Von Der Leyen Will Not Close the Cousin-Marriage Loophole

In May, Charlie Weimers, Beatrice Timgren, Dick Erixon and other signatories asked the European Commission to help member states shut gaps around forced, child and cousin marriages concluded abroad. Riks reports that they wanted obstacles removed for countries that refuse to recognise such marriages. Sweden was held up as a forerunner.

According to @weimers, posting on 2 September 2026:

«Vi måste agera på alla plan mot islamsk extremism.

I våras krävde Sverigedemokraterna att även EU agerar för att kryphål kring kusin-, barn- och tvångsäktenskap som ingåtts utomlands täpps till.

Nu har Ursula von der Leyen svarat. Hon slår fast att medlemsländerna bestämmer villkoren för äktenskap och utlovar inga åtgärder från EU:s sida.

Det duger inte.»

“We must act on every level against Islamic extremism.

In the spring the Sweden Democrats demanded that the EU also act to close loopholes around cousin, child and forced marriages concluded abroad.

Now Ursula von der Leyen has answered. She states that the member states set the conditions for marriage and promises no measures from the EU’s side.

That is not good enough.”

Riks has seen the letter. Von der Leyen writes that member states retain “sole competence to determine the conditions for legal marriage.” She promises no new EU rules against cousin marriage.

What she does offer is the 2024 EU directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence. Forced marriage, she says, is now a crime at EU level. Member states must criminalise forcing an adult or a child to marry, and luring someone to another country for a forced marriage. Criminalisation, she adds, covers cases where the victim is a child or an adult cousin. The directive is to be transposed by 14 June 2027.

She also invites Sweden to “share its experiences of moving toward a ban on recognition of cousin marriages, and preparatory acts for forced marriage, at a forthcoming meeting” of the EU network on preventing gender-based and domestic violence.

That is the Brussels grammar: competence stays national; the Union criminalises force; Sweden may speak in a network. A common EU ban on cousin marriage, or on recognising such marriages, is not on the table.

Sweden’s own path is separate and already written. Proposition 2025/26:154 proposed an absolute ban on cousin marriage in Sweden and that foreign cousin marriages, as a main rule, should not be recognised here. The Riksdag’s civil committee (2025/26:CU33) recommended approval. The changes were proposed to enter into force on 1 July 2026. I cite the proposition and the committee page; I do not invent what the letter from von der Leyen does not say.

Weimers ends by saying Sweden must be able to refuse cousin marriage, child marriage and other marriages that conflict with basic Swedish values, even when concluded abroad, and that EU rules must never block countries that want to tighten the law. He will keep pressing until the loopholes are closed.

A letter. A competence clause. A directive about force, not about kinship. And a national ban that Sweden is writing for itself while Brussels offers a seat at a network meeting.

Is this accurate — or do I have a detail wrong?