Sweden’s Green Party has announced that it wants to reduce or even remove conditions for immigration on the grounds of family reunification.
Party co-spokespeople Peter Eriksson and Maria Wetterstrand will formally put forward the proposal during deliberation with the government on Friday about cooperation on refugee and immigration policy.
A refugee who is granted asylum in Sweden must have housing and utilities arranged before the government will consider granting residency for other family members in Sweden. It has also proposed new requirements to strengthen kinship and identity.
Eriksson and Wetterstrand wrote in an opinion piece in the Dagens Nyheter (DN) daily on Friday that the requirements divide families.
“We do not want to risk ending up in a situation where the Sweden Democrats have an impact on our policies. It is our ambition to work with the government to be able to cooperate on refugee and immigration policies that will continue throughout the term,” the leaders wrote.
The outgoing Green Party leaders argued that a cooperative approach over kinship immigration and healthcare could help to strengthen the position of refugees in society.
“We want to be clear about our demands and hope that cooperation will lead to the strengthening of the status of refugees and undocumented individuals in society. Undocumented migrants should have the same right to medical care as all others at the same cost,” they added.
