Editing Sweden Democrats (section)

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During the 1980s and early 1990s, several outspoken [[Far-right politics|far-right]] and [[Nazism|Nazi]]<ref name="svd.se"/><ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="aftonbladet.se"/> advocates were involved with the party.<ref name="autogenerated10" /><ref name="autogenerated11">{{cite news|url=http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/9912/02/nazi1.html|title=Ett nätverk för nazister|newspaper=Aftonbladet|date=2 December 1999|access-date=25 May 2006|language=sv|archive-date=15 February 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050215181944/http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/9912/02/nazi1.html|url-status=live}}</ref> It was founded by, among others, the Swedish [[Waffen-SS]] veteran [[Gustaf Ekström]]<ref name="svd.se"/><ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="aftonbladet.se"/> and members of both older Nazi and [[Neo-Nazism|neo-Nazi]] organisations. In its early days, the SD also had a reputation for attracting biker and skinhead gangs to its rallies before dissociating itself with neo-Nazi and skinhead movements in the mid-1990s. The party had flyers printed by the [[French National Front]] in the 1998 general election,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.svd.se/dynamiskt/inrikes/did_2275826.asp |title=Extremparti får mothugg |newspaper=Svenska Dagbladet |date=4 May 2002 |access-date=25 May 2006 |language=sv |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070310201400/http://www.svd.se/dynamiskt/inrikes/did_2275826.asp |archive-date=10 March 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sverigedemokraterna.se/sd/asikter_skolwebb_utl.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040617030323/http://www.sverigedemokraterna.se/sd/asikter_skolwebb_utl.shtml|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 June 2004|title=Sverigedemokraternas utländska kontakter|website=Sverigedemokraterna.se|access-date=25 May 2006|language=sv}}</ref> and was financially backed for the 2004 European election by Belgian businessman and racial conspiracy theorist [[Bernard Mengal]].<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://hd.se/inrikes/2004/01/27/extremist-ska-finansiera-sd-s-eu/|title=Extremist ska finansiera sd:s EU-val|magazine=Helsingborgs Dagblad|date=27 January 2004|access-date=8 November 2010|language=sv|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716025526/http://hd.se/inrikes/2004/01/27/extremist-ska-finansiera-sd-s-eu/|archive-date=16 July 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.expressen.se/index.jsp?a=128678|title=Sverigedemokraterna får miljoner av rik rasist|newspaper=Expressen|date=24 April 2004|access-date=25 May 2006|language=sv|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050903123734/http://www.expressen.se/index.jsp?a=128678|archive-date=3 September 2005|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the 1990s, the party was a member of the ''[[Euronat]]'' initiative which was set up by [[Jean-Marie Le Pen]] before severing ties with it in 1999.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.populismstudies.org/the-sweden-democrats-killer-of-swedish-exceptionalism/ |title=The Sweden Democrats: Killer of Swedish Exceptionalism |date=3 August 2020 |access-date=2025-02-10}}</ref> However, as part of the moderation process the Sweden Democrats began expelling extreme far-right members from the early 2000s onwards and updated the party constitution to include clauses against racism, extremism and criminal behaviour in 2010. Since the 2010s, the SD has also sought to distance itself from far-right parties in Europe, including turning down an invitation to join an alliance in the [[European Parliament]] with the French National Front in 2014 and choosing to ally themselves with more moderate parties during the 2014 and 2019 European elections.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://results.elections.europa.eu/en/national-results/sweden/2014-2019/constitutive-session/ |title=Sweden |access-date=2025-02-10}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/36661/chapter-abstract/321675362?redirectedFrom=fulltext |title=Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy: An Acceptable Marriage of Convenience |date=January 2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/oso/9780197500859.003.0004 |isbn=978-0-19-750085-9 |access-date=2025-02-10}}</ref>