"Citizenship issued without the applicant meeting the stricter demands is a risk to Sweden’s security. To the extent that it is possible, measures will be taken to hinder the issuance of Swedish citizenship up until the point that the new laws come into force," wrote the government in an opinion piece earlier this month, confirming its plan to try to avoid citizenship applications being processed according to current laws.
But the bid has been slammed in a new opinion piece in Dagens Nyheter, titled "Sweden's government is not above the constitution", signed by Anders Danielsson, former director general of the Migration Agency; Anna Ramberg, former secretary general of the Swedish Bar Association; Hans Corell, a former head of legal affairs at the Justice Department; Anna Skarhed, a former Chancellor of Justice; Anna Ekström, a former Social Democrat school minister; and Joakim Nergelius, professor of constitutional law at Örebro University.
They argue that if the government pushes ahead with its plan, the Migration Agency, the Säpo security police, and the courts should resist, due to Sweden's strong rules which protect the independence of public authorities from the direct interference of government ministers.
"Swedish agencies should of course follow the regulatory letter and other instructions which come from the government," they write. "But if these instructions contravene the law, or if the agency cannot follow the instructions without breaking the law, the agency must follow the law and not the instruction given by the government."
They add that they see no legal way in which the party leaders can to live up to their promise to slow down citizenship awards.
The government, they write, can't legally order the Migration Agency not to follow current legislation, nor can it order the agency to simply allow citizenship applications to pile up, because it's obliged under administrative law to make decisions as fast as it possibly can.
One possibility which has been mentioned by pundits could be to use the government's annual regulatory letter to the Migration Agency to instruct it to carry out more thorough security checks on would-be citizens – thereby slowing down the process as a result.
But that would be unrelated to the bid to slow down citizenship applications, and shouldn't affect individual cases, they write.
CITIZENSHIP SLOWDOWN:
- Swedish citizenship slowdown 'very sketchy', says top Social Democrat
- Expert: Swedish government's citizenship slowdown plan 'does not sound realistic'
- Q&A: What Sweden's contentious citizenship slowdown means for foreigners
- OPINION: Foreigners in Sweden deserve fair and transparent citizenship rules
When The Local earlier this month contacted Migration Minister Johan Forssell for a comment, he refused to be drawn on the details.
“We are looking at various possibilities to protect Swedish interests in the processing of citizenship. We will return to the question of which options may be relevant,” he said.
There are a number of new rules for citizenship in the works, including an extension to the residency requirement from five to eight years, as well as a civics test and self-sufficiency requirement.
The government launched an inquiry to look into those rules in September 2023, which is due to present its findings in January 2025.
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