Swedish MP says citizenship freeze is 'what the government wanted'

The Green Party's immigration spokesperson has attacked the government for the 'traumatic' freeze in Swedish citizenship approvals, claiming that rather than being a side effect of onerous new security checks ordered in January, it was the intended result. "I think that this is what they wanted," she told The Local in an interview. In April, just six individuals were granted Swedish citizenship via naturalisation – the principal route for adult foreign nationals outside the Nordic region – a steep decline from the 3,234 approvals recorded in March. “The Swedish Migration Agency is currently designing how the security checks will be carried out. In January, the government ordered the Migration Agency to carry out more thorough security checks of Swedish citizenship applicants and in April the agency said in a forecast that the checks would reduce the number of citizenships it would be able to process this year.