Literature, language and art forms

Kristina Axén Olin (M)

Mr. Speaker! For the third time in history, the book industry turned over more than 5 billion Swedish kronor. In current prices, book sales increased by 1.7 percent to the highest figure ever: 5.15 billion. Printed children's and youth books increased in volume by almost 7 percent to 6.5 million sold books. Turnover in the genre therefore increased by 12.7 percent, or 733 million. So write Svenska Förläggareföreningen and Svenska Bokhandlareföreningen in a press release.

The increase coincides with the payment of the new state grant for the purchase of literature for schools. It is incredibly pleasing when one directly sees the results of our political decisions. These are decisions that actually make a difference.

The background to the government's and the majority parties' initiatives on reading is a tragedy: that every fifth child in Swedish school leaves without being able to read and without having cracked the reading code. The major initiative is that just this year we have increased the funds to the schools by 480 million kronor in state grants – almost half a billion – for the purchase of non-fiction and fiction. It feels really good in the heart.

Our government has, however, not only done this to increase children's reading and get more children to pass school. I looked at which decisions we have made just in the last few months concerning books, literature, and children's reading. I can count up six things that we have made decisions on.

On November 22, the bill regarding the right to staffed school libraries was submitted. On December 2, the reading lists with literature and book selections that Skolverket has developed together with experts were presented. They are intended to give schools some help and inspiration for good books to read. On December 21, we made the decision I just spoke about: to allocate almost half a billion in state grants for which schools can submit fiction and non-fiction, in addition to textbooks, which have a completely different grant.

On February 10, the Swedish Authority for Accessible Media received a mandate to ensure that eligible students are granted access to Legimus. It is a library service that includes course literature for various disabilities. A problem that has existed within the educational materials industry and the book industry has been that too many have been able to access specially accessible materials without paying for them.

On April 4, the Royal Library was commissioned to develop requirements and standards for the lending of e-books and audiobooks.

Mr. Speaker! These were only the things that the Ministry of Culture has developed and that we have made decisions on, alongside everything that the Ministry of Education has also done to increase children's reading. Together with the Ministry of Education, we will continue the work so that more children learn to read. The goal is, of course, that every child who completes grade 9 should be able to both read and calculate so that they can have a good life and can participate in the democratic conversation.

With those words, Mr. Speaker, I wish to refer to and move for the approval of the committee's proposal for a decision and move for the rejection of the motions that are present.

(Applause)

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

Mats Berglund (MP)

Mr. Speaker! The Government has received criticism during the past weeks for its – as it appears – somewhat disengaged policy regarding our indigenous people, the Sámi.

About a month ago, approximately, at the beginning of March, we were reached by the news that there will be no reburial during 2025 of the Sami remains that were removed from Rounala cemetery in 1915. The reason is that the funds, 1 million, which the government set aside are held by the National Heritage Board and can only be applied for by the small non-profit Sami associations, not by the Sami Parliament, which is the actor that could manage to plan and carry out a reburial. The result is that the money remains at the National Heritage Board. The Sami from the area around Rounala will continue to need to live with the knowledge that their relatives lie in boxes at a museum instead of being treated in the respectful manner that the Swedish state has actually acknowledged and decided.

At the end of March, another piece of news arrived. The UN rapporteurs on human rights and indigenous peoples' rights have directed serious criticism at the Swedish government's handling of the truth commission for the Sámi people. The commission has not been allocated sufficient resources from the government, which, if true, according to the rapporteurs, violates international law. They also point to organizational deficiencies, for example that there has been a lack of a chairperson for a period of time and that there is concern regarding whether the composition of the commission is being maintained. The government has also not responded to requests to adjust the timeframes for the commission.

I have submitted written questions to the Minister for Culture regarding both of these matters. The answers are unfortunately quite disappointing. The sequences of events are referred to, but no measures or approaches to measures were presented at all in the answers.

Now, I have nevertheless heard that the Minister for Culture has invited the relevant actors to a conference and a dialogue regarding the reburial issues. Perhaps it is the beginning of a solution. I hope so. These issues need to be taken seriously. There is, of course, much more to be done regarding the indigenous people, the Sami, and our other minorities. Miljöpartiet highlights a number of issues in the report that we are debating today.

Resource libraries for the national minorities fulfill important functions, for example competence development and operations, and provide Swedes of Finnish descent, Sámi, Roma, Tornedalians, and Jews with access to material. The libraries in Jokkmokk, Övertorneå, Stockholm, and Malmö are of great importance both as places and as functions for our minorities. The Finland Institute's resource library has become increasingly popular and in demand while the funding has decreased.

The Swedish-Finns are the largest of Sweden's five national minorities, but unfortunately, many have lost their Finnish language and instead have Swedish as their first language. More and more have switched to speaking Swedish in more and more contexts. A consequence of this is that we today have a shortage of Finnish-speaking staff, for example, within elderly care. An increasingly elderly Finnish-speaking population in Sweden has requests and needs to communicate in Finnish. Since they live and work throughout the country, it becomes even more urgent to provide an offering in more places than just the capital.

Miljöpartiet holds the rights of the Swedish-Finns in high regard and has for a long time pushed for higher ambitions in minority policy. We continue with this. During our time in government, we made major investments in all national minorities and their languages and cultures. But we believe that more must be done to make visible and promote the special culture belonging to Swedish-Finns, Tornedalians, Jews, Roma, and Sámi in order to strengthen these groups' empowerment and revitalize the various minority languages – Finnish, meänkieli, Yiddish, Romani chib, and Sámi.

Regarding Sami, I want to specifically mention the joint center Sámi Giellagáldu, which is financed by the Sami Parliament jointly in Sweden, Norway, and Finland. That funding has also decreased.

Mr. Speaker! Public service naturally plays a huge role for increased awareness and knowledge of the national minority languages. By being heard on radio and TV, the languages gain a more self-evident place in society. It gives people the opportunity to participate in their minority language and their culture in a relevant way in a relevant context throughout Sweden. Miljöpartiet wants the requirements for the program offerings in the national minority languages to increase in the upcoming broadcasting license from 2026. More of both news segments and cultural segments are needed to keep the minority cultures and minority languages alive.

We should investigate the possibilities for more cross-border cooperation between our Nordic neighboring countries when it comes to newspapers and text in Finnish, Meänkieli, and Sámi. To strengthen Sámi culture throughout Sweden, Miljöpartiet also wants Giron Sámi Teáhter to be made into a national stage. That is what we motion for.

Mr. Speaker! I have so far chosen to speak primarily about minority and indigenous issues. But I will mention a few other issues that Miljöpartiet has motioned on during the general motion period. They are also included in the report and concern the arts, reading, and literature.

The first concerns the visual and performing arts, which, for probably historical and organizational reasons, have tended to be disadvantaged in the system of funds to the regions via the cultural cooperation model. Less than 2 percent of the model's funds go to visual and performing arts. The Arts Council also has a grant aimed at the free arts scene, but it is relatively little money. When the National Exhibitions were dismantled, those funds were not transferred to the arts scene. According to Bildkonst Sverige, the situation needs to be reviewed. There are a number of proposals in their report The Visual Arts Organizers, which was released in February 2023.

Now the Cultural Council has received a mandate from the government to take the investigation on the cultural cooperation model further. We will have to see what comes out of that. But I believe that in any case, another major review will need to be conducted to identify gaps and inequalities in the state grant-giving to the different art forms and perhaps also to the different regions. But for any change to occur, more resources are obviously required. Otherwise, it won't work. With today's Tidö policy, the budget for the cultural cooperation model is unfortunately being reduced to get money for Skapande skola.

Mr. Speaker! The government is putting energy and some resources into children's and young people's reading. We think that is good. It is nice and very good that the bill on school libraries came. It was the Miljöpartiet in the government that took the initiative for that investigation. The reform with staffed school libraries will, of course, need to be followed up. We must keep that in mind. It is important, and it must be followed up so that it works in schools all over Sweden.

Reading lists and funds for the purchase of class sets and other literature for the schools have also been provided, as we heard in the previous speech. One shall move from screen to binder. This may, in itself, worry us a bit given the report that came a few months ago that the digital competence of children and young people across Europe, including in Sweden, is deficient.

Reading cannot only begin with the children. For children to start reading books, it naturally also requires that adults read books – their parents but also other adults, which we unfortunately do less and less. Miljöpartiet therefore has petitions in the report concerning continued reading promotion measures but, above all, the need for a comprehensive literary policy investigation. It is needed to strengthen the entire ecosystem for literature with good conditions for the authors, the publishers, the bookstores, the libraries, and so on. What can the compensation systems look like given the audiobooks, the AI issues, and so on?

Mr. Speaker! I naturally stand behind these motions and all other motions from Miljöpartiet in this report. But to save time, I now move for approval only of reservation 6, which concerns the need for a national stage for Sápmi and Giron Sámi Teáhter.

(Applause)

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

Roland Utbult (KD)

Mr. Speaker! I begin by moving to approve the proposal in the report.

Mats Berglund gave an interesting speech about the indigenous peoples. I am traveling to New York and the UN myself in just a few weeks and will be there for two weeks. It is going to be about the situation of the indigenous peoples. I share this interest and truly think the issues are important.

Mr. Speaker! In April 2024, the Government submitted a report titled Strategy for companies in cultural and creative industries to the Riksdag. In the strategy, which applies until 2033, a vision is formulated that Sweden shall strengthen its position as a leading country for the cultural and creative industries.

Perhaps we could say that our social climate, our democracy – even if it has sluggish elements – and our generally known order and stability create special conditions for setting such goals. We often talk about ourselves in negative terms. I think we should think exactly the opposite. Here are conditions for, not least, cultural creativity.

The industries have good growth and contribute to the Swedish economy and a dynamic business life as well as to increased exports and a positive image of Sweden abroad. Companies within the cultural and creative industries contribute to a diversity of cultural expressions and cultural experiences throughout the country.

Mr. Speaker! Our cultural canon is now approaching. The work is led by Professor Lars Trägårdh. The cultural canon shall make Swedish culture accessible to more people and become a living and useful tool for education, community, and inclusion. It will be presented at the end of August this year.

I received a question at lunch today. What is the purpose of the cultural canon? My answer was simple: education.

Education has for many been a closed room. A cultural canon can open perspectives for people, not least for children, to a world that previously has only belonged to others. Often it has been privileged groups.

At the end of August, the culture canon will arrive. It will be exciting to see the extent of the interest among the Swedish people.

Mr. Speaker! Skapande skola is one of the Christian Democrats' priority issues in the cultural field. Cultural creators and schools collaborate there to long-term integrate cultural expressions into the school's work. Since the start, Skapande skola has been expanded, largely thanks to the realization of proposals from the Christian Democrats, so that it now covers the entire primary school and preschool.

Research shows that children who regularly have contact with cultural activities gain a greater ability to recognize and express their emotions, which is crucial for understanding others' emotions and feeling empathy. The Government has increased the grant to Skapande skola, as it is an important measure for children and young people to encounter culture.

Mr. Speaker! I will stay in the world of schools. The government has an initiative for strengthened school libraries. It looks very different today. Some students have access to a fully equipped school library with many books, different media, and perhaps a trained librarian, while others only have a few books in a small, secluded room.

By school library is meant a collective, common and organized activity with a versatile range of analog and digital media that are made available to teachers and students to be used as a resource in teaching. One shall therefore have access to a school library at the own school unit. But if there are special reasons, the school library may instead be located at another school unit or at a public library. The school libraries shall be staffed to such an extent that the purposes of school libraries are achieved. The proposal is intended to enter into force in July this year.

Mr. Speaker! Let me conclude by saying something about the Royal Opera. In January this year, something happened that no one had previously succeeded in despite several decades of knowledge regarding the Opera House's poor condition. The Government, together with the National Property Board and Kungliga Operan AB, presented a solution which, among other things, involves space for the Royal Swedish Orchestra, an extension towards Kungsträdgården, a new entrance and foyer, a spacious backstage, three new ballet halls, and a new terrace for the audience above Café Opera.

It will cost the state just over 3 billion, but parts of the renovation will be financed via private donations of 300 million, which will make the Opera fully functional.

Donors constitute a complement to state funds, and it rhymes very well with my thoughts on the return of patrons, something I have expressed previously. As a complement to the state funds, the donors will contribute in a completely new way.

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

Ewa Pihl Krabbe (S)

Mr. Speaker! First and foremost, I stand behind all of our reservations and our special statement, but I move for approval only to reservation 18.

Mr. Speaker! In 2025, our most beloved superhero, Pippi Longstocking, turns 80 years old. It feels more important than ever to face the world as Pippi does, with enough strength and courage to break norms and stand on the side of the weak against bullies and abusers of power. Pippi shows that we can always choose to help our fellow human beings and make the world a little better and a little more just. She is a symbol of freedom, strength, kindness, courage, and justice – a rebel who uses her superpowers with wisdom and never abuses her power.

So the publisher Rabén & Sjögren describes Pippi.

International Children's Book Day, which was established in 1967, is celebrated every year on April 2 on H.C. Andersen's birthday and aims to draw attention to children's and youth literature as well as promote children's reading worldwide. This year, the Netherlands is the host country for International Children's Book Day, and the theme for this year's celebration is the freedom of imagination – a very important message today.

On March 21, the study circle was entered into Sweden's national inventory of intangible cultural heritage – a very important step in highlighting its role in knowledge sharing and democratic participation. The national inventory is part of UNESCO's convention for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage. The public can nominate traditions and methods for the inventory, and the study circle now became one of the methods recognized for its value in passing on knowledge and culture.

Study circles have a long history in Sweden – we have talked a lot about it today – and are a fundamental part of popular education. They have long functioned as meeting places where participants share knowledge and develop together. By becoming part of UNESCO's list, the study circle receives official recognition for its pedagogy and tradition and as a living and significant cultural form.

The inventory of intangible cultural heritage now contains about ninety different traditions, methods, and crafts that contribute to preserving and further developing Sweden's cultural heritage. Six new traditions were inscribed on the inventory on March 21: fössta tossdan i mass, höhässjning, kura skymning, Loshulta torsda, and ängshävd on Gotland – and so the study circle.

Mr. Speaker! Speaking of cultural heritage and literature, I want to advocate for the Swedish bookstore. At the August Gala in the autumn, Dillbergs bokhandel in Kalmar was awarded the Swedish Publishers Association's honorary prize for its enthusiastic work in spreading the joy of reading and for demonstrating the bookstore's importance for the local community, the authors, and the readers. Dillbergs has for very many years successfully worked to promote reading through large and small author and book evenings. The staff has also actively been out at schools to meet students and talk books – the knowledgeable staff is naturally one of the keys.

In Malmö, for example, there is the bookstore Bokvärlden, which every Thursday organizes author visits that are very well-attended. In places such as Höganäs, Båstad and Osby, to name a few towns in Skåne, one finds well-sorted bookstores that offer book talks, author conversations and plenty of browsing of books. Without these enthusiastic booksellers who stimulate the cultural life in the towns, Sweden would have been poorer.

Parts of the cultural deficit were recently visiting Berlin, and we could observe that the book trade in Germany generally has a stronger position than in Sweden. This is largely due to the German fixed-price model for books, which means that publishers set a fixed price for every new book publication that all retailers must follow – to promote cultural diversity and so that even small bookstores can survive.

Germany also has significantly more physical bookstores per capita compared to Sweden. Unfortunately, the number of physical bookstores has decreased in Sweden over several decades because the competition with online retail has become too great and also due to the lack of a fixed-price system. Norway also has a system that favors the booksellers.

In Germany, the bookstore is also seen as part of cultural policy, and so we in Sweden should also view our bookstores.

Mr. Speaker! During the year, I have made many visits to school libraries and regular libraries, including in Ängelholm and Tomelilla, towns with varying surroundings and with the same challenges when it comes to youth reading. In the small village of Ausås outside Ängelholm, the pizza is served, and the books lie in a pile on the table waiting to be read. At the community center, five boys meet on five occasions to read, talk, and socialize.

When the library in little Ausås was closed and replaced with a bookmobile, the municipality chose to make an extra investment in youth specifically because they wanted to stimulate more reading among young people. Five boys of the age of 14 registered their interest. They have two weeks to read a book in the Sävaträsk series, an easy-to-read book series about EPA and the countryside, before it is time for the next meeting, where they talk about the book. At that meeting, they also read the first two chapters of the next book in the series aloud. They then finish reading the book at home. And do you know – here they read more than they do in an entire year in normal circumstances.

This is a small but brilliant example and something that can have good effects for these guys in the future, perhaps if and when they themselves become fathers. Reading fathers are, in fact, particularly important role models for their children.

Another project is being conducted at Kastanjeskolan, a secondary school in Tomelilla in southern Skåne, a locality with a fairly large surrounding area where they actively work with Läslyftet in all schools. At Kastanjeskolan, there is an ongoing process to influence reading, which is also the key to understanding mathematics, and there is a great need among many young people. Just like in Ängelholm, they have devoted some special attention to manga-interested youth and now have about fifty young people who read books that both capture their interest and have a reading format that suits them. And the school library is appealing – one notices that clearly when one looks in and talks to them. That is what I did, and it was a very pleasant conversation.

During visits to Österänggymnasiet in Kristianstad and Björnekullaskolan in Åstorp, one can also see staffed school libraries of a high standard. What characterizes these schools is, I would like to assert, that one has a powerful principal who sees the importance of a good school library with good staffing, and deeply committed staff who do their utmost to stimulate reading among children and young people. When it comes to reaching children and young people, it is also, I can state, of importance where in the school the school library is located. It should not be tucked away.

Mr. Speaker! I naturally cannot help but say something about the lack of new mandatory legislation. The current mandatory legislation is from 1993 and 2012 respectively and is in many respects outdated and clearly not adapted to the digital development and the constantly changing media landscape.

The development of the media and the major changes in how publishing occurs led to the fact that the government at the time decided in 2019 on directives for an investigation with the mandate to produce new and more purposeful legislation. This had been preceded by an investigation that the government tasked the Royal Library to carry out as early as 2017. It became a report, Plikten under lup!, in which the Royal Library warns of what happens to a legal deposit library if the collected material does not maintain a high standard.

Since 2021, the investigation report *Papper, poddar och … Pliktmateriallagstiftning för ett tryggat källmaterial* has been published, with proposals on how the mandatory collection of material can be designed so that it becomes media, technology, and format independent and thus long-term sustainable.

The Royal Library is Sweden's national library and has, among other things, the task of collecting and preserving almost everything published in Sweden – and that is no small thing – based on current legislation. The mandate stems primarily from the now outdated legislation from 1993, which results in major problems and very unnecessary costs for the agency for the ongoing digitization of new daily newspapers, which technically could be collected in digital form directly from the supplier. The agency's task to support research can also not be maintained if the mandatory legislation does not provide the possibility to collect relevant media forms.

I know that work is ongoing in the Government Offices and that it is probably a complex piece of legislation. Perhaps one should do this in two steps so that the easiest problems are solved first, because it is urgent to produce legislation. The situation as it is now is very costly for the Royal Library. It will also cause major problems for future research, and that is something we do not want.

Mr. Speaker! All children need security, closeness, and good upbringing conditions. All children need to read, be read to, and travel in their imagination. Astrid Lindgren once said: "Give children love, more love, and even more love, and common sense will come of its own accord."

(Applause)

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

Malin Danielsson (L)

Mr. Speaker! I continue on the theme of literature. Literature does not only give us a mirror for our own society, but it also opens a door to other worlds, other perspectives, and other life stories. It develops our ability to think critically, to reflect on our place in the world, and to make our own informed decisions.

It is not just about reading for pleasure or to keep up with the latest trends in culture. It is also about our ability to discuss, to argue, and to understand one another despite our differences. Literature is a fundamental prerequisite for democracy, for the development of free thought, and for the individual's right to understand and change their world.

Mr. Speaker! The reading crisis in Sweden is not a new phenomenon. But its seriousness has become increasingly palpable in recent years. We see a worrying decline in the reading habits of both young people and adults, which, especially for the young, can lead to a diminished ability to read and understand longer texts. This, in combination with an increasingly fragmented consumption of information, where deep reflection takes a backseat to quick and sometimes superficially presented news and opinions, can lead us toward an undesirable development. It is therefore so important for us Liberals to take the reading crisis seriously.

Mr. Speaker! Those who have followed the Liberals over the years know that there is a recurring theme in our messages: School first. Therefore, it is no coincidence that we in the government, in order to solve the literacy crisis, are putting school first. The slow pace of reading and reflecting has difficulty competing with the screens' fast cuts in an endless stream. Therefore, it is incredibly important that more children get to encounter the magic of books.

That all students should now have access to staffed school libraries is truly long overdue. As a Swede, keeping up to date with all the fantastic children's and youth literature that is produced and matching the right book with the right child to awaken the desire to read is a truly extensive task. Even though Skolverket will now to some extent facilitate with reading lists for different ages, it is precisely the engaged school librarians who are the key to success.

Mr. Speaker! Another important initiative from the government in the field of literature is the initiative for the purchase of fiction and non-fiction in schools. As Kristina Axén Olin has been involved in, we are now seeing fantastic results where more literature is being purchased for our children and young people.

A few years ago, one of my sons came home with a very poorly photocopied copy of the classic The Great Gatsby. On some pages, you couldn't read the last words in the lines, and you had to guess them. I think it is quite difficult to experience that magic when you have to sit and guess what it actually says at the end of the sentences.

On other occasions, my children have come home with books in e-format that they are to read on their phones. It might work well for some, but those of you who have 17-year-olds at home know that Snapchat messages are constantly rolling in, which interrupts the reading. It is perhaps not a good solution for the vast majority.

Of course, our children and young people need to have real books to read. It is not only children and young people who need to be given the opportunity to find their way back to the magic of books. A council has been established by the government for a reading nation. It will be very exciting to see what civil society, academia, and the business community can jointly mobilize in terms of resources, structures, and networks to promote reading throughout the country at all ages.

Mr. Speaker! Finally, there is something that worries me regarding literature in Sweden today. We have previously seen that we in Sweden have adopted variants of American politics. Now we see further influences from the USA that are worrying. At a school library in Sweden, parents have expressed views on the book Gender Queer being lent out to middle school students. This has led to the school making a decision that the book may henceforth only be lent out to high school students.

This development worries me. We have seen, case by case, how parent groups in the USA have had one book after another banned in schools and in libraries. It has gone so far that people are now even joking that it is almost easier to produce a list of books that are allowed than books that are banned. We really do not want that development in Sweden.

Trust in the profession – in this case the librarians – must exist. This form of censorship does not belong in a democracy. I truly hope that this was an exception that does not confirm the rule and is not repeated. We do not want to have more cases like this.

With this, I move for approval of the committee's proposal.

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

Runar Filper (SD)

Mr. Speaker! I will begin by moving for the approval of our reservation 13, Nordic languages. We Scandinavians have, throughout history until now, been able to speak with one another in our respective languages. If it has been difficult to understand, we have articulated clearly and adjusted slightly to the recipient's level and spoken more slowly. The Scandinavian linguistic understanding has been quite unique because it is three different languages where we have nevertheless been able to understand each other in large measure fully.

Mutual Nordic linguistic understanding has unfortunately become increasingly worse. Something fundamental is in the process of being lost: our ties to history and our linguistic roots. The relationship between Swedish and Norwegian remains as it was. We speak Swedish with our Norwegian neighbors, and they answer us in Norwegian. It works well, even if we may need to slow down the pace a bit when we speak and increase the clarity of articulation a bit depending on where in the country we are. Not everyone is as accustomed to speaking with Norwegians as people from Värmland are. Those who live in Norrland, on the Norrland coast, or for that matter Stockholm, may find it a bit more difficult with Norwegian. I have noticed that over the years.

But in this way, we always do when we talk to someone who does not have Swedish as a mother tongue: We articulate and speak clearly and perhaps choose certain words that are common in that country.

In roughly the same way, it was in conversations between Swedes and Danes not so many years ago, but that is no longer the case. It may partly have to do with age. The older generation enters a Danish shop and speaks Swedish, while the younger choose English. The older ones get answers and follow-up questions in Danish – the younger get answers in English. This departure from Scanian speak did not occur 30, 40, or 50 years ago, but it has become increasingly common now.

Now the choice of language is falling more and more on English, especially among the younger generation. English is increasingly making its way into the Nordic linguistic community. This is, as said, a change that has been ongoing for a few decades. The almighty English has become a threat to the Swedish language.

We must safeguard our linguistic identity and our Nordic ties. Here, the Nordic Council, the school system, and for that matter also public service with its linguistic responsibility, have a lesson to learn.

Perhaps the most prominent current example that there has been debate about concerns the Swedish national team manager in football, Jon Dahl Tomasson from Denmark, who speaks English with Swedish journalists and with the Swedish national team. It is a bit murky and strange because he was also a coach in Malmö for two years and spoke Swedish with journalists and players. He can do whatever he wants.

We also see that sociolects with elements of, among others, English, Turkish, Serbo-Croatian, and Arabic are taking up an increasingly larger space. This development is largely due to the high immigration to Sweden in recent decades and the segregation that is a consequence of this. The development has in many ways affected Swedish. Today, entire areas are characterized by such sociolects, which in everyday language are called ortensvenska (suburban Swedish). This development is worrying as it negatively affects the uniqueness of Swedish and worsens the linguistic conditions for a large number of people who live and work in Sweden, which in turn can affect their opportunities in the labor market and in society at large.

Minority groups' languages have been oppressed, neglected, and abandoned throughout history in the whole world. During parts of the 1900s, there was, among other things, a ban on speaking one's own mother tongue, which in practice meant that children were not allowed to speak either Sami or Meänkieli in school. This contributed strongly to the fact that the speaking of these languages decreased and that the new generation was not given the opportunity to learn the languages properly, which is what is suffered from today. Therefore, the preservation of the Sami culture – and of course also the Tornedalian culture – is extra important, also when it comes to the language. It is above all a question of identity, roots, origin, and cultural heritage.

In view of this, it is of great value to work for the preservation of these languages. They are part of both the Sámi and Torne Valley cultural heritage as well as the Swedish, as the Sámi are also an indigenous people in Sweden. The Swedish minority legislation aims to guarantee the rights of Swedish national minorities, including their right to language and culture. Of course, this applies not only to Sámi and meänkieli but also to the Finnish culture and the Finnish language, the Romani culture and Romani chib, as well as the Jewish culture and the language Yiddish.

I was very satisfied and happy when the reading lists were presented in December. I think you have succeeded in making a very good selection of both easy-to-read, entertaining, and educational books for the younger ones and exciting and educational volumes for the slightly older ones. I have read very much myself for my children; it even evoked a bit of nostalgia when I read the 250 different titles.

The government's mandate to Skolverket included that, together with the Swedish Arts Council, they should produce reading lists with different types of literature, including Swedish and international literary classics. Divided by school form, they shall serve as a support for preschool teachers and teachers when they are to choose literature for their teaching. If necessary, the reading lists shall be updated. They are thus not static, but rather different works may come and go.

I saw several works by Astrid Lindgren and Elsa Beskow. However, I missed Elsa Beskow's reading book, which became a classic for all generations. Do you want to read? It was first published in 1935 and influenced an entire generation of Swedish schoolchildren. It was published until 1962 and was read in schools until the 60s.

The same applies to the predecessors of the Swedish school, which all our grandparents once in time read. I am speaking of Anna Maria Roos Sörgården and I Önnemo, which are fantastic depictions of old Sweden. They were published in 1912 as readers for Sweden's primary schools in the series Hem och hembygd. I have read them myself. From there comes the concept of "a true Sörgårds idyll." If one, for example, comes to a cozy and beautiful place out in the countryside, one might exclaim "What a Sörgårds idyll!" It comes from the book Sörgården. Not many make that connection today.

Even Gustaf Fröding from Värmland has been included, with poetry for children between 0 and 3 years old. That might not be the first thing one thinks of regarding Fröding, but he has included a small poem about a snail.

The lists can, as mentioned, be updated annually, so those who lack literary works can probably be calm. The lists are merely tips and guidance to help preschool teachers and teachers with ideas, so it is in no way about compulsion.

This is a very good initiative by the government, and I believe it will have an effect on future reading. Preschool teachers, teachers, and school librarians who have extensive experience with children's reading have been involved in the work and in the development of the proposals.

I believe that the reading lists can contribute to awakening the curiosity and joy of reading in teachers, children, and students. I also believe that they can contribute to awakening parents' joy of reading when parents get to read to their children. They will help many both find new favorites and be reminded of a beloved book one has forgotten. Not all parents may have a reading habit, but now they can get tips. These lists are public, so they are not so difficult to obtain. This can, as mentioned, also give parents tips and guidance. One just has to google it.

I was, as I said, happy when I saw these reading lists, which were presented four months ago. It is a really good literary initiative.

(Applause)

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

Vasiliki Tsouplaki (V)

Mr. Speaker! Language creates meaning for us humans and is the basis for our communication. Such a fundamental human function inevitably also becomes an important political issue. Who gets access to a language, what status a language has, and which way of communicating is considered to be the right one ultimately determines which individuals and groups can make themselves heard in the public conversation and gain power and influence.

Every era has its language issues to handle, and it is rarely possible to decouple those discussions from the prevailing views on, for example, class and culture and the Swedish self-image. Sweden legislated very late in the area of language policy. Instead, it has been reforms within, among others, religion, the school system, and the labor market that have set the framework for language development.

Sweden's multilingual history is long. The idea that a nation should have a national language is relatively new in comparison. In different periods, for example, French, Latin, and German have held a strong position alongside a multitude of local dialects and languages.

Mr. Speaker! The oppression of national minorities and a policy of forced assimilation is a horrific and still in many ways unprocessed part of Sweden's dark history that lives on and has consequences into our time. People have been made invisible and mapped in discriminatory ways solely because they belonged to a minority. The previous assimilation policy meant that people were forced to deny their origins and stop speaking their language in order not to be excluded from the majority society. Through international agreements, Sweden has since the ratification in 2000 committed itself to protecting the rights of national minorities when it comes to identity, language, cultural heritage, and religion, but much remains to be done.

Even though it was not until the 2000s that we received a proper minority policy, certain language policy changes were made during the 70s. The increased immigration then led to the Riksdag abandoning the idea of assimilation and clarifying that Sweden was a multicultural society. New courses were established to meet the educational needs of both newcomers and national linguistic minorities.

Today we see that increased globalization and digitalization have given English an ever more dominant position within education, media, IT, and parts of the business sector. This has sparked discussions about the position of Swedish. During the 2000s, we have therefore seen larger language policy investigations, which culminated in the Language Act. The Language Act is a framework law that is written to establish what obligations the public has towards individuals when it comes to language use. It is a very important law.

In recent years, the political debate has rather focused on the individual's obligation to learn Swedish in order to obtain a residence permit or citizenship. The right wants to investigate whether it is possible to charge for interpretation services from certain groups, and the utility of mother-tongue instruction is being questioned. It has been a debate that has often been colored by racism and a disregard for the state of knowledge within linguistics. We see it as necessary to turn that debate and see multilingualism as something positive for both the individual and society.

The EU aims for the union's inhabitants to be able to speak two languages in addition to their mother tongue, and Sweden is currently at the top in that regard. It is something we should be proud of.

Mr. Speaker! As several members have mentioned, we had a visit yesterday from a number of cultural actors from northern Sweden. It was a large seminar here in the Riksdag that was very pleasant and uplifting in every way. It demonstrated, above all, the diversity of cultural expressions that exist in our country and how great a role culture plays in preserving language and identity.

From Vänsterpartiet, we have proposed that the Sámi theatre, Giron Sámi Teáhter, should become a national stage and receive greater financial support. We believe that one also needs to look more closely at the conditions for the Tornedalian theatre so that they can reach residents throughout the country who speak meänkieli.

During this parliamentary year, we have submitted two motions and a number of budget proposals dealing with the right to language and related issues concerning libraries and literature. I do not, of course, have time to mention everything today. Several of the proposals concerning national minorities also fall under the Committee on the Constitution, but here in the Committee on Culture, we are responsible for the issue of resource libraries, so I thought I would mention that.

The previous government tasked the Royal Library with carrying out an initiative for the national minorities' libraries. The assignment involves an investment in special resource libraries that shall support the country's other libraries and ensure that literature is available for Sweden's national minorities throughout the country. Children and young people are given special priority.

What we have unfortunately seen is that the funding for the resource libraries is both insufficient and unclear. Who actually has the responsibility? Vänsterpartiet thinks that the funding needs to be clarified and made permanent. Several parties have visited the Finnish resource library here in Stockholm. This needs to be done now. We have also proposed an increase of the grant by 5 million for this year.

I move for approval of reservation 9, which concerns this issue.

Mr. Speaker! I also want to talk a bit about the status of sign language. We have approximately 30,000 people in Sweden who are sign language users. Many might think that it is people who have a hearing impairment and do not think that it is rather about a culture-bearing minority with its own language.

If we instead designate the group as sign language users, it also includes hearing people, and I think that is an important point. This is a language. Even relatives of deaf people or people with hearing impairments or others who have wanted to learn this language should be included in the group.

It is also important to remember that for many, sign language is their first language and Swedish is their second language. It was unfortunately not until 1981, after a long struggle from the deaf movement, that Sweden became the first country in the world to give sign language the status of a recognized language. Before that, for example, it was not permitted to use sign language within the school system.

The cultural offering for those who are deaf or have a hearing impairment has increased. But one area that is still lagging behind is literature in sign language. In the current situation, there is hardly any offering. The Special Pedagogical School Authority had a mandate until 2014 to produce books. That offering is available via the lending service Legimus, which is managed by the Swedish Agency for Accessible Media and which then distributes the works via the libraries. Most of the works are, therefore, over ten years old today. To borrow, you have to go to a library, and then the librarian is to burn the book onto a DVD disc that you are to take home. Today, very many people do not have a DVD player, so you understand that the system is cumbersome. The distribution of responsibility is difficult, and we would need to do something about this.

I had therefore hoped that more parties today would see the absurdity of the situation and back up our proposal. But we will have to try again next year.

Mr. Speaker! I see that time is running out, but since several people spoke briefly, I will continue for a moment longer.

We see that there are a number of current challenges also within the literature sector that I think we need to address politically, and this is an area that several have touched upon.

The latest major literary policy investigation was conducted in 2012, and the propositions and initiatives that have been made since then have primarily been aimed at reading promotion activities and library issues. There have been welcome initiatives from both the previous government and the current one, but for us to have a comprehensive literary policy, one must take a holistic approach to all parts of the literary ecosystem, that is, also creation, mediation, and distribution.

The Swedish people's way of consuming literature has changed radically in recent years. Streaming audiobooks are taking up more space, while the purchase of physical books is decreasing. We also increasingly purchase physical books online, and the bookstores are thus facing a tougher situation. This was mentioned, among other things, by the Socialdemokraterna earlier. These new reading and purchasing behaviors affect book publishing and, ultimately, also both authors, translators, and illustrators.

We think it is very positive that the audiobook has made literature accessible to more people in a fantastic way, but there are problems with this business model that need to be reviewed. For example, the illustrators receive no payment when their books are streamed and no one sees the pictures. Within children's literature, this is a concern.

I would therefore like to take this opportunity to point out to the audience that today we are three parties proposing a larger literature review, and I also hope regarding this issue that we can become more parties that stand behind this motion. There does not need to be any ideological dividing lines here, but we should be able to agree that a larger rethink is needed.

(Applause)

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

Catarina Deremar (C)

Mr. Speaker! Now I am going to do something that I did not think I would resort to: I intend only and very briefly to move for approval of reservation 12.

I thank you for the floor and the debate!

The deliberation was hereby concluded.

(A decision was to be taken on 23 April.)

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