Response to interpellation 2025/26:536 on support for associations to counter right-wing extremist activity in community centers

Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)

Madam Speaker! Anna Wallentheim has asked me what concrete initiatives I have taken to support associations and local landlords in the work of preventing right-wing extremist and Nazi groups from using their premises for activities that risk contributing to radicalization and recruitment.

Let me first emphasize that the government takes all forms of violent extremism very seriously. According to the Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI), the primary threat of terrorist attacks against Sweden this year will likely come from a lone actor acting out of a violent Islamist or right-wing extremist motive. Over a slightly longer period, the threat from violent extremism will also come from the autonomous violent left. We must have the breadth and long-term perspective to handle all these threats simultaneously.

Ultimately, of course, all efforts against ideologically motivated crime and terrorism are about protecting our democracy and actively promoting a free and open society. During the mandate period, the Government has taken several measures to strengthen and further develop that work. As support for efforts at national, regional, and local levels, there has been a national strategy against violent extremism and terrorism since 2024. The strategy has laid the foundation for effective and long-term work, which also includes the support of authorities and municipalities for associations in the challenges these may face linked to violent extremism.

It is serious that the far-right abuse the trust that the rental of various associations' open meeting places is based on to, for example, recruit children and young people or spread racist propaganda. Far-right groups have also rented municipalities' premises for similar purposes and to arrange martial arts linked to the so-called active clubs that use physical training to strengthen the group's violence capital.

The police have issued an appeal to landlords of premises to get in touch if they suspect that something is not right. Landlords can also receive support from the police if they risk being subjected to threats in connection with a denied rental. It is also possible to break contracts that have been entered into on false grounds, for example if the person who wants to rent the premises has provided incorrect information or withheld important information.

In all seven police regions, there are so-called Redex centers. Redex is a form of cooperation between the Swedish Police Authority and the Swedish Security Service that the authorities have jointly developed to reduce the threat from various violent extremist environments. Within the framework of the cooperation, the authorities share intelligence regarding suspected actors.

Most municipalities in Sweden also have local coordinators who are responsible for coordinating and developing local work, coordinating different professional groups, and producing local situational pictures. The municipality can, via its local police area, receive information on the police's current situational picture and support in developing interventions together with the police and the Center against violent extremism at the Crime Prevention Council. There are therefore good conditions for associations to also receive support from the municipalities in countering right-wing extremist activity in various community centers.

The Government closely monitors the threat from violent extremism and is continuously considering new effective measures and interventions.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Anna Wallentheim (S)

Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer.

The background to my question is concrete. During the late spring, we in the media were alerted to a case outside Västerås. A community center was booked by a 19-year-old woman. What appeared to be a completely ordinary rental turned out to be something else entirely. In the premises, they found boxes with swastika armbands, Hitler masks, and material from Nordiska motståndsrörelsen.

This is not an isolated example. The police have warned that far-right groups use false information and false reasons to rent, among other things, community centers and other premises. A young woman, as in the example I mentioned, or a family with children, contacts a civil society organization that rents out premises and says that the premises will be used for a baptism, a birthday celebration, or a family gathering – but behind the booking are, in fact, Nazi groups.

The police describe that there is a tangible risk in Sweden of both radicalization and new recruitment of young people to right-wing extremism and to other forms of extremism, just as the minister mentioned. The minister mentioned in his answer that there are good conditions for associations to receive support. He refers to the national strategy, to Redex centers, to municipal coordinators and the possibility of contacting the police. All of this is, of course, important.

But the problem is that the non-profit association still bears a clear and concrete responsibility. How is one to know who is actually renting the premises? What warning signs should one recognize? What questions should one ask the person who is to rent a premises? What do you do if you discover who actually stands behind those who are to rent the premises, and what happens if you are targeted because you say no and do not want to rent out your premises?

In the example from Västerås, the association's vice-chairman describes how she herself later had to call around to other community centers to warn them about similar bookings. It cannot be the intention that individual volunteers should themselves have to build up a warning system against organized Nazi groups.

Is the Minister and the Government currently satisfied with the support that the associations receive? Or is the Government prepared to take the initiative for clearer support with concrete advice, routines, or contact paths for associations and other local landlords?

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)

Madam Speaker! I thank Anna Wallentheim for the opportunity to discuss this important issue today.

I fully stand behind the description of the problem. I also find it encouraging to receive information from the police that the issue is indeed on the police's radar. As I said in my opening response, the police have issued an appeal to landlords of premises to get in touch if they suspect that things are not right. They can receive support from the police if they are subjected to threats or other pressures when rental is denied. There is legal support for breaking a contract if the person who wants to rent a premises has stated a purpose but the purpose turns out to be another. In practice, it may be that a premises landlord faced with such a group can feel fear and anxiety about how the situation will be handled. But in that case, one can call the police and receive support. It has been a good development when we have followed up on the questions.

I also want to mention Center against violent extremism at Brå, which has the mandate to provide support to municipalities regarding the handling of threats from various violent or extremist environments. These issues take place in local contexts where municipalities can also play an important supporting role, not least in relation to association life and civil society. I will gladly follow up on to what extent Center against violent extremism can provide additional support measures regarding premises.

I think, in any case, that it is good that the question is raised here, and I think that the messages from the police in connection with this question are satisfactory.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Anna Wallentheim (S)

Madam Speaker! There is an important principle in the matter. Our community centers and association halls exist so that people can engage voluntarily and in their communities. They should be places where one can celebrate Midsummer and birthdays, but they must also be places where children and young people can meet, where meetings can be held, and where cultural events and various activities are organized that bring people together in community all over Sweden. It is that openness and trust that Nazi groups and other extremist groups exploit.

Through my involvement in Folkets Hus och Parker, I know that we have also been faced with this problem there. I am a board member in the southern region and know what importance these meeting places have all around our country. We want open houses and we want people to be able to meet, be able to organize themselves, be able to celebrate and be able to take part in culture. But openness must never mean that individual associations are left alone when, for example, Nazi or violence-promoting groups deliberately try to trick their way in.

Folkets Hus och Parker have themselves developed a rental policy to provide support to associations. But when extremist environments or other groups provide false information, it is difficult for the non-profit association to know whether it is something serious or unserious. It is perhaps here that politics needs to step forward. The alternative must never be a country where associations decline all types of rentals if they do not know the person. It will not create the sense of community that I believe both I and the Minister for Justice want to see in our society.

The Minister counts up in his answer much of the work that is already being carried out against violent extremism. There is very much that is good in the national strategy against violent extremism and terrorism, which we have debated here in the chamber. I hope the Minister knows that I stand behind it. It is a good strategy.

Just as the Minister mentions, the strategy has laid the foundation for effective and long-term work that also includes the support of authorities and municipalities to associations in the challenges they may face. However, examples from reality right now testify that it does not always work. It is a strategy that has nevertheless existed for some years, but the example from Västerås is from the spring of 2026. Somewhere, therefore, there are leakages or things that do not work.

The police give clear advice, which the minister was touching upon. They advocate, for example, that one should meet the person who rents, ask follow-up questions, and contact the police as soon as one suspects that something is wrong. But now that we know that these groups systematically try to rent premises for purposes that I believe none of us stand behind, we must ask ourselves: What more can politics do when the system does not hold?

Madam Speaker! The openness of civil society should not have to be defended by a lone chairperson of a non-profit association that suddenly discovers, as in this case, Nazi objects in its association premises. Therefore, I would like to ask the Minister: What else is the Minister and the government – several ministers will of course need to be involved in the work – prepared to do so that the associations all over Sweden can continue to be open meeting places and at the same time not be left alone when violence-seeking extremism tries to exploit the openness in our society?

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)

Madam Speaker! Anna Wallentheim and I are in complete agreement regarding the description of the problem. It is pleasing to hear that there is a commitment in Folkets Hus och Parker. There is, of course, a superstructure, or what one should say, in such a movement that can also constitute an important support for an individual park facility somewhere in Sweden. But many community centers or other premises do not, of course, exist in such a broader context.

I think it is good that the question is raised. It is very reasonable that the policy in relation to the authorities that are close to the problems follows up on what needs for additional interventions they see, possibly also from a political standpoint.

I can state that we have clarified our strategy in relation to the problem. How it has been implemented in practice by the actors who can really influence it—in the worst case, the solitary voluntary force in the community center still gives promising indications that there is a context where one can actually get support. But in that situation, one must know that one should pick up the phone and call the police, and when one does that, one has the right to expect support to handle a concrete situation, of course, if such has arisen, but also if one has a need to work more preventatively to avoid ending up there again.

I want to once again highlight Center against violence-promoting extremism, which has received a special mandate to support precisely the municipal level. I imagine that this takes place in some kind of middle ground between the state's law enforcement, through the police and possibly other authorities, and the contact points that exist between a municipality and civil society and the local association life.

Let us follow up on this in relation to all the different actors who can influence. I completely agree with the interpellor that the seriousness of the problem deserves it.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Anna Wallentheim (S)

Madam Speaker! I know, the Minister for Justice knows, everyone sitting in here knows and those listening hopefully know too why extremist, racist and Nazi organizations lie to gain access to premises. It is because they see that they can grow, that there is an opportunity to organize, recruit, continue spreading hate, blacken Sweden and continue to judge people based on skin color, religion or sexual orientation.

We must be better than them. We are in the middle of a burning election campaign, and I believe that right now there are far too many who do not take the democratic responsibility we have and who throw in dangerous lies.

When we members of parliament receive questions from voters or journalists, but also from students about which political opponent we think is most skilled and who is hardest to face in a debate, I mention Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer almost every time. I experience, in fact, that the minister is skilled and objective and that he has an understanding both of the issue I am trying to raise here in the chamber and of our political differences.

But I must admit that something has happened in the political debate. Perhaps it is because it is the election campaign. Lately, I have unfortunately experienced that even government representatives have, far too many times, sunk to a level that I do not quite consider worthy.

We must stand up for the democratic process and for the political conversation. I think we should use the nearly final 30 days of the election campaign to talk about what we want. What do we Social Democrats want? What do the Moderates want? Then it will become clear to the voters out there what the parties actually want.

We gain nothing by spreading lies. If we are to win over extremism, over new recruitment, and over the threat and the hate, it matters that we show that we are worthy advocates and role models for the Swedish people.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)

Madam Speaker! I thank you for this very civilized exchange of views, in line with the other exchanges of views we have had during these years.

I am very pleased that this question is being raised. The fight against violent extremism is one of our society's most central missions, precisely in order to safeguard our society as free and open. It is important to be able to keep an eye on several different types of threats at the same time, whether it concerns violent Islamism, right-wing extremism, or for that matter, threats that come more from autonomous left-wing movements, even if it is the first two that have primarily been active during the years I have held this role.

I think the concrete issue that we have discussed today, the impact on civil society, is particularly urgent to discuss. Many other parts of society – state actors, municipal actors or public actors – nevertheless have a different resilience or robustness. They exist in a context where one can handle this type of threat in a different way.

Civil society is very vulnerable. It is often a volunteer force somewhere in Sweden, in a village hall or other association premises, and naturally has the right to expect the support of the surrounding society.

I am glad to still be able to convey that the police really want to provide that support, can provide that support, and are providing that support. And other actors, such as the Crime Prevention Council and the Center against Violence-Promoting Extremism, have clear mandates to support the municipalities in this work, which reasonably must include support to civil society and other contexts where these threats occur.

Thank you very much for the opportunity to raise those questions today! There is certainly much more to be done moving forward.

The interpellations debate was hereby concluded.

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