EU to examine Sweden's newly adopted anti-terrorism law

By Tugrul Cam

BRUSSELS (AA) – The EU is going to examine the changes made by Sweden in its anti-terrorism law, which was ratified by the Swedish parliament on May 3.

According to the information given by an EU Commission spokesperson to Anadolu, the anti-terror law that came into force on June in Sweden will also be examined by the EU. The reason for this is the "violation of EU rules" mechanism that was launched in 2021.

The EU Commission initiated a rules violation procedure against Stockholm in 2021 on the grounds that some elements in the EU's anti-terrorism rules were not reflected correctly in Sweden's anti-terrorism laws.

The commission made a formal notification to the Swedish government in November 2021. The EU said its demands "were not properly transposed into Swedish law."

These include criminalizing and punishing terrorism-related acts such as "going abroad to commit a terrorist crime, returning to the EU after such an act and roaming within the EU territories for such activities, receiving terrorist training and financing terrorism."

The EU rules also include specific provisions, such as ensuring that victims of terrorism have access to reliable information, and providing professional and specialized support services to victims of terrorist attacks immediately after the attacks or for as long as necessary.

These rules, which the EU sees as an important part of the anti-terrorism agenda, had to be transposed into their national laws by the member states by Sept. 8, 2018.

The EU will review and evaluate Sweden's fresh anti-terrorism law as part of this ongoing violation procedure.

The law in Sweden entered into force on June 1.

As part of the constitutional amendment approved by the Swedish parliament on May 3, the legislation entered into force on June 1. The law was one of Türkiye's main requests to ratify Sweden's NATO membership.

The law, which aims to criminalize membership in terrorist organizations in the country, provides a prison sentence of up to four years for those who participate in terrorist activities and cooperate with terrorist organizations.

According to the law, those who participate in activities with the intent to support, strengthen or encourage a terrorist organization can be sentenced to a maximum of four years in prison. If there are aggravating reasons, the penalty for these crimes will be a minimum of two and a maximum of eight years in prison.

The law also gives authorities much broader powers to detain and prosecute people who finance or otherwise support terrorist organizations.