Swedish Asylum Inflow Raises Stakes as Budget Showdown Nears
Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) — A predicted surge in asylum seekers risks complicating budget talks as the Sweden Democrats balk at covering costs for the highest inflow of refugees into Sweden since World War II.
Higher costs for immigration are one of the factors that could bring down the new government’s budget, according to Mattias Karlsson, acting party leader of the Sweden Democrats. The party hold the balance of power in parliament and will soon have to decide on which budget to support.
“This question will be very important for us,” Karlsson, who’s temporary party leader after Jimmie Aakesson went on sick leave, said in an interview. “We will look at both options when they are on the table.”
Sweden’s Migration Board raised its forecast for the number of asylum seekers expected next year and now sees 80,000 to 105,000, with a main scenario of 95,000, according to a report published today. That would exceed the previous record of 84,000 in 1992 during the wars in former Yugoslavia.
The Sweden Democrats, which won 13 percent of votes in the Sept. 14 election on a pledge to reduce immigration, has said it may block the new government’s budget, which may trigger a new election in the coming months. Karlsson said his party will support the budget that’s “the least damaging for Sweden,” and pointed to “record high costs” for immigration and integration in the government’s budget proposal.
“It’s no secret that we weren’t happy with the government’s proposal,” he said. “It was even a bit worse than we had feared, but we still haven’t seen the Alliance budget.”
Anna Kinberg Batra, group leader for the Moderate Party in parliament, said today that said she wants to talk to other European Union countries to make them accept more refugees. She declined to give any details on how the Alliance would finance the refugee inflows in its shadow budget.
The former government parties of the Alliance plan to present its shadow budget on Nov 10 at the latest.
To contact the reporter on this story: Amanda Billner in Stockholm at abillner@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jonas Bergman at jbergman@bloomberg.net Tasneem Hanfi Brogger