Question regarding referral of motion to committee
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerned whether a motion from Vänsterpartiet should be referred to a committee with the support of Chapter 9, Section 15 of the parliamentary rules. The Speaker stated that the motion concerns a ban on Swedish arms exports to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia as well as international arms embargos 1. The Speaker judged that the connection between these demands and the massacre in al-Fashir is not sufficiently clear as Swedish weapons are not used in the conflict 1. Since the demands have a general approach, they do not meet the requirement to be presented on the grounds of the specific incident 1. The motion was therefore tabled 1.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
ANDRE VICE TALMANNEN
Nooshi Dadgostar and others, Vänsterpartiet, have submitted a motion invoking Chapter 9, Section 15 of the parliamentary procedure. According to this provision, motions on the occasion of an event of greater importance may be submitted jointly by at least ten members if the event could not be foreseen or considered during the general motion period or any other motion period in Chapter 9 of the parliamentary procedure. The motion was tabled at the meeting on Wednesday, November 19.
The event cited in the motion is information regarding a massacre in al-Fashir in southwestern Sudan in October 2025. Even though the civil war in Sudan has been ongoing since 2023, the escalation of violence in the ongoing conflict and the events in al-Fashir can be seen as a specific event.
A prerequisite for motions to be introduced according to Chapter 9, Section 15 of the parliamentary rules is that they have a clear connection to the event and that the motions could not have been introduced in any other context.
The motion contains three motions. The first motion concerns an immediate stop to Swedish arms exports to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. The connection between the motion and the incident in Sudan is stated by the proponents to be that both countries supply the parties in the Sudanese conflict with weapons. The proponents do not claim that Swedish weapons are used in the conflict in Sudan. Nor, according to the Swedish government, are there any reports that Swedish weapons are used in the conflict. Therefore, the Speaker assesses that the direct connection between the specific incident invoked and Swedish arms exports is not sufficiently clear.
The other two motions in the motion aim for Sweden to work within the UN for a weapons embargo against all of Sudan and for Sweden to work within the EU and the UN to strengthen the tools for maintaining existing weapons embargos and monitoring that they are followed. Both motions have a general approach and are judged by the Speaker not to have a direct connection to the specific event being invoked.
The right to submit motions on the occasion of an event of greater importance was introduced in connection with the constitutional reform of 1974. It was emphasized then that the proposed provision is of an exceptional nature. The Riksdag has also applied the provision restrictively.
The conflict in Sudan has been ongoing for a long time, and even though one may consider the events in al-Fashir to be a specific event that could not be foreseen or considered during the general motion period, the Speaker judges that none of the three motions have a direct connection to the specific event and thus do not fulfill the requirement in Chapter 9, Section 15 of the parliamentary rules that the motion shall be presented ”on the occasion of” a specific event.
The Speaker's assessment is therefore that the motion cannot be raised with the support of Chapter 9, Section 15 of the parliamentary rules. According to Chapter 11, Section 7 of the parliamentary rules, there are therefore obstacles to referring the motion to a committee.
The Speaker therefore proposes that the Chamber refers the motion to the records. Do you agree? The answer is yes.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.