Zweden ziet geen toestroom Oost-Europeanen na openen arbeidsmarkt (en)

The enlargement of the EU has to date caused no visible extra strain on the Swedish social security system.

"Our statistics from May and June indicate that we are dealing with very small sums. There is no sign of what has been labelled social tourism", Anders Lönnqvist from the National Social Insurance Board said, according to Svenska Dagbladet.

The family of any EU citizen working in Sweden - even if living in another EU country - has the right to draw on the Swedish social welfare scheme.

With enlargement on 1 May, citizens from the ten new EU member states gained the same right to draw on Swedish social benefits such as child allowances, study grants and social welfare.

After lengthy debate, a majority in the Swedish Parliament (28 April) turned down a proposal from the ruling Social Democrat party to limit migrant workers from the new European Union member states.

The rejection meant Sweden is one of the few EU member states that does not limit access to its labour markets for citizens from Central and Eastern Europe.

The vote was seen as a major defeat for the Social Democrat Prime Minister Göran Persson. His government had proposed that only those with a guaranteed full time job at a fair salary and somewhere to live would be given a work permit.