Migration and asylum

On 20 September 2017, the Government presented the Budget Bill for 2018 to the Riksdag. The budget contains comprehensive investments in the Swedish Police Authority, other parts of the judicial system and civil defence. The Budget Bill is based on an agreement between the Government and the Left Party.

On 31 July, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven will travel to Paris for meetings with President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Edouard Philippe. The agenda for talks includes Swedish-French cooperation, the future of the EU, migration and security, and jobs and growth. Minister for Enterprise and Innovation Mikael Damberg will also travel to Paris, as one important issue to be discussed is innovation cooperation and the business sector.

At the meeting of the European Council on 22–23 June, EU heads of state and government adopted conclusions on security and defence, and the Paris Agreement on climate change. They also agreed to extend the sanctions against Russia but did not succeed in reaching agreement on the reform of the Common European Asylum System. Prime Minister Stefan Löfven represented Sweden.

The Government has decided to prolong the reinstated border controls at certain ports in Skåne and Västra Götaland, and at the Öresund Bridge.

The Government has decided to tighten and strengthen border controls and to phase out ID checks across the Öresund strait.

In 2015, Sweden received approximately 163 000 asylum applications, around 35 000 of which were from unaccompanied minors. This entails many and major challenges, not just for the Swedish asylum system, which is being subjected to major strains, but also for other public services such as access to housing, health and medical care, schools and social welfare.

On 24 April, a high-level meeting on displaced children was held in the Riksdag. It was organised by the Ombudsman for Children in Sweden, the Children’s Welfare Foundation Sweden and the Riksdag. Sweden’s Minister for Children, the Elderly and Gender Equality Åsa Regnér was one of the keynote speakers at the meeting, which was attended by children’s representatives from a number of European countries and child rights experts from across Europe, as well as representatives of Swedish government agencies and civil society organisations working with child rights.

On 26–27 March, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven is travelling to Slovenia for talks with Prime Minister Miro Cerar.

On 21 March, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven met UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura. During their meeting they discussed the serious situation in Syria and efforts to reach a political solution.

The Government has submitted a bill to the Riksdag proposing amendments to the Aliens Act that require the Swedish Migration Agency to assess a person’s age earlier in the asylum process than is the case today.