On April 29th the Swedish parliament voted through stricter citizenship requirements that will apply from June 6th of this year. The opposition's proposal that transitional rules should apply to the tens of thousands who have been waiting a long time for a decision on Swedish citizenship was voted down by a majority of one vote.
Forssell told the TT newswire that the proposal for transitional provisions "would have been dangerous for Sweden.
"It is completely irresponsible of the opposition to present this proposal," he continued, saying that the Swedish Security Service, Säpo, has been "very clear" that the new stricter requirements need to apply immediately.
"Excluding tens of thousands directly [from the new citizenship rules] would have been completely irresponsible and dangerous for Sweden," Forssell said.
"We need more time to check dangerous people who should never ever come close to Swedish citizenship. It is a very small part of course, but more time is needed to be able to find them," he continued.
The opposition's proposal on transitional rules would have passed because two independent MPs, defectors from the Sweden Democrats, voted with the opposition. But the Sweden Democrats violated Sweden's parliamentary parties' long-established "pairing off" system (called kvittning, which translates roughly to "equalising" or "offsetting") and brought in two of their members who had agreed not to be present at the vote.
When asked by Swedish news wire TT if the issue was so important that it justified what the Sweden Democrats did, Forssell replied, "that is a question that the Sweden Democrats and their parliamentary group must answer."
Forssell added that his party, the Moderates, follow the pairing-off system.
Uncertainty ahead
The Social Democrats are critical of the Sweden Democrats' actions.
"The kvittning system is currently up in the air," said the Social Democrats' group leader Lena Hallengren to Sveriges Radio programme P1 morgon.
"Cheating a majority in the Riksdag [parliament] by violating the kvittning system is proof of how the Sweden Democrats can't be taken seriously," Hallengren wrote in a post on X.
She reminded the public that the system benefits most of parliament and that the Sweden Democrats' actions could make it more difficult for the government to get its policies through.
"The Moderates have a difficult situation ahead of them. How are they going to get all their bills through before the election, when the Sweden Democrats have basically put the pairing-off system out of play," she said to P1.
The pairing-off system is about maintaining the balance of power in parliament, even when members are absent. If one or more members from one bloc are absent, an equal number are "paired-off" from the other side so that the balance of power remains.
The Sweden Democrats argue that this system does not work when there are independent MPs in parliament.
When contacted directly after the April 29th vote by The Local, the Sweden Democrats acknowledged that they had sent two MPs who were on the agreed list of non-voting MPs to vote against the opposition motion, ensuring its defeat.
Linda Lindberg, the party's group leader, said that the move had been necessary to prevent "drama-seeking independent MPs" from upsetting the system.
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