Week 18: Several debaters skeptical of Åkesson's EU criticism

On Tuesday, Aftonbladet published a debate article in which Jimmie Åkesson (SD) writes that there are great reasons to evaluate Sweden's membership in the EU. Since then, this topic has come to dominate debate and editorial pages in several of the media.

Jimmie Åkesson (SD) writes in his debate article i Aftonbladet that he thinks it is time to evaluate Swedish EU membership. He believes that the EU in its current form is the European form of cooperation that is realistic in the short and medium term, but that Sweden has given away too significant parts of the right to self-determination and that we need to influence the union so that it benefits Sweden more.

- It is time to charge for all the hundreds of billions we have shipped off to the EU. It is no longer about what we can do for the EU, but rather what the EU can do for us, he writes.

However, there are several who criticize Jimmie Åkesson's statement that "the EU is about to become a straitjacket for Sweden". One of them is MEP Karin Karlsbro (L), who writes in Everything that the statement comes at a time when it is crucial that the EU sticks together to act jointly against Putin's war of aggression against Ukraine.

Susanne Birgersson, lead writer at Expressen, emphasizes in her article that Sweden's EU membership is a very complex issue with many angles that must all be taken into account in a possible investigation. She believes that the question of whether or not the EU benefits Sweden is difficult to answer, but she also writes that it is clear that Sweden needs the EU at the moment because of, among other things, Ukraine.

- Without the EU, we have no economic weapons. Sweden has an obvious economic, cultural and security policy interest in Europe doing well. Imagine if that could be the starting point in the debates that will soon get under way before next year's EU elections, writes Susanne Birgersson.

Hans Wallmark, chairman of the EU committee (M), says in his debate article that there are sometimes reasons to be critical of the policies that the EU develops, but that Jimmie Åkesson overturns the debate by only mentioning the negative sides of the cooperation. He also highlights that the Swedes' support for our EU membership has never been greater.

- The support has been strong for a long time, but the war in Ukraine has, for easily understood reasons, contributed to further strengthening it, he writes in Aftonbladet.