Introduction

TALMANNEN

Honorable members! A warm welcome back to the chamber and to a new parliamentary session, the fourth and final one during this electoral period! I hope that you look forward to an intensive parliamentary session that leads us forward toward the 2026 general election.

I did not intend to start by saying that I hope you have had a pleasant summer, because that could send the signal to those citizens listening to the meeting that the members of the Riksdag have been off until now. So that is not the case. Even though the Chamber has been plenary-free, that is to say meeting-free, from some week after Midsummer until the middle of August when the interpellation debates started again, we all know that the members of the Riksdag are on duty every day of the year and that you carry out very active political work in many contexts that do not take a long summer break.

I hope that during the summer, when you had some time, you were able to spend time with loved ones, but I also know that as early as August you went full speed again with the political work and that you have been active for a number of weeks before we now gather to formally start the new parliamentary session.

In a few hours, we will gather in this chamber again for the opening of the Riksdag. The forms we follow today were used for the first time in 1975 – exactly 50 years ago this year – at the opening of the Riksdag in the provisional parliament house at Sergels torg. Before that, the opening ceremony was called the solemn opening of the Riksdag and took place in the Rikssalen at the Stockholm Palace. With the new form of government, a new opening ceremony also followed.

Honorable members! One thing that will characterize the parliamentary year is Sweden's cooperation with like-minded states, something that has become increasingly important in a restless time such as ours. In October, the Riksdag will host the Nordic Council's session here in Stockholm. It will be an opportunity to discuss common affairs, but it will also, of course, be an opportunity to meet colleagues from our neighboring countries' and the autonomous territories' parliaments.

Later in the autumn, on November 23–24, a parliamentary summit within the framework of the Crimea Platform will take place in the Riksdag. The Crimea Platform is an initiative of President Zelenskyy and was originally intended to highlight the consequences of Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Crimea Platform also has the further purpose of gathering support for Ukraine's struggle for peace and freedom.

Together with Ukraine's Speaker Ruslan Stefantyuk, I have invited colleagues of the Speaker from around the world to this meeting. Our hope is that the summit in Stockholm will show that many of us in the world's parliaments continue to stand united in our unwavering support for Ukraine and its people. I am proud that the Riksdag is hosting the Crimea Platform this year.

That we live in a restless time also means that we work extensively on developing the Riksdag's own preparedness in the event of war and the threat of war. It is soon time for MSB's annual preparedness week. Here in the Riksdag, we draw attention to it, among other things, by launching two publications: firstly, a brochure describing your role as members in the Riksdag's preparedness work and providing concrete advice on how you can prepare yourselves, and secondly, a handbook to strengthen resilience against disinformation.

Honorable members! In the spring, "Putting the Member in Focus – the 2023 Parliamentary Inquiry" was presented. Throughout, the proposals regarding putting the member in focus for the Swedish Parliament Administration's work are about reducing the members' administrative burden and strengthening protection against threats and violence. The report is now being prepared, but the group leaders and I agree that the proposals that can be implemented already now without legislative changes should also be implemented. The member perspective is something that the Parliamentary Board, the Director General of the Swedish Parliament Administration, and I are pressing hard on, and it shall be guiding for all work in the Swedish Parliament Administration.

A new arrangement that will be introduced during the autumn, at the proposal of the Parliamentary Investigation, is that it shall be possible for member networks and associations that are co-organizers of a seminar in a chamber to receive compensation for costs when refreshments are provided. More detailed information will be provided when that possibility is introduced.

Finally, I want to raise a chamber-related issue. One thing that I pondered a lot on even when I was a new member here in 2006 is why cabinet ministers who are heads of departments here in the chamber and in the parliamentary press are referred to with the title of minister, for example the Minister for Finance or the Minister for Defence, while other cabinet ministers are referred to only as cabinet ministers without the title of minister, even though they have a title of minister in the government's work, for example EU Minister or Civil Minister. There is a history surrounding this that goes back to the Instrument of Government of 1809, but despite my love for history, I have, before this parliamentary meeting, put an end to this remnant from the time of the old Instrument of Government. From now on, all cabinet ministers will be referred to with the title of minister, even here in the chamber.

(Applause)

What is it that one usually says? We aim to please.

Let me now wish you all a fine day and an autumn in which we together build upon the Riksdag's long history and at the same time make our country ready to meet the future.

I ask those of you who are going to the service in Storkyrkan to note that it starts ten minutes earlier than last year to create a bit more time for the processions, i.e., at 12.10. The seats should be occupied by 11.55. The Humanists' ceremony keeps its previous time. See you again here in the chamber at 14.00!

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)