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Swedish PM won’t end Sweden Democrats collaboration over ‘troll factory’

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has no plans to break off the government's collaboration with the Sweden Democrats, he told a press conference, after an undercover investigation revealed that the party had been running a so-called "troll factory".

Published: 22 May 2024 17:24 CEST
Swedish PM won't end Sweden Democrats collaboration over 'troll factory'
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (pictured) has no plans to break off the government's collaboration with the Sweden Democrats Photo: Pontus Lundahl/TT

During a press conference following a party leader debate in parliament, Kristersson, from the Moderates, was asked whether he, as prime minister, would put any pressure on the Sweden Democrats to stop using the anonymous accounts, which had been used to spread content of benefit to the party and degrade its political opponents.

He replied saying that he cannot make demands or take responsibility for the actions of the Sweden Democrats’ communications department.

“If your real question is: ‘Do you want to stop working together to solve Sweden’s major problems because I have strong objections to smear campaigns in Swedish politics’, then the answer is no,” he said.

He did, however, say that he had discussed the issue with Åkesson both in public and in private.

“[I’ve told him] that I dislike smear campaigns, that they need to answer legitimate questions put to them by the media, political opponents and coalition partners. And that I dislike anonymous accounts.”

He added that the Sweden Democrats should “moderate their tone”.

The Sweden Democrats had not only been using the accounts to smear opposition parties, but also the governing coalition of the Liberals, Moderates and Christian Democrats, which the party provides its support to under the Tidö Agreement, named after the castle where it was drawn up.

The Tidö Agreement includes a clause requiring all four parties to “speak respectfully” about each other.

In one clip from the Kalla Fakta documentary revealing the existence of the troll factory, Sweden Democrat communications head Joakim Wallerstein tells the group of troll factory workers to “find shit” on the Christian Democrats’ top candidate for the EU parliament, Alice Teodorescu Måwe, while others make fun of Liberal leader Johan Pehrson.

In another, one of the employees in the troll factory discusses what type of music to use when he should “shit on” the Moderates.

Anti-racism magazine Expo also reported that the Sweden Democrats had used their anonymous accounts to share white power material.

Since Kalla Fakta’s documentary was released, Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson has responded by claiming that Swedish media are carrying out their own campaign against his party, calling the documentary part of a “domestic smear campaign from the left-liberal establishment”.

LISTEN: Uncovering a Sweden Democrat troll factory

Kristersson did not wish to comment on Åkesson’s response, but he disagreed that Swedish media and political parties are carrying out a smear or influence campaign.

“I definitely perceive influence operations from other countries, and we often feed back to you [the media] and tell you what we know about those things. I obviously do not perceive any influence operations from parties, media or anyone else in Sweden.”

As far as Åkesson’s claims that Kalla Fakta had “infiltrated” the Sweden Democrats, Kristersson said that it would be “completely foreign to me to interfere with how free media operate in a free democracy”.

Member comments

  1. That’s a shock…Not! As I have said before M, KD and L are weak and need the support of SD, so they can pretty much do as they please!

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WORK PERMITS

Sweden’s Migration Agency rejects role in work permit salary threshold exemption plan

Sweden's Migration Agency has rejected a call for it to be responsible for drawing up a list of in-demand skills and professions exempted from the coming median-salary requirement for a work permit.

Published: 25 June 2024 12:02 CEST
Sweden's Migration Agency rejects role in work permit salary threshold exemption plan

In the conclusions to a government inquiry into setting the median salary threshold, judge Ann-Jeanette Eriksson proposed that the Migration Agency be made responsible for drawing up annual national and regional lists of professions which should be exempted from the threshold.

The list of proposed exemptions could then, she recommended, either be passed to the government for a final decision, or else apply immediately. 

In its response to consultation, the Migration Agency said that it did not believe that it was the right agency to draw up the list. 

“The Migration Agency considers that the task of preparing these proposals should be given to the Swedish Public Employment Service which is the expert agency on labour market issues,” the agency said. 

“As the expert agency, the Swedish Public Employment Service has much broader competence when it comes to judging the demand for labour.”

The employment service could then consult the Migration Agency and other relevant agencies before passing the list to the government, it recommended. 

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The Swedish Public Employment Service did not echo the Migration Agency’s call in its own response. 

It did, however, recommend an alternative system proposed by Eriksson, under which the Migration Agency, rather than the government, would have the final say on which jobs should be exempted. 

“The alternative proposal would mean a simpler process and shorter handling time”, the service said. 

The Migration Agency, however, said it did not support this alternative proposal, without giving any reasons for this.

It did call for a consideration over “whether it might be necessary to consult with other authorities before the proposals are made to the government”.

The agency also called for more specific language on what “considerations around migration law” it should apply when deciding on which professions to exempt. 

In some of its comments on the detail or proposals, the Migration Agency highlighted that the law should specify that work permit applicants need to be offered a salary that meets or exceeds Sweden’s median salary “at the time of application”, and also called for more specifics on how to define a “monthly salary”.

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Eriksson also recommended that Migration Agency be tasked with deciding which industries should be entirely excluded from the work permit system because they have historically had problems with the exploitation of labour migrants and abuse of the work permit system.  

“The possibility of excluding certain groups of jobs is an important tool in the work against exploitation in the workplace,” the agency said of this proposal.

But it said that to carry out this task properly, it would need more information on what criteria should be applied when making such exclusions as well as increased powers to cooperate and share information with other agencies involved in combatting exploitation and abuse in the workplace. 

“For this work to be even more effective, more tools are needed that enable more thorough controls. This is both about developing regulations that provide the Migration Agency with wider powers to carry out checks that facilitate cooperation and information exchange between relevant authorities and organisations,” it said. 

When it comes to the impact of the proposals on its own internal workings, the agency said it agreed broadly with the Eriksson’s judgement that they would not increase the workload at the agency.

The extra work required to carry out its new tasks would, it said, be largely offset by the lower work load following from the proposed abolition of the spårbyte, or “track change” system which allows rejected asylum seekers to stay in the country and apply for work permits. 

It did warn, however, that the changes could lead to even longer processing times for work permit applications. 

“The Migration Agency would like to highlight that the proposed changes to the law, and in particular the salary threshold and the regional and national exemptions from this threshold might affect handling times for work permit cases,” it wrote. 

“The regulatory framework around labour migration is already complex today and involves several decision points. Judging whether an application concerns a job for which there is a national or regional shortage will require a new decision point which will require education and preparation.” 

To reduce the extra demand on resources, the agency called on the government to make the regulation “as precise as possible”, leaving as little room as possible for different interpretations, which would then allow the agency to speed up processing and even digitalise some decisions. 

If the plans to raise the work permit salary threshold from 80 percent of the median salary to 100 percent go through, the idea is that they would come into effect in June next year (although work permit holders renewing their permits would get a one-year grace period).

But the proposal has received a slew of criticism from Swedish business organisations, which argue that it would make it harder to fill essential roles and attract international talent.

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