Today in Sweden: A roundup of the latest news on Friday

2025-04-25T07:24:27Z

Sweden appoints inquiry to protect academic freedom at universities, US embassy holds free speech meeting with Swedish civil servants, and thousands of Swedish citizenship applicants told to answer additional security questions. Here’s the latest news.

Swedish inquiry to safeguard academic freedom at universities

The government has appointed an inquiry to look into whether legislative changes are needed to strengthen academic freedom – a topic which has grabbed headlines after the Trump government’s attempts to crack down on diversity and inclusion initiatives at universities.

“Sweden must stand up for academic freedom when other countries dismantle it. Here, researchers should be able to be free, curious and a little bit of a pain. That’s how we achieve world-class research and education, that’s how we safeguard an open climate for debate,” said Education Minister Johan Pehrson in a statement.

DON’T MISS: The Local Games – find the Swedish word in WordroW and crack the daily sudoku

Even Swedish universities, most of which are state-run, have raised concern about a deteriorating situation in terms of academic freedom at home. Four out of ten employees report having been subjected to threats or harassment, according to a statement from Uppsala University.

The inquiry will be led by Anna-Sara Lind, professor of public law at Uppsala University, and has until June 30th 2026 to report.

Swedish vocabulary: freedom – frihet

Wages delayed for Northvolt employees

Northvolt’s remaining employees will have to wait a week for their salary.

The struggling battery maker filed for bankruptcy this year, but thanks to Sweden’s so-called wage guarantee – which means that employees can receive compensation for unpaid wages when their employer goes bankrupt – staff are still getting paid, albeit behind schedule.

It’s not the first time Northvolt staff are having to wait for their wages to get paid out during the crisis, and according to the bankruptcy administrator, the administrative process means that the wage guarantee takes a bit longer to get paid out by the Tax Agency.

“There is therefore a significant risk that payouts from the Tax Agency won’t come until next week,” writes the bankruptcy administrator.

Normally, most full-time workers in Sweden get paid on the 25th of each month.

Swedish vocabulary: to wait – att vänta

US embassy holds free speech meeting with Swedish civil servants

US diplomats recently met with Swedish civil servants at the government offices to discuss freedom of speech and democracy in Sweden in order to get a better understanding of the state of free speech in the Nordic country, reports the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) newspaper.

The meeting was requested by the US embassy in Stockholm and attended by the head of the embassy’s politics unit and a political assistant. Two civil servants, not affiliated with any political party, represented Sweden in the meeting, which took place on April 8th.

Neither the Swedish government office nor the US embassy commented on what was said in the meeting, although the former confirmed to SvD that Sweden’s free speech regulations were discussed.

In a controversial speech in February, US Vice President JD Vance criticised Sweden for having “convicted a Christian activist” for Quran burnings, at which the Quran was also stomped on and kicked, wrapped in pork and lit on fire, with derogatory remarks made about Muslims.

The presiding judge in the case said when pronouncing the verdict: “There is a wide scope within the framework of freedom of expression to be critical of a religion in a factual and objective debate. At the same time, expressing one’s opinion about religion does not give one a free pass to do or say anything and everything without risking offending the group that holds that belief.”

Swedish vocabulary: free speech – yttrandefrihet

Thousands of Swedish citizenship applicants told to answer additional security questions

Everyone who has applied for Swedish citizenship, both before and after tighter security checks came into force on April 1st, is being asked to answer a set of detailed additional questions.

The Migration Agency has on the request of the government tightened up the process for citizenship applications, with applicants now having to confirm their identity in person and provide more detailed information than before on their background.

The changes also affect those who applied before April 1st. In March, there were more than 86,000 applications in the queue.

So far, around 6,500 applicants with outstanding applications have been asked to submit additional information, a Migration Agency spokesperson told The Local.

We’ve got hold of the 11-page questionnaire applicants are being asked to fill out. Here’s a list of questions.

Swedish vocabulary: citizenship – medborgarskap

Read full article

Auto-posted from news source