According to current rules in the Swedish constitution, Swedish citizens who live or have lived in Sweden cannot have their citizenship revoked. The current government and the Sweden Democrats have, however, launched an inquiry with the goal of looking into making it possible for people to lose their citizenship if they commit major crimes.
Until now, the proposal would only apply to immigrants who have gained Swedish citizenship. Now, however, Åkesson wants to extend it to people born in Sweden.
“In principle I don’t have any issues with someone who has dual citizenship, but who was born in Sweden and got their citizenship that way, being able to lose it,” he told Aftonbladet in an interview.
Children born in Sweden do not automatically get citizenship from birth, unlike in countries in North and South America for example, which in general apply the so-called jus soli (right of soil) rule of citizenship.
Instead, Sweden follows the jus sanguinis (right of blood) rule of citizenship, which means that children only have Swedish citizenship from birth if one or both of their parents is a Swedish citizen.
Otherwise, they will have to wait at least three years before they can gain Swedish citizenship.
It is not immediately clear whether Åkesson was referring to the children of Swedish citizens who are Swedish from birth – this is the case whether they are born in Sweden or abroad – or the children of non-Swedes who gain citizenship later after living in Sweden for three years or more.
Under international law, countries are not allowed to revoke citizenship in cases where the person in question only has one citizenship.
“You can’t make anyone stateless under international law, essentially,” he told Aftonbladet.
According to Åkesson, having the power to revoke citizenship would make it more valuable.
“It shows that it’s worth something for people who behave and who aren’t a danger to society as a whole. For me that means it has a higher value. It shows you have earned your citizenship and that makes it worth something.”
Return migration 'a long-term project'
Åkesson also discussed his party’s plans for getting people to leave Sweden voluntarily.
“It’s a long-term project. We have a situation with an unbelievable amount of people who cannot support themselves. Who aren’t part of Swedish society in any way, rather they live in a kind of parallel society. Roughly the same as how they did in their home country, despite physically being in Sweden. That’s not a good situation, everyone understands that.”
He added that he does not believe it’s possible to “fix” this with integration policy.
“They’re not here because they want to integrate, they’re here for other reasons. And we think that there needs to be some kind of motivation for people to leave voluntarily.”
Part of this motivation consists of raising the cash bonus offered to people here as refugees who move back home to 350,000 kronor per person, as well as reforming the welfare system to lower the total benefit amount a family can qualify for.
“The benefit ceiling, that kind of thing that means people are here because of our generous welfare state, I think that’s the single most important motivation for moving back home we can make.”
“Every single person or every family which is not integrated that returns home makes it easier to actually integrate the ones that stay,” he added.
In 2025, Åkesson will have been leader of the Sweden Democrats for twenty years, and after the next election, he has his sights set on becoming Sweden’s prime minister.
“I’m convinced that the people who have voted for us expect it. And then, of course, you have to negotiate. But of course I want it.”
'Opening this door is a dangerous path'
In a separate interview with The Local about Swedish citizenship for our Sweden in Focus podcast, Green Party migration spokesperson Annika Hirvonen, herself a dual citizen, criticised Åkesson’s comments.
“This is not the way that I view citizenship,” she said. “Citizenship isn't a reward or a punishment.”
“Citizenship, in my view, is the very fundamental basis of democratic rights, rights that individuals always should have in at least one country, and the threat of taking it away shouldn't be something that is used as a punishment.”
She also added that as someone who the Sweden Democrats consider a political opponent, she is worried about what this could mean for the future.
“Knowing what agenda they are pushing, the way that they talk about political adversaries as traitors if they have opinions that the Sweden Democrats don't like, I'm very worried what developments we might see. I myself have dual citizenship, and to be honest, never thought of the day that the day might come where I would no longer be welcome in the country I've been living in since I was born,” she said.
She added that Åkesson’s comments had made her worry for the first time that she and other people who his party view as “threats to the country” might be “exiled”.
“That’s a very scary thought. So I think that opening this door up is a really dangerous path.”
Hirvonen pointed out the fact that the tone from the government and the Sweden Democrats has hardened towards, for example, young people protesting climate change, and that they are more often prosecuted than previously.
“If you open the door to citizenship being stripped from someone who has committed a serious crime, then you’re not very far from changing the definition of a serious crime, especially if you have a government that wants to get rid of certain types of people or political opponents. So I think this is the wrong path for Sweden to take.”
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