Swedish Prime Minister on refugee crisis: “We must move from chaos to control”

“Sweden is ready and will act for a new asylum system in the EU that is based on equal distribution and in which asylum is sought in the EU – not in an individual country,” said Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven as he debated current EU affairs with MEPs at the plenary session in Strasbourg Wednesday afternoon. In his speech, Löfven addressed the current refugee crisis and the need to reform the common asylum system, but he also urged the need for a more social Europe.

The Swedish Prime Minister said the Dublin Regulation, that stipulates which member state should examine asylum applications, had had its day. “If we do not create a new common and sustainable asylum system, more countries will be forced to act unilaterally, which will hurt mobility, trade and, most of all, it will hurt the human beings who are fleeing,” said Löfven. He added the EU needed to help put an end to the causes of the refugee crisis: “We must move from chaos to control, otherwise we risk the European cooperation as we know it."

Löfven also stressed the need for a social Europe: “In a world where 62 people can own as much as 3.5 billion people, in such a world we need a European Union that works for equality, and everyone’s chance to pursue their innermost hopes for a good life.” The prime minister also called for a summit in Sweden next year to draw up a strategy to make this possible.

The plenary debate was followed by a short press conference featuring Löfven and EP President Martin Schulz.

Check our EP Newshub for MEP reactions on the speech by Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven

Further information

• (open in a new tab) Video of the debate
• (open in a new tab) Videos of the debate by speaker
• (open in a new tab) Text of the speech