Swedish far-right proposes ban on foreign food imports for 2017 budget

The Sweden Democrats, an anti-immigrant nationalist party, is proposing a ban on the import of foreign foods in its budget for 2017. The party made the proposal in the Alvesta municipality in southern Sweden where it is joint-third largest party on the council.

The nationalist party swept 12.9% of national support in Sweden in the 2014 general elections. According to The Times, the party has been consistently garnering over 20% support in opinion polls this year.

Benny Lundh Johansson, the party's group leader in Alvesta, defended the demand. "We have a good budget and are very pleased with it. It should preferably be Swedish then you can be a little flexible with certain things such as bananas and other things," he said

According to the Smålandsposten newspaper, the draft budget included the demand that "organically produced products are desirable but the most important thing is that food is locally produced, that is to say Swedish."

The Social Democrat councillor, Per Ribacke, however, is not convinced, telling SVT News that the proposal is unlikely to get off the ground. "In practice it is impossible. We are dependent on food from other countries."