Introduction
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns the welcoming of members before an intensive autumn and practical rules for the chamber's work. The Speaker emphasizes that members are in service year-round, even during periods when the chamber is not in session 1. He explains that the exhibitions in the Riksdag show portraits from the 1810 Riksdag and clarifies that the story of one person modeling all four is a myth 1. Practically speaking, he urges members to submit finished speeches via email 1. He also suggests replacing "du" with first and last names, moving for approval in a clear manner, and using "för att vinna tid" instead of "för tids vinning" 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.
TALMANNEN
Honorable members! A warm welcome back to the chamber! An extra warm welcome to those of you who are here for the first time, which is a few of you. You have just begun a very special mission in a very special house, and I wish you all the best of luck.
I hope you have all had a lovely summer with your loved ones. As a member of Parliament, one is often away from one's family, so I truly wish you time with your closest ones when Sweden is at its most beautiful.
At the same time, it is important to emphasize, not least for everyone around Sweden who is following this session, that you members are in office every day, all year round. In the past, the parliamentary session took place only during parts of the calendar year, and if the Riksdag needed to convene, for example, during the summer, an extraordinary, extra, parliamentary session had to be convened. Now, the parliamentary session continues until the next parliamentary session begins.
However, as we all know, the Riksdag is plenary-free during certain periods, which means that chamber meetings are not scheduled then. It is valuable that there are periods when, for example, it is possible to travel without it disturbing the regular work of the chamber and the committees. Many committees and members have carried out foreign trips now in August and the beginning of September. I have followed many interesting travel accounts in social media.
It should also be emphasized that the entire period between Midsummer and the opening of the Riksdag has not been free of plenary sessions. We have conducted interpellation debates both at the end of June and in August. Furthermore, it is common for certain bodies to need meetings even when the Chamber does not meet. During the summer of 2024, both the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the EU Committee have met.
To all this comes your outward-facing work. Many members are active during Almedalen Week, and my impression is that you members usually resume your constituency work in the middle of August and that the party groups have kick-off conferences in the middle or at the end of August.
Furthermore, you members must always be ready to attend at short notice if matters need to be addressed, even during plenary breaks. Most recently, this occurred in August 2023 when decisions needed to be made regarding a support package for Ukraine.
Despite all this, all this activity that has taken place during June, July, and August, I hope, as I said, that you have had time with your loved ones and that you are now ready for an intensive autumn in the Riksdag.
Honorable members! I mentioned in my summer speech the new exhibitions in the northern transition rooms that were inaugurated this spring. Since then, I have learned something about these exhibitions that I would like to share.
In the exhibitions are included the so-called estate portraits, that is, the four portraits of the speakers in the 1810 Riksdag who chose Jean Baptiste Bernadotte as the Swedish heir to the throne. The portraits, the faces, are quite similar to one another, aren't they? When I was new in the Riksdag in 2006, I had to learn that it was one and the same person who had stood as a model for all four speakers' portraits. I do not know what it is with the rest of you, but I do not think I am the only one who has had to learn this story. It is wrong!
We recently consulted Nationalmuseum on this very issue and were met with great surprise. The art experts there had never heard of the story and argue that it is highly unlikely. Their opinion is that it is four different people who are portrayed.
One must say that this is a tall tale, a real rat-in-the-pizza story. The similarity between the portraits probably has more to do with the era's ideals for middle-aged gentlemen than that the artist Carl Fredric von Breda would have been lazy. You are welcome to look for yourselves, today or some other day, and choose which story you believe in.
Honorable members! Let me finally raise some more practical issues related to the work here in the chamber.
As I have mentioned earlier, it is a great help for our recording secretaries if you send in pre-written speeches by email in advance to the address protokoll.manus@riksdagen.se.
The address in the chamber sometimes causes difficulties. As we all know, we speak about each other, and not to each other, via the Speaker in the chamber, but there is no reason to complicate things more than necessary. It is quite sufficient to replace "you" with the first name and surname of the person one is debating against.
Petitions can also sometimes cause difficulties. If you say that you want to raise or stand behind a reservation, we speakers will ask if you move for approval. Moving for approval is therefore a straightforward and simple way to express oneself. What one moves for approval for is normally a reservation, not a proposition or a motion.
I also wonder, between us, if we can agree to abolish the strange phrasing "för tids vinning"? I have tried to smoke it out now for six years as Speaker, but it is stubborn. It is better to say the grammatically correct "för att vinna tid".
With these kind reminders and observations, I would like to once again warmly welcome you back to the Riksdag. Let me wish you a fine day and a fine autumn as we together build upon the history of democracy and the Riksdag, while simultaneously preparing our country to meet the future.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.