Government wins vote on family immigration, 7 other bills
The government and the Sweden Democrats won the vote on stricter requirements for family immigration.
The opposition had agreed on joint reservations against two important proposals in the bill and had hoped that Liberal MPs who are not standing for re-election would join them in opposition to the government's bill, which they called "cruel."
The Liberal MPs, however, voted with the government, and the bill was passed 176 to 171.
Once the new law comes into force on October 1st of this year, it will: increase the maintenance requirement for foreigners wishing to bring family members to Sweden, impose a new maintenance requirement for some temporary permit extensions, and introduce a two year waiting period for foreigners bringing family members to Sweden.
The bill also contains the government's solution to the so-called teenage deportations. Anyone who is under 21 years of age and has previously been granted a residence permit on the basis of attachment as a child, but who has turned 18, shall be able to be granted a residence permit.
Sweden's parliament returned for a special summer session on August 12th and August 13th to vote through several bills that the government would otherwise not manage to pass before the end of its parliamentary term.
A set of new crime and punishment laws also passed, including, among other things, lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 14 for serious crimes, abolishing the 'discount' on sentences for young criminals who have turned 18, a reduced 'discount' on sentences for criminals aged 15-17, allowing electronic monitoring for children from age 13, and abolishing the current 'discount' on sentences for those convicted of multiple crimes at the same time is abolished
Swedish vocabulary: anhöriginvandring ‒ family immigration
Man charged with shooting his friend while hunting wild boar from trailer
A man in his 40s is charged with aggravated assault causing bodily harm after accidentally shooting his friend in the thigh during a wild boar hunt in January last year, reports P4 Örebro.
The man and his friend were hunting wild boar from inside the hunting team's trailer in Askersund municipality in Närke when the incident occurred.
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The unsecured weapon was lying on a table with the muzzle pointed at the friend. The accused then allegedly reached for the trigger, the shot was fired – and the bullet went through the trailer interior before hitting the friend in the thigh.
According to the accused, it was dark in the trailer and the weapon had just been loaded for the hunt.
The man, who urgently drove his friend to meet the ambulance on the road, admits to the incident but denies any wrongdoing.
Swedish vocabulary: sköt kompis ‒ shot friend
Swedish companies await Trump tariff money
The US has so far been forced to pay back just over $90 billion for tariffs that the US Supreme Court has declared invalid.
Some of these were declared invalid by the Supreme Court in February this year and are now being refunded piece by piece.
So far, the US Customs Service has received over 250,000 applications from various companies for refunds. Around half of what is to be refunded, around $90 billion, has already been paid back, Johan Karlberg, acting US director at Business Sweden in New York, told TT.
Around 1,000 Swedish goods companies have production in the US and have thus been affected by the now invalidated tariffs.
Some Swedish companies, especially in the engineering industry, have handled customs costs by rolling them over to customers. In several cases where the companies have been open about this, the customers in turn are now demanding a refund, says Johan Karlberg at Business Sweden.
One of the Swedish companies that has now been granted a refund is Electrolux, which, among other things, manufactures ovens in Springfield, Tennessee, and which has applied for a refund of around 83 million dollars (approximately 760 million kronor).
However, the company has new tariffs to contend with.
"They are already noticeable," said Ann-Sofi Jönsson at Electrolux, to Swedish newswire TT.
Most Swedish companies active in the US have been exposed to US import tariffs in the past year.
Swedish vocabulary: får pengar tillbaka ‒ getting money back
Integration investigator says 'redesign SFI'
Language studies in SFI must be combined with concrete social orientation in order to get more foreign-born people, especially in vulnerable areas, integrated into society, according to Bi Puranen, research leader at the World Values Survey (WVS).
On behalf of the government, WVS has investigated values and social norms in Sweden, with a particular focus on foreign-born people. Puranen made her argument in an opinion piece in Swedish paper Dagens Nyheter (DN)
“One in five migrants who have lived in Sweden for more than 20 years states that she or he has never worked. In vulnerable areas, this applies to almost one in three migrants. These are two of several results that show that time in the country does not in itself lead to integration,” wrote Puranen in DN.
"Language studies within SFI should be combined to a much greater extent with concrete social orientation on working life, gender equality, children's rights, relationships, religious freedom and the individual's legal status," she continued.
Several of those interviewed in the survey in areas of exclusion expressed concern that their children meet too few Swedish-born people and gain too little knowledge about society.
"It is not enough for people to live in Sweden if their everyday life for decades largely takes place outside the surrounding society. Workplaces, schools and residential areas are therefore central integration arenas," Puranen wrote.
The survey will be presented to Minister of Education and Integration Simona Mohamsson (L) on Friday.
The global research project World Values Survey has measured values and social norms in hundreds of countries since 1981.
Swedish vocabulary: undersökningen ‒ the survey