What happened
Functional knowledge of Swedish is now required to obtain Swedish citizenship. However, the new official language test is not expected to be ready until 2030. Other tests can be used in the meantime to prove language skills. The Government and the Swedish Migration Agency, however, disagree on whose responsibility it is to determine which tests should be approved. Patrick Gallen, spokesperson for the campaign group Fair Transition, believes the handling demonstrates incompetence at all levels.
Our analysis
The requirement machine always functions flawlessly when it comes to imposing conditions on new Swedes. But when the same state has to deliver the tools to meet those requirements, everything suddenly grinds to a halt. Demanding a test that does not exist, and then arguing over who should approve the replacement, is not orderliness. It is a deliberate or careless barrier keeping people outside of democracy.
Politicians compete to sound the toughest on integration and personal responsibility. Yet the authorities cannot even manage to provide a straight answer on which document is valid. The price is not paid by the ministers or the directors-general pointing fingers at each other. The price is paid by new Swedes who live here, work here, and want to become full citizens in their own home country.
In practice, this is about the right to vote and the right to security. When the state stalls the process until 2030, it buys itself six years of diminished influence for a quarter of the population. Those who cannot become citizens also cannot vote out the politicians closing the door.
Explained
Swedish citizenship grants full political and legal rights in Sweden, including the right to vote in parliamentary elections and absolute protection against deportation.