EPP Swedish MEP Tomas Tobé elected lead candidate amid far-right concerns

The Moderates party (EPP) leading the Swedish government selected MEP Tomas Tobé as the lead candidate for the 2024 EU elections amid fears of a far-right rising in the country.

The Moderates held their first party conference in government for more than a decade on Sunday in the northern city of Umeå.

Tobé was elected as his party’s top candidate for the next European elections. In the last election, Tobé received the most preferential votes of all Swedish MEPs.

“I am honoured to have received renewed confidence to run again for the Moderates and Sweden in the European elections. We need stronger European cooperation for a more controlled migration policy, to fight organised crime and to manage security, during a time when there is a war on our continent” Tobé said at the press conference after the decision by the Congress.

Well-known in the EU bubble, Tobé is the chairman of the European Parliament’s Development Committee and the European Parliament’s lead negotiator on the Regulation on Asylum and Migration Management (RAMM).

According to Tobé, the Migration Pact remains the best compromise and a balance between solidarity and responsibility.

“A permanent solidarity mechanism will provide true solidarity and allow flexible and voluntary contributions. It is an important shift that increases the possibilities for the EU to be able to unite in a constructive way”, he declared.

Tobé’s commitment to the drafting of this text has earned him attacks from far-right Sweden Democrats.

“In the vote on the Migration pact, Tomas Tobé chose the wrong side. The liberal migration side,” the party tweeted in April.

These tensions could take on a whole new dimension at the European level, as the Swedish Ylva Johansson (S&D) is currently responsible for Migration and Home Affairs.

“If Mr Tobé were to replace Ms Johansson in this portfolio, who knows what might happen? The Swedish government could find itself threatened again, or it could give in to some of the SD’s demands. It wouldn’t be the first time,” a source close to the matter told Euractiv.

Indeed, in April, SD threatened to withdraw support from the Swedish government’s coalition if the previous wording in the pact was adopted, which would have dire effects for Sweden as currently, the Moderates, Christian Democrats and the Liberals need the support of the Sweden Democrats to stay in power.

In the 2022 Swedish parliamentary elections, the Moderates became only the third largest party, after the Sweden Democrats and fell significantly in its traditionally strongest stronghold – the big cities, not least among women.

“The single most important explanation is the concern about what SD’s influence on a Moderate-led government would mean,” said deputy party secretary Martin Borgs on Sunday, adding that such concerns were “unjustified”.

(Charles Szumski | Euractiv.com)