Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Akesson and MEP Charlie Weimers have penned an opinion piece calling for a review of Sweden's relationship with the European Union.
The national-conservative party seeks to prevent the further transfer of power to the EU and maximize Sweden's influence to achieve better negotiation results.
According to the top Sweden Democrats, their country has become so malleable and loses so many negotiations in Brussels that it has given rise to the saying "compromising like a Swede."
The duo ventured that 60 percent of the Swedish municipalities' decisions originate within the EU, which "erodes the core" of Swedish democracy as it forces the parliament to make decisions that lack popular support.
To remedy this, Sweden's largest right-wing party proposes three measures.
Firstly, Sweden should to legislate what has been referred to as "referendum lock," a law that stipulates that all significant transfers of power or new or greater demands for payments to the EU must first be approved in a popular referendum.
Secondly, the government and the parliament should take measures and steps so that our country is "prepared to leave the EU," in effect setting the stage for so-called "Swexit" when the time is ripe.
"Such preparedness should not necessarily be seen as a preparation to actually leave, but rather as a signal to counterparties in future negotiations that there is a limit to what can be accepted. Anyone who has ever negotiated knows that you get more if you can leave the negotiating table," the top Sweden democrats explained.
Thirdly, an investigation should be held in order to analyze how the EU's "negative effects" can be minimized.
"It should study which directives previous governments have 'overimplemented' and propose how the legislation can be rewritten to approach the EU's minimum requirements," the top Sweden Democrats wrote, opining that was no reason for the current minority government they support to maintain the legislation accepted by their left-wing predecessors.
The Sweden Democrats used to have a strong anti-EU stance, to the point of overtly pushing for Swexit, yet softened their criticism in recent years, partly to mend fences with their newfound center-right allies, which ceased to view the national-conservative party as a pariah and waged a meaningful cooperation.
Critics of the Sweden Democrats argue that in order to gain more traction, the party has abandoned its principles and strayed from its initial positions on not only NATO and the EU, but social issues such as abortion. Disaffected maverick Sweden Democrats even formed Alternative for Sweden, which remains on more radical positions, yet is still to gain meaningful popularity.
After a record showing in last year's general election, in which the Sweden Democrats finished second with 20.5 percent of the vote, they became key allies to the Moderates-led minority government, rendering crucial parliamentary support despite receiving no cabinet posts. However, while the allies see eye to eye in a number of issues, including nuclear power and, to a lesser extent, immigration, the attitude toward the EU remains among the stumbling blocs.