Sweden’s Moderate Party (EPP), which leads the Swedish government, has chosen MEP Thomas Tobé as its main candidate for the 2024 EU elections.
The Moderates held their first party conference in government in over a decade in the northern city of Umeå on Sunday.
Tobé will be his party’s main candidate in the next European elections. In the last election, Tobé received the most votes of any Swedish MEP. He said at the press conference after the decision by the Congress:
“I am honoured to have received renewed confidence to run again for the Moderates and Sweden in the European elections. We need stronger European cooperation for a more controlled migration policy, to fight organised crime and to manage security, during a time when there is a war on our continent.”
Tobé is Chair of the European Parliament’s Development Committee and lead negotiator of the European Parliament’s Regulation on Asylum and Migration Management (RAMM). Tobe believes that the Migration Pact remains the best compromise and balance between responsibility and solidarity. He claimed:
“A permanent solidarity mechanism will provide true solidarity and allow flexible and voluntary contributions. It is an important shift that increases the possibilities for the EU to be able to unite in a constructive way.”
The far-right Sweden Democrats criticised Tobé ‘s commitment to the development of the text. The party wrote on X in April:
“In the vote on the Migration pact, Tomas Tobé chose the wrong side. The liberal migration side.”
These tensions could take on a whole new dimension at the European level, as the Swedish Ylva Johansson (S&D) is currently responsible for Migration and Home Affairs. A source close to the matter told Euractiv:
“If Mr Tobé were to replace Ms Johansson in this portfolio, who knows what might happen? The Swedish government could find itself threatened again, or it could give in to some of the SD’s demands. It wouldn’t be the first time.”
In April, the SD said it would withdraw its support for the Swedish government coalition if the previous version of the pact was adopted. This would have dire consequences for Sweden, as the Moderates, Christian Democrats and Liberals currently need the support of the Sweden Democrats to remain in power.
In Sweden’s parliamentary elections in 2022, the Moderates became only the third largest party after the Sweden Democrats and significantly declined in their traditionally strongest region, the big cities, not least among women. Deputy party secretary Martin Borgs said on Sunday, adding that such concerns were “unjustified”:
“The single most important explanation is the concern about what SD’s influence on a Moderate-led government would mean.”
During the 2015 migration crisis, Sweden hosted one of the highest numbers of asylum seekers per capita, which, according to European diplomats, gave it exceptional know-how in relevant matters. Moreover, the current European Commissioner for Home Affairs in charge of migration policy is Swedish lawmaker Ylva Johansson.
