The Prime Minister of Sweden, Ulf KristerSson, says that there is an “absolute need to take control of migration”, in an interview with Euronews.
He reiterated his proposal to considerably increase the amount that Sweden offers migrants as a financial incentive to leave the country.
The current grant is € 900 per adult. However, this initiative has had a limited success so far. In 2023, only one of the 70 requests was approved, according to the Swedish migration agency.
To reverse this trend, a new government proposal would increase the amount to € 32,000, an increase of 3,400%.
Although the concept of financial incentives for the voluntary return has been in place for decades, KrisSson said that he was now inspired by Denmark, which established a target group of 22,000 people.
“We mainly copy the Danish model and increase this amount quite considerably to facilitate the task of those who realize that they would prefer to return to their own country, they are not for different reasons, believe that they find a very functional life in Sweden,” he said.
Kristersson acknowledged that the method would not appeal to much, but stressed the underlying issue.
“I do not think that it is a method that works for many people, but we have a problem with integration, and if people who have the legal right to stay in Sweden but do not integrate, fundamentally, do not really appreciate the Swedish way of life, then at least people would think of going back to their country of origin.”
The proposal should take effect on January 1, 2026.
Kristersson has also expressed a strong support for a regulated migration policy, such as the EU migration pact, and stressed that the rejected asylum seekers should not remain in Europe.
“Right now, we have about 80% of them have a negative decision on asylum, however they remain in Europe. It is simply unacceptable in Sweden. We have succeeded that, I think that we now have 20% of stay even if they should not have the negative decision. So, we must absolutely take control of migration.”
He noted that attitudes across Europe move considerably, which could make political decisions about the easier migration policy. The European Commission recently proposed measures to make the repatriation of irregular migrants more efficient.
