2008: The Greens drop their demand for Sweden to leave the EU
In autumn 2008 the Greens dropped their long-standing demand that Sweden leave the EU, after members voted 55 to 45 to stay. The party announced the change in early October 2008.
- Correction EU MP In autumn 2008 the Greens dropped their long-standing demand that Sweden leave the EU, after a member vote split 55-45 in favour of accepting membership.
Why this verdict?
MP's long-standing position demanded Sweden leave the EU. In 2008 the party held a full member vote; the result was 55-45 in favour of accepting membership and dropping the exit demand. A direct membership vote is the clearest possible internal mandate. Correction with full democratic backing.
In its early years, Miljöpartiet opposed EU membership and made that a fixed point. The party had grown up alongside the campaign against joining the union, and the demand that Sweden leave the EU stayed in its platform for years after.
By 2008 that line was splitting the party more than holding it. Members disagreed openly over whether it still made sense to keep it. Instead of deciding the question at the top, the Greens handed it to their members.
The vote was close: 55 to 45 in favour of staying in. On that result the party dropped the demand for Sweden to leave the EU, and announced the change in early October 2008. A demand the party had carried for years was gone, settled by a slim majority of its own members.
For how this site reads a change like this, see how we read a value shift.
Related entities
On the values timeline
- you are here2008EU · In autumn 2008 the Greens dropped their long-standing demand that Sweden leave the EU, after a member vote split 55-45 in favour of accepting membership.
- 2015Migration · In government, the Greens carried an asylum tightening they had long opposed.
- 2016Energy · In 2016 the Greens, a party born from the anti-nuclear movement, signed a cross-bloc energy deal that allowed new reactors to be built on existing sites (capped at ten) and kept the phase-out law off the books, in exchange for a 2040 target of 100% renewable electricity.
- 2019Economy · To stay in government after the 2018 deadlock, the Greens signed the 73-point January Agreement in 2019 and accepted market-liberal reforms they had earlier resisted, including inquiries into market rents and looser labour rules.
- S1991The Social Democrats reversed their long-standing opposition to EC/EU membership: the Carlsson government applied to join in July 1991, and Sweden entered the EU in 1995.
- SD2019In January 2019 the Sweden Democrats abandoned their demand for a referendum on leaving the EU, saying they would reform the union from within instead.
- V2024At its May 2024 congress in Jönköping the Left Party dropped its long-standing active demand that Sweden leave the EU, keeping exit only as a last resort.