That the parties have agreed a joint counter-motion (reservation in Swedish) means that MPs will have a simple choice when voting on the new stricter citizenship rules on Wednesday evening.
They will be able to vote on whether the new requirements, when they come into force on June 6th, should apply to existing applications and cases on appeal, or whether these cases should be handled under the old rules.
Some of the key points in the citizenship bill include extending the time a foreign citizen has to live in Sweden before they are eligible for citizenship, language and civics tests, and a new self-sufficiency requirement.
At a meeting of the parliament's Social Insurance Committee at 11am on Tuesday, the Green Party, Centre Party, Left Party and Social Democrats submitted the joint reservation.
In the final text of the committee's report which will be put before parliament on Wednesday, the four parties regret the decision of the government to reject a recommendation from the Council on Legislation, which is responsible for legally vetting future bills, that transitional provisions be added.
Transitional provisions in this case would mean, the parties wrote, taking into account both, "the individual’s trust in the robustness of the legal system", and "the applicant’s legitimate expectation that the rules underlying an application or an appeal of a decision are not undermined by significant changes...to the detriment of the individual."
Bringing in a law without transitional provisions, meanwhile, would "breach predictability and undermine confidence in the system".
It would also, they argued, meaning worsening the "already unacceptably long processing times for citizenship applications".
The parties are also working hard to encourage MPs from government parties to join them, as it will only take two rebel MPs for the reservation to pass.
"I will do what I can to reach a majority and convince at least two people from the other side to support it," Annika Hirvonen, the migration spokesperson for the Green Party, told The Local after the meeting.
Hirvonen was the MP responsible for deciding on the wording of the joint reservation, which is based on the Green Party's own motion and proposes using the same legal text for the transitional rules as was recommended by the government inquiry in January 2025.
The reservation calls for existing applications for citizenship by naturalisation, citizenship by notification, and ongoing appeals against rejected applications, to be handled under the laws in force before June 6th.
The full text of the reservation, which is pretty technical, reads as follows in Swedish:
Reservanternas lagförslag Reservation 2 (förslagspunkt 2) 5 10 Förslag till lag om ändring i lagen (2026:000) om ändring i lagen (2001:82) om svenskt medborgarskap Härigenom föreskrivs i fråga om lagen (2001:82) om svenskt medborgarskap dels att ikraftträdandebestämmelsen i stället för lydelsen enligt lagen (2026:000) om ändring i den lagen ska ha följande lydelse, dels att det i ikraftträdande- och övergångsbestämmelserna till lagen (2026:000) om ändring i den lagen ska införas tre nya punkter, 2–4, av följande lydelse. Lydelse enligt prop. 2025/26:175 Denna lag träder i kraft den 6 juni 2026. Reservanternas förslag 1. Denna lag träder i kraft den 6 juni 2026. 2. Äldre föreskrifter gäller för ärenden enligt 7, 9 och 11 §§ som har inletts före ikraftträdandet. 3. Äldre föreskrifter gäller för ärenden enligt ikraftträdande- punkt 4 i och övergångs bestämmelserna i lagen (2001:82) om svenskt medborgarskap som har inletts före ikraftträdandet. 4. Äldre föreskrifter gäller vid överklagande av beslut som har meddelats före ikraftträdandet.
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