Latest news with #TidöAgreement
Euronews
3 days ago
- Politics
- Euronews
Sweden reaches deal with Estonia to rent prison cells to house inmates
Sweden has reached an agreement with Estonia to house up to 600 inmates in rented prison cells in the Baltic country in a bid to alleviate its prison overcrowding crisis. The deal, which was confirmed on Wednesday by Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer, will allow Sweden to rent 400 cells in the prison in Tartu in the south-eastern part of Estonia. "Sweden and Estonia have reached an agreement that will significantly relieve the burden on the Swedish prison system," Strömmer said. The cost of a prisoner in Estonia is estimated to be €8,500 per month, excluding costs for transport to and from Sweden. In Sweden, the cost is around €11,500 per month. The entire prison will be made available to Sweden and Estonian law will apply on site, according to the agreement. Swedish prison staff will be on the ground to train Estonian guards. Differences in the legislation on prison sentences in the two countries have been analysed. "Estonia is bound by the same international commitments as Sweden and there is established cooperation between the countries in the area of criminal law," a statement from the Swedish Justice Ministry read. Certain exceptions have been agreed, so that the experience will be similar to that of a Swedish prison sentence, the ministry added. Whether an inmate can be sent to Estonia to serve their prison sentence will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Broadly speaking, only men over the age of 18, who have been convicted of serious crimes such as murder or sexual offences will be considered for transfer. They must not be considered to pose a major security risk. Those with an extensive need for care or who are deemed to pose a higher security risk, for example those convicted of terrorist crimes, crimes against national security or who have links to serious organised crime, will not be eligible. Renting prison places abroad was a key component of the Tidö Agreement, the government agreement for the Swedish coalition between the Sweden Democrats, the Moderate Party, the Christian Democrats and the Liberals following the 2022 elections. The aim was to remedy the shortage of places in Swedish prisons, caused by a stream of inmates arising due to gang crime escalating in recent years. This trend has resulted in the Nordic nation topping the rankings of deadly gun violence per capita in Europe. Sweden and Estonia negotiated the deal this spring. An investigation concluded that there are no legal obstacles in either the Constitution or the European Convention against renting prison cells abroad. The agreement is expected to be signed in mid-June. Meanwhile, legislation that makes it possible to place convicted persons in Estonia is intended to come into force on 1 July 2026. However, legislative changes must be approved by Sweden's parliament, the Riksdag, where a qualified or three-quarters majority is required.
Local Sweden
12-04-2025
- Politics
- Local Sweden
INSIDE SWEDEN: Spring getaways, abolishing PR, and barrels of human waste
The Local's Nordic editor Richard Orange rounds up the biggest stories of the week in our Inside Sweden newsletter. Advertisement I'm writing this on the way to Hannover on the second leg of my annual rail odyssey to my family in the UK. But rather than moan about the trains being late (again, which they are), I thought I'd cover the viral - or perhaps more accurately, bacterial - story about the Danish chef couple who abandoned their so-called luxury eco-retreat, leaving behind 158 barrels of poo. After they claimed this was in fact "very normal" in Sweden in an interview with the UK's Guardian newspaper, a member of The Local's staff revealed, somewhat grudgingly, that they, too, store poo at their summer house, with eight barrels in an outbuilding. We felt this was something we needed to get to the bottom of so I contacted Charlotte Löfgren, senior adviser for sewage collection at Swedish Regions, the umbrella organisation for Sweden's municipalities. She confirmed that it is, indeed, "not uncommon" in areas that aren't connected to municipal sewage systems. It is even possible to compost it yourself, as the couple claimed they were doing. "You can do it, but you don't keep it in barrels like that, and you don't have 158 of them," Löfgren said. "Composting is for a summer house that you go to for four weeks a year. It's not for this kind of resort. It's too much. What are you supposed to do with it?" Advertisement Our puzzles move from strength to strength. This week our crossword touches on the latest news and general knowledge about Sweden. Our word search has a special fika theme! Play here! When the government announced their Tidö Agreement with the far-right Sweden Democrats back in October 2022, one of the clauses that caused readers the most worry was the proposal to abolish permanent residency, especially after the then boss of Migration Agency said he'd "be worried" about that if he was an immigrant. Last week, the interim conclusions to this inquiry were delivered, with asylum seekers and some others stripped of the right to receive permanent residency. We broke down the details of who will be affected. The possibility of removing permanent residency permits already awarded will be discussed in the final report in October, and it's hard to see how this wouldn't be in some way retroactive. We asked Sweden's migration minister Johan Forssell last week to respond to foreigners losing faith in Sweden because he wants the proposed stricter citizenship laws to apply retroactively to applications which have already been submitted. He retorted that this didn't qualify as retroactive. We wanted to check if he was right, so we spoke to three professors of constitutional or administrative law, one of whom said he was, and two of whom said he wasn't. Advertisement What else have we been writing about this week? The entire board of the failing battery company Northvolt resigned in the middle of the bankruptcy proceedings, which doesn't bode well for the future of the company. A government inquiry proposed surprisingly far-reaching reforms to Sweden's much-criticised free school system, although critics complained the changes would leave the worst aspects intact. We explained some of the most important proposals, and I looked at how it might affect the 2026 election. The head of Sweden's care worker union complained in an opinion piece that the proposed abolition of the 'track changes' system would have serious consequences for Swedish healthcare by forcing many essential workers to leave the country. It's Easter next weekend, so to help you plan we updated our list of what's open and what's closed in Sweden on different days of the holiday. If you're planning to use the week to see some new parts of Sweden, our readers had some excellent suggestions for spring getaways. Now I'll get back to my own spring getaway. It looks like I might make that crucial Hannover connection. See you after Easter! Did I mention that our word search this week has a special fika theme? Play here!
Local Sweden
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Local Sweden
Swedish inquiry calls for abolition of permanent residency for asylum
A Swedish government inquiry has proposed stopping any asylum seekers coming to Sweden from being granted permanent residency, in the first part of an analysis of how to tighten Swedish asylum rules to the strictest level allowable under EU law. Advertisement The interim conclusions of the EU minimum level inquiry recommended that even UN quota refugees and refugees who have lived in Sweden for five years, two groups which are currently eligible to receive permanent residency, should only be eligible for temporary permits. The inquiry, chaired by the judge and former Sweden Democrat official Josephine Boswell, recommended repealing the current regulations allowing for permanent residency and introducing new regulations for temporary permits. "This will have a significant impact on keeping asylum immigration to a low level," Sweden's migration minister, Johan Forssell, said as he received the report. During the 2015 refugee crisis, Sweden passed a temporary law ending refugees' automatic right to permanent residency, a change that was later made permanent in a new migration law in 2021. There are today 45,000 refugees living in Sweden with temporary residency permits, including relatives who have come to Sweden under family reunion laws. If the proposals are made law, they will no longer be able to gain permanent residency, the inquiry recommends that they should still be eligible for citizenship if they meet the necessary requirements, such as employment and self-sufficiency, language ability and an upstanding way of life. "An important point in all this is to increase the incentive to become a citizen," Forssell said. Advertisement The proposal was welcomed by the far-right Sweden Democrats, who had made reducing asylum rights to the EU's minimum level a condition of supporting the government in the so-called Tidö Agreement. "We are pleased with this and think the proposal is good," the party's immigration spokesperson, Ludvig Aspling, said. "We think this is a reasonable set of rules. If you want to live permanently in Sweden you should be a citizen and meet the requirements for that." The inquiry also recommended limiting asylum to just one hour of free legal advice provided by the state, something Aspling said would reduce the cost to the Migration Agency, which spent 170 million kronor funding legal advice for asylum seekers in 2024. Those whose asylum claims have been rejected and appealed to the migration court will still have the right to a lawyer.
Local Sweden
25-03-2025
- Politics
- Local Sweden
Inquiry into revoking Swedish residency permits to present conclusions on April 1st
An inquiry looking into extending the possibilities of rejecting and revoking residence permits due to a "flawed way of life" , as well as other possible reasons, is set to present its conclusions on April 1st, a spokesperson for the migration ministry told the Local. It had been scheduled to publish its report by March 14th, which is why we looked into when it will be ready. In its so-called Tidö Agreement with the far-right Sweden Democrats, the government pledged, among other things, to propose policy to make it possible to deport foreigners for bristande vandel , a somewhat vague term which translates roughly to having a flawed way of life or being of bad repute. Under bristande vandel , the Tidö Agreement mentions things like associating with criminal gangs or organisations, prostitution, drug abuse or membership of extremist organisations. According to current Swedish law, people who apply for a permanent residence permit already have to be able to show they 'live an orderly life' – a criminal record could for example be grounds for refusing a permanent permit. The government wants to extend this to include other factors than having committed crimes, as well as extend it to temporary permits. Advertisement The exact details are being worked out by the inquiry, but it could mean that permits could be refused or revoked for, for example, benefits cheating or abusing the welfare system in other ways, having large debts or being involved in or associating with gang crime or terrorist activities. It could also, according to the government, include statements that threaten democracy or the Swedish system. There has however been disagreement between the coalition partners about whether or not things like serious substance abuse should be included.
