Migration and asylum

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.

Opinion piece by Minister for Justice and Migration Morgan Johansson in Wall Street Journal, March 1, 2017.

When EU leaders gathered at a meeting of the European Council on 9 March, the economic situation in the EU was discussed. The agenda also included the situation in the western Balkans and migration issues with a focus on the situation in Libya. The European Council re-elected Donald Tusk to the position of President. Sweden was represented by Prime Minister Stefan Löfven.