The Green party's congress in Västerås will be a start before the election year 2026. The Green party adopts, among other things, a new party program with the vision of a world where everyone can move but no one is forced to move.
At the same time, the intended cooperation partner, The Social Democratic Party, has made it clear that a “strict migration policy” will apply for the foreseeable future if The Social Democratic Party is allowed to form a government.
This collides with The Green party's policy. The Green party is driving, among other things, that permanent residence permits should be the main rule again and that the opportunity for a change of track is reintroduced, i.e. the opportunity to apply for a residence permit for work after a rejection of an asylum application.
No red lines
Several within The Green party believe that it will be tough to influence The Social Democratic Party after the election if the red-green parties get power. Party board member Magnus P Wåhlin says at the congress that it will be “damn hard”. But spokesperson Daniel Helldén believes it's possible.
I am convinced that we can get The Social Democratic Party to actually stay in line that we should work with integration – not try to get people away from here.
The other spokesperson Amanda Lind also sees an opening.
The Social Democratic Party has said that one should not set up red lines.
”The age of racism”
At The Green party congress, there are formulations such as “free movement should apply to all the world's people”. The Green party wants to safeguard the right to asylum and says that they stand for a humane and legally secure migration policy. The view of The Social Democratic Party's policy is not always so positive.
We live in the age of racism and right-wing populism, where social democrats compete with the Sweden Democrats about who was against immigration first, says Imaan Muqbil, chairman of The Green party in Borås, in the speaker's chair.
The Green party's group leader in the Riksdag, Annika Hirvonen, who negotiated migration with the Löfven government after the refugee crisis in 2015, thinks that the issue is extremely important. But for her, the Tidö parties' “purely racist agenda” is much worse.
This is one of the areas that makes me lie awake at night before the election result, she says.
