I'm not familiar with the Swedish system, but in the 2 immigration systems I am familiar with, permanent residence is a step you must take before naturalizing.
In those two immigration systems you are familiar with, what is the difference between permanent residence and naturalizing, and is there any benefit to get naturalizing rather than staying as permanent residence?
Italy has a long term residence card that is valid for 10 years, and renewable indefinitely, but the conditions for renew are absolutely not comparable to a green card for example. Just go out of the EU for a year and it's no more.
This was adopted by Italy in 2007. So while I am not sure about it I suspect it's the same for all EU countries, since immigration papers are mostly governed by EU regulations and directives. What is your source for France having mandatory permanent residency prior to naturalization (unless it's permanent in the sense of renewable indefinitely)?
Edit: indeed, this is a bill for adopting rules laid out in the EU directive on immigration and asylum.