'Sweden's next migration minister will have a big cleaning job to do'

A month ago the parties on the left were poised to win a vote on transitional rules for citizenship in the Riskdag after two independents MPs sided with the opposition. But the Sweden Democrats swung the vote in the government’s favour by getting two of their parliamentarians to breach a longstanding pairing agreement that compensates for planned absences.

This week we hear from the Green Party’s immigration policy spokesperson Anna Hirvonen, who has sent an emergency motion to the speaker of the Swedish parliament in a last-ditch attempt to force lawmakers to vote again on including transitional rules in Sweden’s new citizenship law for the more than 100,000 people waiting in the queue.

In her conversation with The Local’s Nordic editor Richard Orange the increasingly high-profile Hirvonen also talks about the chokehold she believes the far-right Sweden Democrats have on Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s Moderate Party, how the immigration debate is changing after protests over teen deportations, and how she thinks the parties on the left would go about undoing some of the hardline immigration policies brought in by the current government.

Swedish terms used in the interview: 

Utskottsinitiativ - an initiative proposed to a parliamentary committee 

Ventil - a "safety clause", in this case an immigration law amendment intended to bring an end to teen deportations. 

Kvittning - The Swedish parliament's long-standing pairing agreement on how to handle votes when members have to be absent for reasons such as illness.

Händelsemotion/akutmotion - An emergency motion submitted to the parliamentary speaker, in this case aimed at forcing a revote on the inclusion of transitional rules in Sweden's new citizenship law. 

Det ska löna sig att arbeta - Working should pay. A Moderate Party slogan about the value of work. 

Skärpta krav för anhöriginvandring - A legislative proposal on tougher requirements for family reunification

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