Former Member of Parliament Staffan Danielsson is leaving the Center Party, Nyheter Idag reported, and much of his reasoning has to do with his tough stance on migration, a position that was sharply opposed by both his party colleagues and the Swedish media.
“The Center Party is now increasingly viewed as part of the red-green bloc, which I see as deeply problematic,” wrote the Swedish politician in a statement on Facebook.
Former Member of Parliament Staffan Danielsson has made himself known as one of those who questioned Sweden’s notoriously liberal migration policy, which has been fingered as a major cause for the countries massive increase in gang shootings, organized crime, murders, and sexual assaults. While in the Center Party, Danielsson ordered a much-debated report on refugee unemployment.
In 2012, Danielsson proposed that so-called unaccompanied refugee children should go through age tests as there were reports of migrants providing incorrect information. Despite the backlash he received for his proposal, a study commissioned by the Sweden’s national forensic medicine agency later found that this was largely true, as a whopping 84 percent of the “underage migrants” tested in one study were actually adults, according to the BBC.
Danielsson faced enormous pressure from the media. Journalist Hector Barajas alluded to the Center Party’s Nazi-friendly history and compared Danielsson to a notorious anti-Semite.
In the Facebook post in which he announced leaving the party, Danielsson made a statement about his membership in the Center Party, describing how he joined the party and worked as a press secretary in Torbjörn Fälldin’s government. He listed the market economy, the principle “the whole of Sweden should live by,” and small businesses among the reasons why he enjoyed being a member of the Center Party.
But his last years as a member of Parliament were clouded and unrewarding, Danielsson wrote.
“I opposed some naive center proposals for increased migration, including that Sweden should be the only country to grant asylum at its embassies (which is still the center’s line). I argued that Sweden must adapt its migration policy to the EU and was scolded by many as xenophobic. That could not be less true, I am an avid humanist. Today, Annie Lööf expressed, perhaps even in a stronger manner, what I said like seven to eight years ago,” wrote Danielsson.
“I finally got my party on the migration issue with me, but I am not forgiven for being right at the wrong time,” he noted.
Part of his farewell statement is devoted to the current parliamentary situation and the forthcoming election.
“Party leader Annie Lööf has just declared that the Center Party chooses Löfven if Kristersson has less support from SD (Sweden Democrats) and that even though you do not want the left party’s support, you probably have to live with it if necessary. The Center Party is now increasingly viewed as part of the red-green bloc, which I see as deeply problematic,” wrote Danielsson.
“Sadly, my party and I have recently evolved in different directions on some important issues, but that is the way it is… I do not feel any bitterness, I am grateful for everything I have fought for and experienced and enforced thanks to the Center Party. Right now, we, me and my party, are at a crossroads where our paths, unfortunately, have to go separate ways. It’s probably best for both of us, we both think so. I hope to maintain good relations with my Center friends,” concluded Danielsson, who said he will keep the door open to continue his political career this autumn.
Title image: Staffan Danielsson
