Ebba Busch, the Swedish Deputy Prime Minister, has stated that Islam must adapt to Swedish law and values. This has sparked renewed debate about integration, religious freedom, and political rhetoric. The comments, made in 2024 and repeated in recent campaigning, have drawn criticism for sounding like generalizations about Muslims. However, supporters have spoken of Swedish law and equality.

STOCKHOLM, Thekabarnews.com—A heated debate has broken out in Sweden after Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch said Islam must be practiced in a way that is compatible with Swedish law and values.

In May 2024, Busch, Sweden’s minister for energy, business, and industry and the leader of the Christian Democrats, made the comments. She was talking about integration and migration policy. In Sweden, her formal title in the government is deputy prime minister and minister under Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.

The statement has gone viral on the internet in English as “Muslims who do not integrate must leave the country.” But a report by Swedish public broadcaster SVT found Busch’s published comments focused more narrowly on people who practice Islam in ways that she said conflict with Swedish law and values.

“We should practice Islam in a way that is in harmony with Swedish values and law,” Busch told SVT. She said anyone who does not meet those standards should leave Sweden and be denied asylum.

Busch also said she wanted Sweden to continue being a country where Christians, Muslims, and Jews could live together. But her remarks were criticized for concentrating on Islam, not on actual unlawful acts or extremist ideologies, in the debate on integration.

This distinction is important. Sweden’s Constitution offers strong protection for freedom of religion. Sweden’s legal system also calls for equality before the law and protects democratic rights. The government states that freedom of religion for individuals is a constitutional right.

Supporters of Busch’s position say both immigrants and citizens must respect Swedish law, gender equality, and democratic principles.

Critics say public officials should draw clear lines between Islam as a religion, ordinary Muslims’ religious practice, and Islamism or violent extremism.

The debate has come amid broader concerns about anti-Muslim hostility. In 2024, Brå, the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, identified 199 police reports motivated by Islamophobic hate crimes.

These made up 7 percent of all identified hate-crime motives. That year, the agency logged 2,731 police reports with documented hate-crime motives.

For many observers, the controversy is also emblematic of a larger problem facing Sweden. The question is how to pursue integration and enforce the law without suspecting an entire religious community.