Moderates: This is how we will defend Swedish solidarity

Within ten years, the majority of people in every Swedish residential area should live on income from work. That is the target set by Moderate Party leaders Ulf Kristersson, Elisabeth Svantesson and Gunnar Strömmer in an argument ahead of a migration and integration debate.

Around 2.2 million people in Sweden were born abroad, the authors write. Most, they say, get up early, go to work or school, and take responsibility for themselves and others. They build businesses, families and associations. Swedish solidarity, in their view, does not depend on where a person or their parents were born. It rests on responsibility, freedom and loyalty to democracy.

The government has introduced several reforms during the current parliamentary term, according to the article. Swedish-language education now faces clearer requirements, with the aim of achieving sufficient proficiency within three years. The government has also invested in vocational training, particularly for foreign-born women who often stand furthest from the labor market. A benefits reform with a cap is being implemented so that working always pays more than living on benefits.

The authors also present the fight against gang violence as central to integration. They say residents of vulnerable neighborhoods have paid the highest price, with their cars burned during riots, their tobacco shops hit by Molotov cocktails and their children harassed or exposed to the greatest risk of being caught in a shooting.

The article highlights new laws targeting honor-based oppression, including measures against cousin marriage, forced marriage and virginity testing. It says the government is making it easier to deport criminals while raising the requirements for Swedish citizenship. The authors argue that effort and law-abiding behavior should be rewarded, while crime and extremism should carry consequences.

At the same time, they call for a restrictive and responsible migration policy. They say Sweden accepted more people than it could integrate for too many years, limiting the freedom of women and girls in some neighborhoods. The article states that Sweden now has its lowest asylum immigration in more than 40 years.