"The new terror laws are a pawn in the game of NATO membership"

When the Legislative Council the other day came out with its opinion on the government's proposal to prohibit participation in terrorist organizations in a special law, it received a lot of media attention.

The Legislative Council has major objections and believes that the bill is not needed at all and therefore should not be presented.

The Law Council also believes that the new law will be difficult to interpret and that borderline problems make it difficult to determine what is criminal.

Despite this sawing, the government will present its bill on March 9.

Probably with some minor adjustments, but the basic features of the bill will remain.

This legislative work was indeed initiated long before Sweden applied for membership in NATO, but as the discussion with Turkey has developed, the bill has become an important piece of the puzzle there as well.

I think that is the most important question

On March 9, the formal negotiations between Sweden, Finland and Turkey on the NATO issue will resume.

Turkey's main criticism of Sweden has been an overly lax approach to the terrorist organization PKK.

Turkish President Erdogan has also described Sweden as a haven for terrorists.

At the same time, the Swedish government has spoken of Swedish NATO membership as the absolutely most important issue right now to guarantee Sweden's national security.

It is therefore extremely important for the government that NATO membership can be completed as soon as possible.

It is thus also in this context that this proposal should be seen.

It will be put on the Riksdag's table on March 9, i.e. the same day the meeting is held, which should be interpreted as the Swedish government wanting to give Turkey an opportunity to drop its opposition to Swedish NATO membership.

The new law will also enter into force on 1 June this year, i.e. just over a month before the NATO summit in Vilnius.

Both Sweden and Finland hope to be formally welcomed as full NATO members at this summit.

The law on the criminalization of participation in terrorist organizations is thus also a pawn in the game of Swedish NATO membership.

Broad majority in the Riksdag

But at the same time, there is broad support in the Riksdag for this change in the law.

In 2019, the previous Social Democratic-led government already presented a bill to ban participation in terrorist organizations.

However, that bill was stopped by the Legislative Council citing that it was against the constitution.

A constitutional amendment has therefore been carried out since then and now the new bill has been presented.

There is thus a broad majority in the Riksdag for the amendment to the law.

There is also broad support in the Riksdag for Swedish NATO membership.

The connection between this law change and the NATO process therefore means that there will hardly be any political battle on this issue.

The exception is the Left Party, and perhaps the Green Party.

The Left Party is both against the law change itself and Swedish NATO membership.

The Green Party was indeed in the government when the previous bill was presented, but in opposition may act differently than then.

Regardless, this issue shines a spotlight on the Legislative Council's role in legislative work.

The task of the Legislative Council is to review new laws, among other things based on legal certainty and how they relate to the constitution.

Legal experts are now talking about a trend where governments, regardless of political color, are increasingly going against the recommendations of the Legislative Council.