ECR vice-president calls for ‘Swexit’ should Brussels get ‘too much power’

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Sweden should consider leaving the EU if the transfer of power to Brussels goes “too far”, Charlie Weimers, EU lawmaker and vice-president of the European Conservatives and Reformists, suggested at a congress of his Sweden Democrats (SD) on Friday (24 November).

Sweden should consider leaving the EU should the transfer of power to Brussels go “too far”, an EU lawmaker who is also the vice-president of the European Conservatives and Reformists suggested at a congress of his Sweden Democrats (SD) on Friday (24 November).

SD members from all over Sweden gathered in Västerås, Stockholm County, for the party congress devoted to the issue of EU membership.

“The EU is a political project going in the wrong direction,” ECR vice-president Charlie Weimers declared at the congress.

The Swedish MEP stressed that he was not prepared to advocate Sweden’s immediate withdrawal from the EU but left open the possibility of an exit if circumstances changed, such as the abolition of the veto in the European Council and an excessive transfer of power to Brussels.

“Then I will call for an immediate Swexit,” Weimers said.

At the party congress, the SD’s youth wing, Ungsvenskarna, also proposed keeping the door open to leaving the EU.

“As a party, we must make it clear, especially to our own voters, that Swexit is a real alternative if the ship can’t be turned around, and that the debate must be brought up in next year’s EU elections,” Ungsvenskarna declared.

The SD leadership has not been not actively pushing to leave the Union but proposes a comprehensive and independent evaluation of Sweden’s EU membership.

The next EU election

Weimers further referred to the EU as a supranational union in which Sweden is repeatedly overruled and the influence of national governments is significantly reduced.

“Democracy is gradually being undermined, and the citizens have noticed this development,” he said.

The SD leadership wants a so-called referendum lock, whereby “future parliamentary decisions to transfer additional powers from national to EU level should be preceded by a referendum”.

Weimers also hopes that the ruling Moderates (centre-right, EPP) will eventually adopt the SD’s sceptical stance on the EU, but acknowledged that an overwhelming majority in Sweden still supports the country’s EU membership.

According to Weimers, only one in ten people wants to leave, so “out of respect for the people’s opinion, the Sweden Democrats are not in favour of leaving”, he said.

He highlighted the challenge of the next EU elections on 9 June 2024, where the SD aims to become the largest party representing Sweden in the European Parliament.

In the last EU elections, the party won 15.3 % of the vote, compared to 23.5 % for the Social Democrats.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]