The refugee situation in the fall of 2015 was unique, as Sweden had never before received so many asylum seekers. In total, just over 163,000 people sought refuge in Sweden, most of them within a few months when more than 1 million people crossed the Mediterranean See to seek asylum in the European Union. A comparison between the Nordic countries, calculated per 10,000 inhabitants, shows that during the years 2015-2016, Sweden approved 70 asylum applications, Norway 25, and Denmark and Finland about 12 (Örstadius, 2021). This situation would result in an unexpected aftermath in connection with the report of the Swedish results of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD’s) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey in 2018 which was published by the end of 2019. At the same time the results were published, national newspapers and the largest opposition party, the Moderates, noted that 11% of students were excluded from participation in the survey—the highest figure among the participating countries—due to deficiencies in the Swedish language. The debate that followed revealed a deep disagreement regarding the Swedish PISA result of 2018 and whether the result implicated an improvement or not. This paper focuses on how a transnational cooperation initiates national communicative discourses. The paper explores what main actors and normative background ideas that becomes important as well as the implications of the arguments that are made.