From 'European immigration policy - a comparative study', Hammar, Tomas, Stockholm University, Center for Research in International Migration and Ethnicity:
'The aims of Swedish immigrant and minority policy were summarized in a decision by parliament in 1975 under three headings: equality, freedom of choice, and partnership. The goal of equality implies the continued efforts to give immigrants the same living standard as the rest of the population. The goal of freedom of choice implies that public initiatives are to be taken to assure members of ethnic and linguistic minorities domiciled in Sweden a genuine choice between retaining and developing their cultural identity and assuming a Swedish cultural identity. The goal of partnership implies that the different immigrant and minority groups on the one hand and the native population on the other both benefit from working together.
Parliament has expressed its unanimous support for a government declaration in which these aims are presented in some detail. The aims retain a general character, however, even in this government declaration. They serve as principles for the agencies that implement foreign policy; they also serve to indicate the direction in which parliament wishes immigrant policy to proceed. Although in their present form they are not legally binding and could not, for example, be cited in a court of law, they have nevertheless had great influence on the course of immigrant policy reforms'.
