Top Sweden Democrat Calls EU 'Straightjacket', Urges Swedes to Rethink Membership

According to national-conservative Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson, the EU has become a "democratic problem" for Sweden, with legislation imposed by unelected Brussels bureaucrats gaining too much influence over member states' decision-making – to the point of making national general elections meaningless.

The Sweden Democrats, an external but key ally to the current minority government, have unleashed a wave of criticism against the European Union in an article penned by its perennial leader, Jimmie Akesson.

The top Sweden Democrat minced no words as he called for an evaluation of the nation's membership in the union "in earnest."

In the opinion piece, Akesson compared the EU to a "straitjacket" where German, French and Polish politicians decide which car Swedes can buy, how expensive the fuel should be, and what types of trees Swedes can chop down on their own land.

According to the top Sweden Democrat, EU legislation risks having so much influence over the country's decision-making that Sweden's own general elections will soon have no meaning.

"Other countries' politicians and bureaucrats, whom we cannot elect or depose, today have greater influence over Swedish legislation than me and my elected colleagues in Sweden's Riksdag", he wrote.

"Sweden has simply given away significant parts of our right to decide over ourselves. Even if we are represented in the union by our own politicians, we are far too small in the context to make any real difference. Of course we can't have it that way," Akesson added, calling it "amazing" that 60 percent of all decisions in Swedish municipalities are influenced by the EU.

Akesson warned furthermore that the EU's influence over member states was growing and envisaged an ongoing power shift to Brussels. He directed particular attention to the EU's desire to control immigration policy, one of the key issues for the party running on an anti-immigrant platform.

"There is also a broad support among the Swedish people for a strict immigration policy. Despite this, today there is an imminent risk that the EU will make decisions that go in the exact opposite direction if we fail to act," Akesson stressed.

Lastly, Akesson cited other member states that "use the union for their own gain" and urged Sweden to do likewise.

"It is time to take payment for all the hundreds of billions [of kronor] we have shipped off to the EU," he mused. "It is no longer about what we can do for the EU, but rather what the EU can do for us," he concluded with a paraphrase of JFK's famous words.

The Sweden Democrats have always had a negative attitude towards Swedish EU membership, yet dampened their criticism in recent years somewhat to appease their newfound liberal-conservative allies, which finally dropped to the cordon sanitaire around the party after a record showing in last year's general election, in which they finished second with 20.5 percent of the vote. Following the 2022 election, the Sweden Democrats became a lynchpin of the minority government led by the strongly pro-EU liberal-conservative Moderates, rendering key legal support while staying short of any cabinet posts.