The handling of the Riksdag's communications
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerned the treatment of the Riksdag's reports and the government's reporting on announcements. S requested approval of the committee's proposal to add the government's report and the Riksdag Board's account to the records 1. S argued that it is a natural starting point that the government responds to announcements as soon as possible, preferably within two to three years, and that it is the Riksdag that decides whether an announcement should be considered finalized 1. M also requested that the reports be added to the records 2. M argued that the number of announcements has decreased significantly since the change of government because the current government's policy has the support of a majority in the Riksdag 2.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Peter Hedberg (S)
Madam Speaker! It was mentioned at the beginning of the review debate that our committee meetings often mean that we do not have time for lunch. In that spirit, we have continued this day, but hopefully there is something other than the alternative lunch I have seen some use to regulate blood sugar levels and energy levels.
We have now come to the last debate where there are registered speakers for today, and it concerns KU's report 21, The handling of the Riksdag's communications. I begin by moving for approval of the committee's proposal, namely to submit the government's communication and the Riksdag Board's report to the records.
This report also concerns the relationship between the Riksdag and the Government, just as the review does. The Government's communication 75 fulfills an important function as an account of measures that have been taken in connection with the Riksdag's decisions, particularly the announcements.
There are certain things, Madam Speaker, that recur as surely every year: herring on Midsummer Eve, Kalle Anka at 3:00 PM on Christmas Eve, and what feels like at least an entire quarter of Melodifestival. As surely as those phenomena are the content of the Committee on the Constitution's position regarding precisely the handling of the Riksdag's communications.
The committee reminds once again that it is a natural starting point that the government meets the Riksdag's motions as soon as possible. It is reasonable that the motions can be finalized within a two- to three-year period.
Just as we have noted previously, there are notifications that have more than eleven years on their backs and which have still not been reported as finalized. Certainly, some notifications are complicated and extensive, and they may even be politically sensitive due to their nature, but it should not mean that notifications cannot be reported as finalized after one or two decades.
The Government is fully entitled to inform the Riksdag of the view that the announcement is finalized even if it has not been accommodated. It is thereafter the committees and ultimately the Riksdag that have the responsibility, within the framework of their processing, to decide whether it should be considered accommodated and finalized.
The Committee on the Constitution's position in the report contains not only old favorites or greatest hits but also a considerable number of new arguments based on the other committees' opinions on communication 75.
Madam Speaker! We believe it is valuable for the handling of this matter and the KU's work that other committees contribute. I would like to particularly highlight the Environment and Agriculture Committee's statement where the issue of older announcements has been raised.
MJU expressed a wish that KU should conduct a reasoning regarding the committees' possibility to classify open announcements as concluded if they are no longer considered relevant. In KU's position, we have emphasized that it is the Riksdag, not individual committees, that decides whether an announcement should be considered concluded. But it is understandable that MJU has raised the issue specifically with regard to very old announcements. It shows once again the importance of the government handling these promptly.
KU means that it is a good order for the government to report its measures and assessments to the Riksdag, under parliamentary responsibility, and that it is thereafter up to the Riksdag to make its assessments.
I return to what was raised in the previous debate regarding the Parliamentary Ombudsman's official report. I want to emphasize the importance of the government returning to the announcement from the 2022/23 parliamentary meeting regarding the review of public supervision. As was emphasized in the previous debate, the Parliamentary Ombudsman has for several years flagged the problematic development with ever increasing numbers of complaints within areas without ordinary supervision.
I can conclude, Madam Speaker, that next year it will have been three years since the announcement. The Government has an excellent opportunity next year, in communication 75, to state that it considers this announcement finalized and satisfied. I hope that I do not stand here next year and repeat the same old phrases once again, but perhaps even get to give the Government some praise.
I wish the presiding Speaker, the secretariat, my colleagues in the committee, and the Chamber Office staff a happy summer.
Lars Johnsson (M)
Madam Speaker! About a month ago, one could read in the newspaper Barometern, in an editorial by Thomas Hermansson, that "the bourgeois government is cleaning up after the S-led government let the amount of notifications from the Riksdag swell year after year." Thomas Hermansson's editorial concerns notification 75, which we are debating today.
Document 75 is the government's annual report to the Riksdag providing accounts of which measures the government has taken in connection with the parliamentary reports, including announcements, that have been submitted to the government. An announcement is a decision where the Riksdag conveys its opinion to the government. It can be, for example, that the Riksdag considers that a certain issue should be investigated or that the government should submit a proposal.
During the previous parliamentary term, the number of motions was very large, the largest in 30 years. In the last year of the previous parliamentary term, there were a record 328 motions. The number of motions clearly reflected the previous government's weak support in the Riksdag.
After the change of government, there has been a marked decrease in the number of motions. At the last parliamentary session, there were only 17, and during the current parliamentary session, there have been only 4 up until May 15 of this year. We have to go all the way back to the Reinfeldt government's first term to find a lower number. The low number of motions is, of course, a result of the fact that the current government's policy has the support of a majority in the Riksdag.
At the same time, we can observe that the government is finalizing a large number of announcements at a brisk pace. Last year, there were 146 of them. Taken together, this means that the number of announcements not yet finalized is decreasing.
It was precisely this that the editorial writer Thomas Hermansson pointed out in his editorial; document 75 has become a little, a little thinner. This year it was 547 pages. Last year it was 555 pages and the year before that a full 570 pages. Thomas Hermansson noted that the reduced scope in itself is "a sign of the sitting government's strength and stability. Since the government has a parliamentary majority behind it, the number of announcements also decreases." Thomas Hermansson undoubtedly has a point.
The handling of the Riksdag's communications
Madam Speaker! Regarding the government's account, the Committee on the Constitution makes no other assessment than the government does regarding the finalized parliamentary reports. The Committee on the Constitution has also given other committees the opportunity to comment. Nor has any other committee submitted objections against the government's assessment of the finalized announcements in their respective areas.
In line with previous years, the Committee on the Constitution points out that it should be among the exceptions that announcements are not finalized within two to three years. As it stands now, however, several announcements that are not yet finalized are significantly older than that. One explanation for this is, naturally, the large number of announcements that existed when the current government took office.
Madam Speaker! With those words, I move that the Riksdag adopts the documents, in accordance with the committee's proposal.
The deliberation was hereby concluded.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.