Municipal and regional issues
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerned municipal and regional issues. S requested approval of the committee's proposal and argued that the legislator should avoid far-reaching detailed regulation in order not to circumvent municipal self-government 1. S considered that local politicians themselves bear the responsibility for shaping local democracy 1. SD requested approval of reservations regarding economic management, number of members, minority protection, and municipal referendums 2. SD wanted to investigate the possibility of stripping "political wildlands" of their assignments 2. SD also proposed digitalization of name collections for people's initiatives 2. M requested approval of the committee's proposal and emphasized the importance of proximity between citizens and elected representatives 3.
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! We are approaching the end of the KU's perhaps not half-day but moment in the spotlight this time.
Now we have come to municipal and regional issues, something that I believe many in this chamber hold close to their hearts. Many of us also have mandates of trust within municipalities and regions, which we value as an important link when we work in the Riksdag.
I would initially like to move for approval of the committee's proposal in the report.
Local democracy is that which is often closest to the citizens. It is in the municipal decision-making bodies that many of the decisive decisions regarding school, care for the elderly and people with disabilities, sewage fees and leisure opportunities are made.
In our country, we have a tradition of strong municipalities with extensive powers. We have, as most of you here surely know, even chosen to emphasize this in the beginning of the Instrument of Government: "Swedish democracy is based on free formation of opinion and on universal and equal suffrage. It is realized through a representative and parliamentary system of government and through local self-government."
In the part concerning the democratic conditions for municipalities to operate, we as legislators should carefully consider how we regulate these. An excessively extensive detailed regulation of, for example, municipal councils but also committees and boards risks bypassing municipal self-government and, above all, local decisions regarding their own democratic organization.
Madam Speaker! In a number of reservations, the Sweden Democrats advocate for changes in the Local Government Act that would further regulate local democracy in detail. This concerns, for example, speaking time in the municipal council and the municipal audit.
The problems highlighted by the reservations are in no way unreasonable to raise and discuss. But I want to emphasize the elected representatives' responsibility in this case because there are good reasons why a large responsibility lies with the local politicians themselves to shape local democracy within the frameworks specified in the law. Municipal elected representatives are given power and influence by voters in general elections, and the accountability if the elected representatives abuse the democratic rules of the game occurs through the council's control instruments, free opinion formation in traditional and social media, the importance of which we just debated, and most decisively through a general election.
There is every reason to continue the discussion on local democracy and monitor whether changed legislation is required in certain respects.
For example, the corona pandemic has shown that many municipalities and even regions had to be, let us say, creative in how they applied the Local Government Act in order to even be able to hold these important democratic meetings. But it also turned out during the pandemic that the cooperation between the parties in the municipal councils and the parties in committees and boards often actually worked. Voluntary agreements were made because local democracy was being protected, and I think that was immensely fine.
Against the background of what is stated in the report, the Social Democrats nevertheless consider that all motions should be dismissed in accordance with the committee's proposal.
In addition, there are a number of interesting parts in the report on municipal cooperation and pilot projects that are currently being prepared within the Government Offices following various investigations - for example, linked to skills supply, something that we discuss very often.
For KU, it will be interesting to follow how the government returns regarding these questions.
This may be my final contribution in today's debate, so I must thank my colleagues in KU very much and also the secretariat for good cooperation.
Fredrik Lindahl (SD)
Madam Speaker! I would like to begin by moving for approval of reservation 3 in the Committee on the Constitution's report 29, which concerns municipal and regional issues.
The Sweden Democrats have, as mentioned, eight reservations. These concern economic management, and briefly, it is about how municipalities and regions handle taxpayers' money in investments that do not concern the municipal core activities. It also concerns the number of members and substitutes in the municipal council, the board's position in relation to other committees, representation and minority protection, elected officials' right to insight, audit and accountability, municipal referendums and that which concerns the reservation that I just moved for approval of, namely change of party affiliation.
The Sweden Democrats naturally view all of these reservations positively, even though we only demand approval for reservation 3.
Madam Speaker! During the previous parliamentary term, the possibility was introduced to strip non-affiliated members of their seats in the Riksdag's committees, partly so that the representation of the parties in these bodies shall reflect the will of the people and political deadlocks are avoided. The Sweden Democrats would like to see this arrangement investigated also at the municipal and regional levels so that so-called political wildcards in municipal councils can be stripped of their assignments in committees, boards, and foundations where the party is represented.
Furthermore, the Sweden Democrats consider that municipal self-government should be defended, broadened, and deepened. A municipality is not a purely administrative area but consists of the people who live there. A prerequisite for creating a more vibrant and safer Sweden is to ensure a good sense of community and participation in local communities.
Another important aspect for safeguarding democratic legitimacy is that the dynamics between the opposition and the governing parties are healthy and on equal terms. The political parties that have been elected to the assembly must be given the opportunity for good oversight and participation in the political work.
Unfortunately, there are examples of municipalities that have reduced the number of seats in committees and boards solely to keep certain parties away from oversight, which is deeply problematic. The current design of the Local Government Act implies that there is a risk that a majority, through changes in the number of seats in committees and boards after an election, in my opinion improperly, minimizes influence from one or more parties, especially in cases where a reduction results in the opposition being completely shut out from participation.
Furthermore, it is important to ensure strong minority protection regarding interpellations. To reduce the risk of a majority silencing a minority, one should consider the possibility of increasing the number of votes required to stop an interpellation from being submitted to the governing body.
One can go far by increasing transparency and encouraging dialogue between the municipality's activities and the residents, but sometimes citizens need to be able to express their opinions in municipal referendums. The strengthened people's initiative can be further developed, and we want to see that the proportion of signatures required to initiate a decision-making process to the municipal council is investigated.
Collecting signatures manually is a cumbersome and time-consuming task. Despite the fact that even in the 2014 democracy inquiry with the fine name Let more shape the future! it was suggested that the instrument for name collection could be digitized, nothing has happened for nearly ten years. We should, of course, be able to reach a solution in this matter, given the rapid technological development occurring in our society.
Lars Johnsson (M)
Madam Speaker! The report we are dealing with today concerns about twenty motions from the general motion period concerning municipal and regional issues. The motions concern, for example, issues regarding municipal mergers, the municipalities' financial management, the number of members and substitutes in the municipal council, municipal referendums, as well as pensioner councils. I shall briefly reflect on some of what is addressed in the report.
According to the Swedish Statistics Bureau's report on elected officials in Sweden, referring to 2019, the total number of elected officials in the municipalities today is barely 36,000 people, while Sweden's population is over 10.5 million inhabitants. Before the large municipal mergers in the middle of the last century, there were, according to SCB, around 200,000 elected officials in our municipalities. At the same time, Sweden's population amounted to approximately 7 million inhabitants. This meant that every 35th inhabitant was an elected official in a municipality. The corresponding figure today is approximately one elected official per 300 inhabitants.
In the middle of the last century, it was so that most people knew or were acquainted with a local representative. Even if one did not always share the same political views, one perhaps knew that the person in question was usually still a quite decent person. Politics and politicians were close to the citizens in a different way than today. If one as a citizen wondered about the grounds for a political decision, it was never far to an elected official.
I am not standing here claiming that it was better before, but I still think it can be good to reflect on this development. What has it meant for our democracy and for the trust in our political representatives? This is a question that I think should be kept in mind when taking a position on some of the proposals in today's report, for example regarding new municipal mergers or proposals that provide an opportunity to further reduce the number of elected representatives in the country's municipal councils.
Is it the right way to go if one wants to strengthen local democracy and trust in our elected representatives? Someone might perhaps object that politicians today are available on social media. But can social media really replace the personal meeting?
Madam Speaker! In February 2020, the so-called Municipal Inquiry submitted its report to the government. The inquiry has looked at to what extent structural measures, for example cooperation between municipalities, can strengthen the municipalities' strategic capacity. The report is currently being prepared in the Government Offices.
In the same way, in September 2021, the Inquiry into an effective economic management in municipalities and regions submitted its report, which was given the name A good municipal economy. This report is also currently being prepared within the Government Offices.
I consider that there are grounds to await the government's position in these parts, and therefore I move for approval of 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.