Sweden’s permanent representative to the EU, Lars Danielsson, has stated that during Sweden’s presidency of the Council of the European Union (first six months of 2023), there will be no pact on immigration and asylum. According to Danielsson, representative of the centre-right government in Sweden, the reform of the EU Pact on Immigration and Asylum can only be implemented in the spring of 2024. Although refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine and arrivals in Europe via the Mediterranean and the Balkans have reached levels not seen since 2015, the migrant dossier is not among the priorities of the Swedish EU presidency, which instead focuses on support for Ukraine, security, competitiveness, energy transition, democratic values and the rule of law. Due to the influence of the far-right party ‘Swedish Democrats’, the Swedish government tries to ignore the impact of the flows on the EU first-arrival states, which have been demanding approval of the ‘migrant pact’ proposed by the European Commission in 2020 and repeatedly postponed: the Swedish representative’s statements have caused controversy especially in the member states most exposed to migratory flows in the Mediterranean.
