Sweden in the EU

The Government has today presented a bill to the Riksdag containing certain supplementary provisions on law enforcement and police cooperation to the agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom.

The Government has today decided on an amendment to the temporary ban on entry into Sweden. The amendment concerns an exemption for residents of a certain specified non-EU country and is in line with the Council of the European Union’s latest recommendation to EU Member States.

The Government has decided to extend the general entry ban for foreign citizens who cannot present a negative COVID-19 test result on arrival in Sweden until 31 May 2021. A temporary ban on non-essential travel to the EU via Sweden, introduced following a call from the European Council and the European Commission, has been in effect since March 2020. Since February it also includes a requirement of a negative COVID-19 test result for entry into Sweden. The ban includes certain exemptions. To travel to Sweden from countries outside the EU/ EEA, you must be covered by at least one of the exemptions from the entry ban and also be able to present a negative COVID-19 test or be exempt from the test requirement. A separate entry ban with a testing requirement for entry from EEA states and certain other states has also been in force since February. To travel to Sweden from EEA states and certain other states, you must be able to present a negative COVID-19 test or be exempt from the test requirement.

The European Commission will be invited to Kiruna when Sweden holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from 1 January–30 June 2023.

The Government today decided on continued border control at the internal border for six months. The decision is based on the Government’s assessment that there is still a serious threat to public policy and internal security in Sweden.

The Conference on the Future of Europe will be launched on 9 May, Europe Day, and will run for a year. It will conclude in spring 2022 during the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Due to the very serious pandemic situation, vaccine deliveries to the COVAX global vaccine cooperation have been delayed. Sweden is therefore panning to donate one million doses of the Astra Zeneca vaccine to COVAX to help meet the acute need for vaccines around the world. The donation will not affect Sweden’s national vaccination efforts.

The Stability and Growth Pact is a set of rules for coordinating fiscal policy between EU Member States. The purpose of these rules is to ensure sound public finances. Every April, Member States are to submit stability and convergence programmes. Sweden and other Member States that have not adopted the euro submit convergence programmes, whereas Member States that have adopted the euro submit stability programmes. The programmes are used by the Commission and the Council in their assessment of Member States’ fiscal policies and situations.

In July 2020, EU heads of state and government agreed on a recovery package to mitigate the effects of the crisis. The package, called NextGenerationEU, comprises EUR 750 billion in loans and grants to the Member States. The bulk of this will be channelled via the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).

Given the COVID-19 pandemic with large socioeconomic consequences for all Member States and the upcoming twin digital and green transitions, the Social Summit comes at a timely moment. The Action Plan on the Pillar of Social Rights by the Commission is a welcome contribution to the discussions at the Social Summit. This non-paper by Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands and Sweden contains input for the declaration of the Summit.