pic: glosbe.com
One of the 73 points in the Policy Agreement between the Social Democratic, Center, Liberal and Green parties – aka the January Agreement (januariavtalet) – back in the beginning of 2019, was that some Swedish language criteria would be implemented for citizenship, and even for financial social assistance (försörjningsbidrag). A proposition (lagförslag) specifying language course participation has now been sent out to various authorities, agencies, departments and bureaus for their consideration and comments (remissvar).
In point 40 of the agreement, under the somewhat disconcerting heading Integration and Honor-related Violence (integration och hedersvåld), the agreement states that “Sweden has an integration problem. Those who get a residency permit should quickly be given the opportunity to become a part of our country, stand on their own two feet and learn Swedish.” Later on in point 40, it states that they have agreed to “implement a duty of language (språkplikt) for the person who seeks asylum or who receives social assistance.”
The proposition that is being sent out proposes that the law on social services (socialtjänstlagen) is changed so that a person seeking social assistance should have to participate in language training or SFI if the authority deems it necessary. “If you are going to be able to support oneself in the long run, you need a job. And if you are going to try and get into the job market, you need knowledge of Swedish” Minister for Health and Social Affairs, Lena Hallengren, said in a statement. “It is therefore reasonable to require participation in a basic course in Swedish in order to receive social assistance (SvD.se).
At the moment, different municipalities have different requirements to receive assistance. Some require participation in a language course, others don’t. The idea behind the proposition is that language course participation requirements for social assistance eligibility will be the same for the whole country.
This does not mean, however, that a certain level of Swedish is required to be eligible for social assistance. The premise (utgångspunkten), Hallengren stated, is that it will be “a duty to take Swedish language training if Swedish language knowledge is considered to be lacking.” “Assistance is only supposed to be temporary” she continued. “In the end, one has to find a way to support oneself, and for that, language is absolutely necessary” (SvD.se).
Comments, questions and concerns on the proposition will be received until the 27th of March, 2020. The law is expected to go into effect sometime in 2021.
By the way, point 41 in the January agreement discusses a language requirement – as in passing a language test – as well as some kind of civics test, for citizenship eligibility. The current proposal, above, is not there, but can be seen, perhaps, as a step in that direction.