Sweden has decided that it will tester the “values” of immigrants, in order to encourage integration, and underlining that living in the nation “is not a human right”, and therefore some rules must be respected. The initiative was promoted by the new minister of integration, Simona Mohamsson, who recognized that for some minorities it is not easy to adapt to a very “progressive and liberal” society.
The proposal comes from a country that has accepted numerous refugees in recent decades, but which since 2015 has squeezed the signs of kindergarten, both under left and right governments. The current Swedish right government risen to power in 2022, led by Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson of the moderate party, is also supported by the Democrats of Sweden of the far -right, and has committed himself in particular to extend the immigration policy and improve the integration of immigrants.
“We are an extreme country”
“For people who enter our society, it can be a little difficult to orient themselves,” said Mohamsson in an interview with the Dagens Nyheter newspaper. “We are an extreme country, in the common sense of the term,” he added. According to Minister, Sweden is a “secular and non -patriarchal” society, characteristics that can represent a challenge for those coming from more traditional or conservative contexts.
The plan provides that about 3 thousand people are interviewed in the autumn of 2025. The half will be made up of citizens of Swedish origin, the other half of individuals from “non -western” contexts. Mohamsson explained that “the result will guide integration efforts in the future”. The government, he specified, does not aim to “change opinions”, but rather to “maintain the values we have in Sweden”.
“Living in Sweden is not a human right”
Among the themes that could emerge in the survey, they include divorce, the relationships before marriage, abortion and homosexuality, on which the immigrants who have just arrived tend to have different opinions compared to the Swedish population. However, according to the data of the World Values Survey, after ten years of stay the opinions of many immigrants approach those of the majority. But for Mohamsson, “ten years are definitely too many. It is an entire generation of girls who cannot choose who to love, or boys who cannot come out”.
Finally, the minister wanted to underline a firm principle: “Whoever chooses to come to Sweden has the responsibility of trying to integrate into society. Living in Sweden is not a human right”.
Decades of immigration
Sweden welcomed large refugees from the 90s, in particular from countries such as Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Syria and the former Yugoslavia. According to Statistics Sweden, in 2024 about 20 percent of the inhabitants of the country was born abroad, a percentage almost doubled compared to 2000, when it was around 11 percent.
