Inside Sweden: Minister’s family member’s white supremacist links expose double standards​on July 5, 2025 at 7:19 am

Hej,

This week, anti-racist magazine Expo broke the shocking story that a Swedish government minister has a family member who is allegedly active in, and trying to recruit people to, extreme right and white supremacist movements.

It’s a story that comes with several ethical conundrums.

On the one hand, if a minister in any government has that close links to someone said to be involved in organisations that promote violent neo-Nazi ideals, it’s clearly a potential security risk and a reason to resign on the spot.

This is the government that’s pushed through some of the harshest immigration reforms in years. Surely it’s relevant if a minister risks being influenced – even hypothetically – by white power groups, or if, say, a foreign power wanted to use the information against the minister to harm Sweden?

After days of silence, the minister eventually sent an anonymous comment to the TT news agency late on Friday, via the prime minister’s press secretary, requesting to stay anonymous due to the young age of their family member.

“Last week I found out that a close relative in their early teens has been hanging out in completely the wrong circles. I detest all kinds of political extremism and strongly distance myself from it,” said the minister.

“I have had long and frank conversations with the minor who is both remorseful and sad. All association with these circles is a closed chapter.”

They added that they had acted according to the standard security procedures and been working closely with the security police ever since they found out.

It’s important to say that we don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes. We don’t choose our relatives. Perhaps the minister as they say knew just as little about it as the rest of us – perhaps they are, right now, as torn apart by it as anyone would be. Arguably, a minister should be judged on what they do on the job – is it really anyone’s business who happens to be part of their family?

The family member in question is also underage. That’s a strong reason why the mainstream media haven’t been naming the minister – it’s not to protect the minister, it’s to protect the family member, who is not a public figure and hasn’t been convicted of any crimes. Swedish media tend to be more restrictive than in many other countries when it comes to naming people, especially when publishing damaging information about them.

This is perhaps also the reason why the story made surprisingly few waves in the Swedish media. Although most mainstream newspapers covered Expo’s report, and in some cases got their own comments, it’s been tricky to cover it in any real depth without revealing identifying information.

But there are good reasons why this is an important story, and it must be possible to talk about while showing compassion and understanding of the fact that the minister may very well be facing a difficult time in their private life right now – and that young people can sometimes end up on the wrong track.

But, here’s another but. Imagine that a politician could be linked to radical islamism through a family member. There would be an outcry. The current government would be the first in line to call for their resignation. And it has spoken on several occasions about, for example, parents in largely immigrant suburbs being responsible for keeping their children away from gangs.

So are we responsible for our family members or not? 

Last year, the government pushed through a law change which means that if a tenant’s child commits a crime that has a negative effect on their neighbours’ living situation, it should be possible to evict the entire family.

The government’s far-right Sweden Democrats allies want to make it possible to revoke an entire family’s residence permits if one of their members is involved in serious crime (again, just to be clear, no information has emerged that suggests the minister’s family member is suspected of any crimes – but some of the groups they’ve been associated with promote a violent ideology).

And time and again, immigrants are told by ministers that they are responsible for raising their children, making sure they integrate and learn Swedish, setting clear boundaries to stop them getting involved in unacceptable activities, and so on. When many of them are surely fighting just as hard as anyone would, including ministers, to prevent their family members from straying off-track, and are as torn apart about it as anyone would be that they failed.

The government’s silence on the minister’s indirect links to white supremacism via a family member is not a good look, and it must surely be unprecedented for a Swedish minister to make a statement that’s not only anonymous in the published article (let’s assume there have been plenty of ministers behind anonymous leaks over the years) but in which the government even refuses to disclose their identity to the news outlet the statement is given to – which in addition makes it impossible for the journalist to ask follow-up questions.

Perhaps it is a closed chapter, as the minister says. But plenty of questions remain unanswered – and perhaps even more importantly, let it be a lesson that it’s time to show other families compassion in return?

In other news

Sweden launched in-person ID checks for citizenship this spring, with all applicants having to attend before they can become Swedish citizens. The Local spoke to a reader about their appointment to find out what to expect.

Just over 2,000 letters have so far been sent out to citizenship applicants, inviting them to book the mandatory ID check at the Migration Agency.

Mahmut, originally from Turkey, came to Sweden as an asylum seeker back in 2017 due to political unrest in his home country. Now, he is in citizenship limbo and believes Swedish security police have branded him a security threat, without telling him why. Becky Waterton’s interview is this week’s must-read.

Want to take a dip in a Swedish lake, but you never learned to swim? We’ve republished our guide to where you can get lessons as an adult.

The Swedish government has launched an inquiry over concerns about the country’s low birth rate, with the aim of proposing concrete measures to improve it.

As part of the 25th anniversary of the Öresund bridge connecting Copenhagen and Malmö, the prime ministers of both countries pledged to make it easier to live and work across the Swedish-Danish border. Becky has a few ideas.

The Swedish government has pledged to attract international talent, while radically limiting asylum and low-skilled immigration. So why do work permit holders so often get the short end of the stick?

A government-appointed inquiry has concluded that there is no need for a national begging ban, despite demands from the Moderates and Sweden Democrats to introduce one.

July brings with it cheaper flights, summer holidays and pay rises ‒ for government ministers at least. Here are the new laws and events happening in Sweden this month.

Hope you have a lovely weekend,

Emma Löfgren

Editor, The Local Sweden

Inside Sweden is our weekly newsletter for members which gives you news, analysis and, sometimes, takes you behind the scenes at The Local. It’s published each Saturday and with Membership+ you can also receive it directly to your inbox.