The Left Party drops its demand to leave the EU (2024)
At its May 2024 congress in Jönköping, the Left Party adopted a new programme that no longer actively calls for Sweden to leave the EU. Leaving is kept only as a last resort.
- Correction EU V At 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.
Why this verdict?
V had demanded Sweden leave the EU since membership in 1995. At the May 2024 congress in Jönköping, delegates voted explicitly to drop the active exit demand, keeping withdrawal only as a last resort. A congress vote to change a longstanding position — correction with the clearest possible internal mandate.
For years, leaving the EU was a fixed point for the Left Party. It campaigned against Swedish membership ahead of the 1994 referendum and kept the exit demand on its platform long after the vote was lost.
That demand loosened gradually. In December 2019 the party leadership already proposed stepping back from an active push to leave. The party was reopening the question itself, not reacting to some outside shock.
The shift became official at the Jönköping congress in May 2024, where members adopted a new party programme. They dropped the active demand for a Swedish exit and reduced leaving the EU to a last resort, not a goal to work toward. The same congress voted to broaden the party’s appeal, and it said no to building new nuclear power.
If you follow how we read a value shift, the wording is where it lives. The party did not turn pro-EU. It moved exit from a demand it pursued to a fallback it might use someday, which is a narrower change than a full reversal.
Related entities
On the values timeline
- 1990Economy · In 1990 the party dropped 'the Communists' from its name and removed communism from its programme, becoming simply the Left Party.
- 2008Economy · In December 2008 the Left Party committed for the first time to join a binding Red-Green coalition government with the Social Democrats and Greens if they won the 2010 election.
- 2021Economy · Brought down a sitting Social Democratic prime minister over market-rate rents — the first no-confidence vote to succeed.
- you are here2024EU · At 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.
- 2024Security & defence · After Sweden joined NATO in 2024, the Left Party stopped demanding an immediate exit and accepted membership as a reality, while pushing to keep distance and bar nuclear weapons.
- 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.
- MP2008In 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.
- 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.
Sources
- Vänsterpartiet vill inte längre lämna EU (proposal, Dec 2019) — SVT NyheterTier A
- Vänsterpartiet antar nytt partiprogram – vill bredda sig (12 May 2024) — SVT NyheterTier A
- Partiprogram klubbat – V släpper krav på EU-utträde — AltingetTier B
- V släpper krav på att lämna EU och säger nej till ny kärnkraft (11 May 2024) — SyreTier B