The Green Party's immigration spokesperson, Annika Hirvonen, has condemned the Swedish government's pause in citizenship approvals as intentional rather than an inadvertent consequence of increased security checks. She argues that the new rules are meant to delay citizenship processing, affecting applicants from all nations, contrary to Migration Minister Johan Forssell's earlier assurance that certain groups would remain unaffected. Hirvonen emphasizes that the government should have foreseen the widespread impact of the enhanced checks, questioning the Minister's understanding or intent behind these changes.
"I think that this is what they wanted," she told The Local in an interview. "I think the fundamental problem is that the intention behind these new rules seems to be to delay the processing of citizenships, and not primarily because they fear some people might have security problems."
"If you put into place intentional obstacles on processes that are for everyone, of course it's going to affect everyone."
Hirvonen said that it should have been obvious from the start that the new security checks being ordered would have an impact on most applicants.
The freeze is affecting applicants from all countries, contradicting a pledge from Migration Minister Johan Forssell to The Local's readers in January that work permit holders and people from countries without security risks would be unaffected.
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