle with
Swedish Nord Stream investigation 'could be shelved on Wednesday'
Sweden is preparing to shelve its investigation into the attack on the Nord Stream gas pipeline, German newspapers have reported, with the Swedish prosecutor promising an announcement on Wednesday.
According to an article in the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, Sweden is set to close down its investigation without identifying any suspects, citing a lack of evidence.
After the article was published, the Swedish prosecutor's office issued a short press release, confirming that the prosecutor in the case, Mats Ljungqvist, planned to announce a decision on Wednesday, but gave no details of what would be announced.
Swedish vocabulary: att lägga ner - to close down [an investigation]
Sweden to change law so Ukrainians can get personal numbers
Sweden's government hopes to change the law so that Ukrainian refugees can finally register as resident in Sweden and so obtain personal numbers and access to the BankID digital identification system.
"This means that you get a completely different level of access to Swedish healthcare, the possibility of getting BankID, and even a higher daily allowance than today," Sweden's Migration Minister, Maria Malmer Stenergard, said at a press conference at the Swedish parliament.
Ukrainians who fled to Sweden under the European Union's Temporary Protection Directive are not currently eligible for the same level of protection as others granted asylum.
Many of them have complained that because they are not eligible to be registered as resident, they cannot get a personal number or BankID, and are as a result barred from a large number of essential services.
Once they can be registered, Ukrainians will also be eligible for a daily allowance of 308 kronor, up from the 71 kronor a day they are given to live on today.
Swedish vocabulary: ett lagförslag - a proposed law
Iranian intelligence suspected of plot to kill Swedish Jews
Sweden's public broadcaster SR reported on Tuesday that an Iranian couple, believed to be working for Iranian intelligence, have been deported after being suspected in a plot to kill Swedish Jews.
According to an investigative report by Swedish Radio (SR), the couple, Mahdi Ramezani and Fereshteh Sanaeifarid, had applied for and been granted asylum in Sweden by posing as Afghans.
The couple were arrested in April 2021 on suspicion of conspiracy to commit a terrorist crime involving the murder of Jewish figures in Sweden, SR reported.
Due to a lack of evidence, the two were never charged but they were reportedly deported in 2022 for posing a security risk.
"We have strong belief that they were here on a mission on behalf of Iran. They were seen here in Sweden as a very severe security threat. And that's the reason why they were expelled, even if we couldn't prosecute them," deputy chief prosecutor Hans Ihrman told the broadcaster.
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