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FILE — Stockholm, Sweden April 9, 2024. A Muslim woman with a pram crosses the street in the Flemingsberg suburb.
The Swedish Social Democratic Party has approved a new integration strategy that aims to forcibly diversify the country’s residential areas, pushing for what party officials call a “socio-economic mix” of Swedes and migrants in housing developments.
The policy, adopted at the party congress ahead of the 2026 general election, includes proposals to limit immigration to vulnerable areas and to use housing construction to engineer a more integrated society.
“We are serious about the fact that we intend to break segregation and use housing policy as an engine in that work,” said Lawen Redar, the party official responsible for designing the new platform, as cited by Aftonbladet. Redar described the shift as a “U-turn” in the party’s approach, acknowledging that past strategies had failed.
The new policy includes scrapping the right of asylum seekers to choose their own accommodation and banning municipalities from placing new arrivals in already struggling districts. Instead, migrants will be relocated to wealthier areas in an effort to engineer demographic diversity and “repay the integration debt,” as the party put it.
Jonas Attenius, a senior party official newly elected to the executive committee and chairman of the municipal board in Gothenburg, emphasized the long-term nature of the project. “Yes, we need to mix the population in the long run. I usually say ‘in a generation’. This is long-term,” he said. He argued that integrating migrant families into more prosperous neighborhoods would be key to breaking entrenched segregation.
But critics have described the plan as ideological social engineering. Richard Jomshof, a member of parliament for the right-wing Sweden Democrats, responded sharply: “No, we don’t need your forced mixing. What we need are closed borders and a return migration (policy) worth the name. But sure, you socialists can mix as much as you want, just pack your bags.”
On the contrary, the Sweden Democrats announced last month they will campaign in the 2026 general election on a pledge to stop migration to the country.
The plan comes amid growing concern over crime and integration failures in Sweden’s suburbs, many of which are dominated by immigrant populations. In recent years, the country has faced a wave of gang-related violence, including record numbers of explosions and shootings, often tied to second-generation migrant youth. Some suburbs now rank among the most dangerous areas in Europe.
Despite the backlash, Social Democrat officials are confident the new approach will not alienate the party’s newer, affluent urban supporters — voters it began attracting after the 2022 election, in part due to the collapse of the traditional center-right Moderates. “I’m convinced of that,” said Attenius. “But again, this requires a strict migration policy.”
Attenius also issued an apology to migrants who had been concentrated in struggling districts. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Sorry for doing that. Now it is time for the whole of society to take over.”
FILE — Stockholm, Sweden April 9, 2024. A Muslim woman with a pram crosses the street in the Flemingsberg suburb.
The Swedish Social Democratic Party has approved a new integration strategy that aims to forcibly diversify the country’s residential areas, pushing for what party officials call a “socio-economic mix” of Swedes and migrants in housing developments.
The policy, adopted at the party congress ahead of the 2026 general election, includes proposals to limit immigration to vulnerable areas and to use housing construction to engineer a more integrated society.
“We are serious about the fact that we intend to break segregation and use housing policy as an engine in that work,” said Lawen Redar, the party official responsible for designing the new platform, as cited by Aftonbladet. Redar described the shift as a “U-turn” in the party’s approach, acknowledging that past strategies had failed.
The new policy includes scrapping the right of asylum seekers to choose their own accommodation and banning municipalities from placing new arrivals in already struggling districts. Instead, migrants will be relocated to wealthier areas in an effort to engineer demographic diversity and “repay the integration debt,” as the party put it.
Jonas Attenius, a senior party official newly elected to the executive committee and chairman of the municipal board in Gothenburg, emphasized the long-term nature of the project. “Yes, we need to mix the population in the long run. I usually say ‘in a generation’. This is long-term,” he said. He argued that integrating migrant families into more prosperous neighborhoods would be key to breaking entrenched segregation.
But critics have described the plan as ideological social engineering. Richard Jomshof, a member of parliament for the right-wing Sweden Democrats, responded sharply: “No, we don’t need your forced mixing. What we need are closed borders and a return migration (policy) worth the name. But sure, you socialists can mix as much as you want, just pack your bags.”
On the contrary, the Sweden Democrats announced last month they will campaign in the 2026 general election on a pledge to stop migration to the country.
The plan comes amid growing concern over crime and integration failures in Sweden’s suburbs, many of which are dominated by immigrant populations. In recent years, the country has faced a wave of gang-related violence, including record numbers of explosions and shootings, often tied to second-generation migrant youth. Some suburbs now rank among the most dangerous areas in Europe.
Despite the backlash, Social Democrat officials are confident the new approach will not alienate the party’s newer, affluent urban supporters — voters it began attracting after the 2022 election, in part due to the collapse of the traditional center-right Moderates. “I’m convinced of that,” said Attenius. “But again, this requires a strict migration policy.”
Attenius also issued an apology to migrants who had been concentrated in struggling districts. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Sorry for doing that. Now it is time for the whole of society to take over.”
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