Published 12.16
Young Swedes’ chairman Denice Westerberg’s answer to whether you can be Swedish and Muslim has provoked reactions.
Not least with the cooperation party, the Moderates.
– A Muslim in Sweden should be able to be just as Swedish as Jimmie Åkesson.
When Ungsvenskarna’s confederation chairman Denice Westerberg was interviewed in Aftonbladet’s interview series “My and power” she answered no to the question of whether one can be Swedish and a devout Muslim.
– I think it was a very un-Swedish way of expressing yourself, says the Minister for Aid and Foreign Trade Benjamin Dousa (M).
For Benjamin Dousa, it is a matter of course that one should be able to be a practicing Muslim and a Swede at the same time.
– We already have tens of thousands of people who are exactly that, he says.
Dousa believes that the statement signals to the people who do “everything right” that it is still not enough to be seen as Swedish.
– They go to work, they work hard, they follow laws and regulations, speak fluent Swedish. That regardless of whether you do everything, if you are practicing Muslims, they will still never be Swedes in the eyes of some Sweden Democrats.
“Opinions differ on several issues”
Despite the criticism, Benjamin Dousa does not see that Denice Westerberg’s statement would have any impact on the Tidö collaboration.
– No. Mainly because the cooperation has just been about getting tougher penalties through, making sure that people can keep more in their wallets, building nuclear power, that kind of issues. It has never been about defining Swedishness, says Dousa.
– I think this clearly shows that the Moderates and the Sweden Democrats are not the same party. We disagree on several issues and this is such an important issue. As a moderate, I of course think that a Muslim in Sweden should be able to be just as Swedish as Jimmie Åkesson.
