Sweden admits it has been ‘naive’ over Islamist extremism

Sweden admits it has been ‘naive’ over Islamist extremism

“Sweden has in recent weeks brought in border controls and is considering no longer accepting Syrian passports as valid identification owing to widespread use of forgeries”

Richard Milne, Nordic Correspondent

November 19, 2015 5:21 pm

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/4e048c98-8ed6-11e5-a549-b89a1dfede9b.html#axzz3ryiOnIgD

Sweden’s prime minister has admitted his country has been “naive” about Islamist extremism even as it expects to receive a record number of refugees this year.

Stefan Löfven told a hastily called press conference on Thursday that both the previous centre-right government and his Social Democrat administration have misjudged the threat and that Sweden would now have to step up its security measures.

“Perhaps it has been hard for us to accept that in our midst there are people sympathising with the Isis killers,” he said.

Sweden raised its terror alert to high for the first time on Wednesday as it revealed a suspected terrorist was thought to have entered the country to carry out an attack.

The Nordic country receives more asylum seekers per capita than any other European country. It is on course to take in close to 200,000 this year with more than 10,000 alone arriving last week.

While Sweden has long prided itself on its generous stance, many commentators are now questioning the wisdom of this, pointing at problems with integration to overstretched local authorities and security forces.

Mikael Holmström, a journalist at Dagens Nyheter, this week wrote an opinion piece “The Swedish readiness for terror is the worst in 20 years” where he argued that the police are facing three new tasks: dealing with refugees, arson attacks against them and potential terrorism.

“Sweden has escaped war for 200 years, which is encouraging. But it also creates a feeling of standing away from the rest of the world and that nothing evil can happen to us,” said Mr Holmström.

Among the measures Mr Löfven plans to introduce are allowing authorities to secretly monitor data, the increased use of security cameras, biometric controls of passports as well as more funding for security services.

Sweden has in recent weeks brought in border controls and is considering no longer accepting Syrian passports as valid identification owing to widespread use of forgeries.