Party debate

Statsministern Ulf Kristersson (M)

Mr. Speaker! The state budget that has now been in force for exactly 18 days was adopted by a stable parliamentary majority that has agreed on what must now be done. The justice system is strengthened, household finances are improved, immigration is tightened, and energy policy is restructured. That alone is a political paradigm shift.

After twelve years of increasing parliamentary disorder with governments that have even lost budget votes, we now have a majority behind the new government and behind the government's proposals. The four coalition parties have set aside well-known differences of opinion to take responsibility for Sweden in a difficult time. What we agree on will be implemented, which for a long time was the norm in Swedish politics. Now it has become normal again.

Party debate

Within the crime policy, the largest offensive in modern times is now being carried out. All law enforcement agencies will receive greater resources. Anonymous witnesses and search zones will be introduced. Sweden will imprison gang criminals for much longer and deport more who commit crimes but are not Swedish citizens.

In the area of migration, a similar offensive is being carried out. I will return to that.

At the same time, the government is shifting policy to manage both the climate transition and household finances. Last week, the first steps were taken for the legislative changes that prepare for entirely new nuclear power. The new department that links energy policy and climate policy is in place – because without offensive energy policy, there is no successful climate policy.

But building a stable energy supply takes time. Therefore, we must now support households that are pressured by increased food prices, more expensive electricity, and rising interest rates. Two weeks ago, we lowered the tax on gasoline. We have also lowered the tax on power plants for more and cheaper electricity. The tax burden for the country's farmers is being lowered and is doing its part for cheaper food production. And on January 1 next year, the reduction obligation will be lowered to the EU's lowest level.

These are just some parts of the four coalition parties' plan to reform Sweden. We have the people's mandate, and we have a stable parliamentary majority behind us.

But. I would still value even broader anchoring, as the needs are great, and major reforms take time to implement.

Furthermore, I believe, as you know, that it would be good to have a little more dialogue and a little less polarization in politics, both in Sweden and internationally, with constructive cooperation where people think alike, or similarly enough, and honesty where they think differently.

During the election campaign, it emerged that there may be a very broad majority in the Riksdag for our reform agenda in some areas and that more parties than our four could join behind the roadmap that we have received support for. I would therefore like to hear the opposition's view today on the conditions for broader political unity in three distinct areas. If we do not agree on everything, perhaps we can agree on certain parts. That too would be valuable.

The first point concerns migration policy. If perhaps more parties can accept that a much stricter migration policy is a prerequisite for combating parallel societies and counteracting segregation, then we can begin to build the strong, free, and equal society that the vast majority here believe in fundamentally. I am open to input, but the prerequisite must be that Sweden shall have a strict migration policy for a long time to come.

The second point concerns the electricity supply. There is a broad consensus in society that climate transition and electrification mean that Swedish electricity production must double over two decades. For as long as that lasts, not even I and my government can count on governing Sweden. Do more parties want to join in and contribute to truly long-term rules for all fossil-free types of energy, instead of pitting new wind, new solar, and new nuclear power against each other? We already know that all will be needed to manage the doubling.

The third is the justice policy. It will take time to get rid of the serious crime that has emerged. In Denmark it took ten years. In New York it took the entire 90s. Are more parties prepared to contribute to real long-termism for large resources and for more methods for the police and the entire justice system, such as anonymous witnesses, search zones and perhaps even more tools, then we can show those who commit crimes and for the entire Swedish people that we now mean business with getting rid of the criminal gangs.

If the answer to my questions is no, I naturally respect that. Then we truly differ on the substantive issues, and that is part of the rules of democracy. But if the answer is yes to one or some of these questions, there are probably the conditions for a broader political anchoring for the direction we are heading and for an even stronger message to our outside world that Sweden can now unite behind a long-term immigration policy, a long-term energy policy, a long-term crime policy - just as we recently united around a completely new Swedish security policy.

I am serious about this. I want to reach an agreement where it is possible, and I want to debate substantively where we remain in disagreement. I am convinced that it would be very good for Sweden.

(Applause)

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

Magdalena Andersson (S)

Mr. Speaker! We live in a dark time. For many people in the world, existence is characterized by oppression, war, and economic anxiety. Women's rights are being pushed back by moral police. Children are harmed and die from Russian bombs. Families go hungry when the money is not enough for food.

But there is hope. In Iran, demonstrators are fighting against the regime's oppression. In Ukraine, men and women are performing heroic deeds in defense of the freedom of their own country. And across Europe, people are saving on electricity and energy, all to dampen the prices and the unrest that follow from Putin's energy war.

That people rise up and decide to make the best of the situation and tough conditions gives hope in the darkness. Another world is possible.

Mr. Speaker! One rises because the most fundamental form of respect is being challenged. I am speaking of respect in its universal human sense, of respect for life, for the inviolable human dignity when it is threatened by the brutality of war. I am speaking of respect for freedom, for the power to decide for oneself over one's own life, when men in the name of religious oppression try to do it for you. I am speaking of respect for one another, for equal opportunities and cohesion, when economic, social and cultural divides risk leading to division and conflict.

Mr. Speaker! Respect is also one of the fundamental values that our Swedish society rests on, that is to say that we see each other as equals, keep our promises, and that we treat people in the same decent way regardless of background, gender, occupation or age. So that is what Swedish respect between people looks like, and it is the foundation for our community.

Mr. Speaker! I am speaking about society's respect for all those women and men who are woken up by the alarm clock every morning, go to work, work hard, pay taxes and contribute to the common good, who in their roles as nursing assistants, caretakers and plumbing technicians carry our Swedish society on their shoulders. They deserve respect by us showing appreciation for the work but also in the form of good working conditions, enough colleagues and financial security in case of illness or unemployment.

Mr. Speaker! I am speaking about respect for the generations that have gone before us, all the people who in decade after decade have built up Sweden, who have taken responsibility, strengthened and developed our business life, our culture, our school, healthcare and elderly care. Through that work, they have made Sweden the country that we all love. They deserve respect for everything they have contributed, but also in the form of a secure elderly care and a pension that it is possible to live on and that from time to time can add a golden touch to life - a pension worthy of the name.

Mr. Speaker! I am speaking about respect for the generations that are to come, for the small children who now require love and upbringing, but who one day will be the pillars of their society. I am speaking about all those young people who are now developing their professional skills and studying hard to contribute to the Swedish labor market in the future. I am speaking about respect for their children and all the generations that will live in Sweden. They deserve respect by us taking them into account in our time's major political decisions, in decisions that will shape their lives. To solve the climate crisis is to show respect for future generations.

But, Mr. Speaker, when one speaks of respect this winter of 2023, it is something that chafes. The situation that many Swedes face from politics, from the Sweden Democrats and the right-wing government, can hardly be described as respectful. Families with children, pensioners and single-person households are struggling with the electricity bill, even though they have voted for parties that have promised most solemnly to introduce a forward-looking high-cost protection by November 1 at the latest. People in the countryside are now facing higher fuel prices than during the election campaign, even though they have voted for parties that have promised to lower the price of diesel by 10 kronor and gasoline by 6.50.

Young people who have recently taken the step into the housing market have pinned their hopes on the promise of a scrapped amortization requirement. What did they get instead? A large tax cut - but not for them, but for those who earn the most. Over 10,000 kronor straight into the pockets of high-income earners.

Mr. Speaker! To handle people's private finances in that way is not respectful. To put out promises before the election and then break them immediately afterwards is not respectful. To furthermore provide untruths and pretend as if the promises have indeed been fulfilled is anything but respectful.

Sweden and the Swedish people deserve better. We need politicians who prioritize the economic conditions of ordinary people over the profits of those who already have the most, who stand by their words and promises, and who, if they do not achieve them, at least speak honestly about why, who simply take the word respect seriously and who understand what significance it has for our country and for the Sweden we love.

(Applause)

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

Jimmie Åkesson (SD)

Mr. Speaker! Sweden's former self-proclaimed role as the world's social conscience has had far-reaching and serious consequences. We have seen it, not least in environmental and climate policy, where naive Swedish politicians, in their eagerness to save the whole world, have placed such heavy burdens on their own citizens that economic vulnerability has become part of everyday life for a large part of our population today.

We have seen this within migration policy, where the old parties, without any consideration whatsoever, have pursued a policy that has torn apart Sweden as a country and a society. It is segregation, shootings, bombings and widespread insecurity.

Mr. Speaker! All the other parties in the assembly, who pushed through the devastating policy, who loved to stand here and talk about responsibility, took no responsibility. They pushed the responsibility away. They were blinded by their own self-constructed excellence. At the same time, they forgot where they come from. They forgot their own country.

I know that many think that all of this is history now and that we should not talk about it. But it is not history, because we are still, daily, affected by the consequences of the policy. I and my party will continue to remind both the colleagues in this assembly and the Swedish people of this as long as we find reason to do so. That will be for a long time – unfortunately.

Mr. Speaker! If we are to succeed in turning this around, a clear policy is required that goes in a straight opposite direction compared to the destructive policy that Sweden's governments have pursued for decades.

Nuclear power shall not be dismantled; nuclear power shall be built up. Fuel prices shall not be at maximum levels; they shall be at minimum levels. Swedish tax money shall not be scattered to the four winds to all corners of the world; Swedish tax money shall primarily go to Swedish taxpayers and Swedish citizens.

Our ultimate responsibility as Swedish politicians, elected by Swedish citizens, consists of safeguarding safety and ensuring protection for our own population. In order to succeed with that at all, a total and far-reaching change is required in, among other things, Swedish migration policy. Here, the Sverigedemokraterna, together with the government, have ensured that sanity and balance will be the future guiding principle, and I am pleased about that. Sweden will gradually implement the restrictive, responsible, and not least humane policy that this country should have introduced several decades ago. I want to assert that the paradigm shift in migration policy that is now at our doorstep is of direct decisive importance for our future. Now is the time to begin the work of giving our country and our citizens the breathing space that is so necessary and longed for by so many.

It is also about rebuilding the security for all the hard-working, honest Swedes who truly deserve it. We must shift our focus. We must understand that the people who threaten others' security have forfeited their right to society's consideration and goodwill.

Serious criminals shall feel hunted. They shall feel insecure. The widespread serious crime will therefore be met with a new reality. It will be met with tough resistance. Crime must be pushed back with the combined strength of all of Sweden.

Mr. Speaker! Harsh and just punishments mean something for real, just like more and better equipped police and attitudes and signals. It is clear that harsher punishments and better equipped police make a difference. But we must above all - speaking of respect, Mr. Speaker - show Sweden's crime victims that we stand on their side and not on the criminals' side.

(Applause)

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

Nooshi Dadgostar (V)

Mr. Speaker! Sweden has been the chair of the EU since the turn of the year. A great responsibility rests on the current government to achieve significant changes for the continent's acute crises.

Unfortunately, we in Sweden have a very weak government. It finally announced Europe's cheapest and slowest electricity price compensation. Nothing is known about whether or when it will be paid out. It appears confused and shaky in the face of the Turkish despot Erdogan's daily attacks against Sweden. Participation in climate summits seems to occur without goal or purpose. The government tries desperately to bask in the glory of new deposits near LKAB's mines but simultaneously phases out investment support for building new homes in northern Sweden and funds for healthcare, school, care, education, and labor market policy measures that are needed for the green re-industrialization to be able to happen. Nothing has been done to keep electricity prices down. On the contrary, the government is now working to raise electricity prices in northern Sweden through changes to the electricity price areas. As a Swede, one could be ashamed of less.

Now the Swedish government must stand up and drive the issues in the right direction. One of the most important issues is to solve the major problems that exist in the EU's electricity market and which have given Sweden these high electricity prices.

It will be the responsibility of the Swedish presidency to negotiate new rules for the European electricity market. This must be done with clarity and with skill because the Swedish electricity situation has become impossible. It is simply not possible for Swedish families to continue paying sky-high electricity bills - sometimes, as in December, of up to 17,000 kronor a month. Companies will be wiped out. They will move away from Sweden. Ordinary families will have to go into debt to pay their electricity bills. And they are paying high electricity prices completely unnecessarily.

All this is due to the EU's dysfunctional electricity market. The strangulation of Russian gas to Europe has created shortages in other countries but caused prices to skyrocket in Sweden - even though we do not use Russian gas. I believe that few Swedes think it is reasonable that it is the expensive, dirty fossil electricity on the continent that sets the price for the clean, cheap electricity in Sweden.

Today, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also notes that the electricity market no longer functions. It needs enormous reforms. She says that the EU's electricity market must be radically reformed.

French President Emmanuel Macron has stated that it is absurd for France, which is a nuclear and hydropower country, to pay prices based on the pricing of Russian gas.

It is a widespread myth that Sweden has mismanaged the national energy policy and that it has led to electricity shortages and high prices. But that is wrong. We produce more electricity than we need. We export more electricity than anyone else in all of Europe, but the export cannot be price-setting. Thanks for this cannot be high Swedish electricity prices.

Changing the regulatory principles and the pricing on the electricity market is the only way to significantly lower households' and industry's electricity bills. Those who believe it will get better just because the warmth arrives or the winds turn have forgotten that we hit the electricity price record in Sweden in August.

Sverigepriser is our time's electricity regulation, which lowers prices and strengthens Swedish industry and Swedish households. Furthermore, lowered electricity prices would lead to falling inflation and in turn contribute to the upcoming economic downturn becoming milder.

It is high time for the government to leave the surreal rhetoric from the election campaign behind and instead ensure what is best for Sweden.

(Applause)

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

Annie Lööf (C)

Mr. Speaker! It is difficult not to be moved by standing here today. It is my last party leader's debate in the chamber of the Riksdag, and there is much to say. But I will not summarize these 16 years; the speaking time is limited. Nor will I review the results; others will surely do that with pleasure. But I would like to use these minutes to say thank you.

I want to say thank you, because I feel a deep and sincere gratitude for the time as party leader and for what I have had the privilege to be a part of.

I feel proud when I think of the alliance cooperation, where the Center Party, together with M, L and KD, for eight years contributed to making Sweden an international model.

During two parliamentary terms, we reduced emissions while the economy grew thanks to good cooperation and record-fast expansion of renewable, emission-free energy. It is no small feat.

We lowered the tax burden by 4 percentage points while more money was invested in welfare. We pursued a bourgeois policy with a consistent work ethic that made it more profitable to work and with lower taxes on jobs and companies, and we simplified the regulations for the important small businesses. For that period, I would like to thank Moderaterna, Kristdemokraterna and Liberalerna.

I am grateful for the opportunity to take on the role of Minister for Enterprise during the Alliance's second term. We focused on jobs and companies but also activated important crisis support for thousands of people who lost their jobs as a result of the difficult recession that Sweden was in at the time.

I am also grateful for the cross-bloc cooperation that laid the foundation for the January Agreement, which ensured that Sweden could form a government after the 2018 election and a historically long government formation. It was an agreement that contributed to a large number of liberal reforms and a great deal of center politics.

It was a strength to be able to gather in the center of Swedish politics. Together with S, MP and L, the Center Party took responsibility and found constructive solutions for Sweden in a very difficult parliamentary situation while we safeguarded openness, equality, and humanity. For that time, I want to thank Miljöpartiet and Liberalerna and not least the Socialdemokraterna, who dared to look out for Sweden's best interests and cooperate constructively. Together we implemented many important reforms.

I also feel gratitude for the times when parties in this chamber have managed to set aside party politics in favor of broad cross-political discussions and made long-term decisions on necessary directions forward for Sweden. It has led to energy discussions that paved the way for more renewable energy and gave nuclear power better economic conditions, to pension agreements for long-term increased and secure pensions, to crisis support for farmers and companies during the pandemic, to significantly increased defense appropriations, and to enabling the important NATO membership process that we are now in the middle of.

We have found common ground across the block divide on issues concerning the safety of girls and women and in efforts against organized crime and honor-related violence and oppression. This has indeed been my guiding principle during these years: the content of politics and decisions that create a stronger, safer, and freer Sweden, in the entire country.

I have the same values now as I had twelve years ago – all people's equal rights and value and that the human being shall be the starting point for politics, not the state. I believe in a society that is built on respect and equal treatment.

Now that I stand here, 16 years later, I also want to convey one thing. All elected representatives have a choice: to contribute to a more cohesive Sweden or to increase polarization. So I want to say thank you to all of you who do what you can to reduce the division. We need each other. Our mission is about building bridges and safeguarding respect for one another, because that is needed.

Liberal democracy is under threat all around the world. The democratic space is shrinking. And even here in Sweden, we face great challenges - war in Europe, climate change, recession, energy crisis, entry into Nato. It is at times a harsh climate for debate.

Mr. Speaker! As an elected representative, one has the eyes of the world and the voters upon them. It is a great responsibility and a fantastic trust to manage - to mean what one says and keep what one promises. It is my firm conviction that society becomes what we together make it. That I have been given the opportunity to be a part of this has been a great privilege.

Thank you again for all the memories, for all the straightforward debates during these years and for the constructive collaborations! Thank you for this time!

(Applause)

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

Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)

Mr. Speaker! Sweden has received a new start. After eight years with a policy that led our country in the wrong direction, we received the trust of the Swedish people to begin to set things right.

Rarely has the starting point been as bleak as it is now. During the last year, 63 fatal shootings were recorded, in comparison to 4 in Denmark, 4 in Norway, and 2 in Finland. It was 163,000 people who waited illegally long to receive the care they needed. Fuel prices reached new levels, and electricity bills literally hit the ceiling.

This government received the Swedish people's mandate to lead Sweden out of the crisis. Now is the time for action and for responsibility. Now the work begins to renovate the Swedish folkhemmet.

Mr. Speaker! This winter has been incredibly tough for many households. Purchasing power is shrinking, and during Christmas, many children saw more Christmas presents on TV than under the tree at home. A wave of poverty, which has not affected us in this way before, is sweeping over our country, and it is being transplanted through our entire economy.

I do not think that anyone listening to today's debate is particularly served by a blame game. We have enough politicians who blame their mistakes on others and do not want to take responsibility themselves. Now Magdalena Andersson is laughing - afterwards you can tell everyone what was so funny.

If we are to be able to take the right measures moving forward, we must understand what has brought us here. We must identify what went wrong, not primarily to point fingers but to understand, learn lessons, and ensure that our country does not make the same mistakes again. This is the reason for the accountability and the reason why I am prepared to take the responsibility to lead us out of the difficult situation we find ourselves in.

We are currently going through the worst energy crisis in living memory. Who 20 years ago could have guessed that we would be working out crisis plans for disconnections, i.e., blackouts? How could 3,000 megawatts just disappear into thin air?

This government took over an electricity system in shambles. The dismantling of fully functioning nuclear power is a mistake of historical proportions. Despite all warnings, the red-green government chose to rush forward headlong. How can one secure the electricity supply in the entire country if one dismantles the largest energy sources in the southern half? The only answer was: better transmission capacity.

If we take this to its logical conclusion, it means that a large part of the energy would be produced in the north to then be transported, transferred, to the southern parts. We see the consequences now, in the form of not only higher electricity prices but also a disproportionate distribution of resources. Northern Sweden has received the crumbs of what they themselves produce. It became red-green distribution policy in practice. This is what we will change.

Now we are moving forward with an electricity support targeted at households across the entire country. Now we begin the reconstruction of a robust electricity system that can withstand the demands of the whole country.

Mr. Speaker! I sometimes liken our electricity system to a house. A house does not just need to be cleaned, it must be renovated, sealed, drained and remediated, and cables need to be rerouted. The needs are many, to say the least.

No one has claimed that the way forward will be easy; it will be difficult and expensive. But to all of you who are struggling, I want to say: We see you; we hear you; we will not leave you behind. We are doing everything we can to turn this around.

In a time when many people are carrying a heavy burden, we are now doing what we can to alleviate and support. The guaranteed pension is increased. Student support is expanded. Families with children and single parents who are struggling financially receive an enhanced housing allowance.

After eight years of parliamentary chaos, there is now a government that has the clear support of a majority in Sweden's Riksdag. We are four different parties with different starting points, but we agree on the direction. And we will deliver on the mandate that the voters have given us – to lead Sweden out of the crisis and build a better future for more. It will not happen overnight, but it will happen. Now the work begins.

(Applause)

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

Märta Stenevi (MP)

Mr. Speaker! This autumn, there were three parties that made a really bad choice. Despite repeated lies, nuclear power tics, whistling hot dogs, and stuffed animals on tour, the conservative parties lost the election. The Moderates lost the position as Sweden's second-largest party for the first time in a very long time. The Christian Democrats retreated to their second-worst result in 30 years. And the Liberals made it over the parliamentary threshold at the last minute, with their worst election result ever. Together, these three conservative parties failed to even scrape together as many seats in the Riksdag as the Social Democrats alone.

Still, these three parties managed, by the smallest possible margin, to form a government - not a majority government, note well, but rather a puppet government. The government did not take office on the voters' mandate but on the mercy of the Sverigedemokraterna. It is their policy that the losing parties have now taken upon themselves to implement and be responsible for. Jimmie Åkesson says: Jump! Ulf Kristersson asks: How high?

Mr. Speaker! What kind of policy have we received with a Sweden Democrat puppet government? We have received a government that smashes climate and environmental policy and presents a budget that increases emissions instead of reducing them, which shuts down the Ministry of the Environment and which signs an agreement to protect 30 percent of nature but at the same time removes both money and protection for just nature.

It is a government that no longer shows leadership in the major issues of the future, but must be pushed forward by the EU, and which wants to see lowered ambitions in several of the important negotiations that it is to lead during its presidency.

We have received a government that stops a rapid expansion of renewable, cheap wind power in order to instead hope for future, expensive nuclear power and which asks the population to save electricity while systematically opposing support for energy efficiency. It is a government that would rather have people freeze than invest in their heating.

We have received an electricity price support that has been pushed back and pushed back, and when a proposal finally came, not a penny went to the pensioner in northern Sweden who is going to heat their house in the cold. On the other hand, tens of thousands of kronor went to the billionaires to heat up outdoor pools. And not until massive criticism came from the opposition was northern Sweden also given an alms. The money that was promised before Christmas, the Swedes are still waiting for. March is the latest offer.

We have also received a government that cannot tolerate criticism and therefore wants to classify the information regarding the electricity price support as secret so that it will not be scrutinized by the media and the opposition. We have received a government that spends 7 billion to lower the petrol price by 14 öre for one day but does not compensate the municipalities for inflation. Instead, the government forces through savings in school, healthcare, and elderly care if the municipalities do not choose to raise the tax for those with the lowest incomes, while the same government lowers the tax for high-income earners.

We have received a government that never lets children in vulnerable areas forget that no matter how hard they strive and how much they struggle, they are always suspected criminals in the government's eyes. They can always be subject to a search or a new repression.

We have received a government that condemns Russia in big words but continues to buy Putin's oil, gas, and uranium. One hails Ukraine's courage and resilience but allows, with shame, Ukrainian women and children to live on subsistence levels in Sweden.

We have received a government that calls Turkey a democracy, because it has chosen to forget that elections are not enough to be a democracy. The elections must also be free, the judiciary must be independent, and minorities must be protected.

We have received a government that is deathly silent about the tens of thousands of demonstrators who are subjected to torture and sexual abuse in Iran. It is a government that has betrayed the women who risk their lives for freedom. We have received a government that speaks more sharply about a hung doll than about young demonstrators who are executed by hanging in Iran.

Mr. Speaker! Sweden deserves so much better than this.

(Applause)

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

Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Johan Pehrson (L)

Mr. Speaker! Sweden is the chair of the EU, the most central cooperation for peace, freedom, sustainability, and prosperity in our part of the world. Now we have together, we here in this chamber and the government, the mission to unite Europe around important priorities. First and foremost, it is about increased security, a green transition, more jobs and increased prosperity, as well as the central fateful issue of continued and increased support for the freedom fighters in Ukraine.

Sweden stands behind Ukraine. Ukraine's struggle for freedom is also our struggle. Sweden, together with other EU countries and allies, has delivered a historically strong support package, and more is coming. We also need to ensure that we prioritize Ukraine more and stronger when we restructure the Swedish aid policy.

Mr. Speaker! People's freedom in everyday life is limited by exclusion and, not least, by serious organized crime. We have crime-affected areas where many people no longer dare to testify due to threats and violence. Parents worry about whether the children are safe at preschool when there has been a shooting or an explosion the evening before. The growing insecurity must be met with both an iron fist and a substantial lovikkavante.

A successful education is by far the best vaccine against crime in the long term, and the government is now implementing initiatives in school and social services so that even the gangs' attraction for new child soldiers can be pushed back. We are working out both harsher sentences and a powerful toolbox in the fight against the lawless, ruthless, and vengeful gangs. The Liberals do not intend to let either exclusion, separatism, or perpetrators of violence limit the freedom for people in Sweden.

Mr. Speaker! The electricity bill for December has now arrived in the mailbox, and electricity prices continue to, together with cost crises, gnaw their way into Swedish households' finances. The government has worked out an electricity price subsidy for severely affected households in all parts of the country and presented acute relief for companies. We are ready to, where and when it is possible, make decisions to support families and companies even more in these expensive times.

It is always easier to tear down what has been created than to build up something new. The Liberals will fight hard to recreate Swedish electricity production with both nuclear power as well as new wind and solar power. But sometimes I wonder: Where are all the politicians in this chamber who cheered and clapped their hands when the Swedish nuclear power was decommissioned?

Mr. Speaker! Now we are focusing on order and knowledge in the Swedish school and in the classroom. We listen to research and set clear boundaries for the all-too-far-gone enthusiasm for digitalization in the Swedish school. Instead, we are investing heavily in physical textbooks - back to the future. Furthermore, students shall use paper and pen and not get stuck in the screens' apathy around the clock.

We pursue a liberal, green climate policy and prioritize real measures that provide real effects. We invest in the Climate and Industry Leap, carbon capture, new green innovations, and cutting-edge research.

We are re-establishing the work line, not least where it is perhaps needed most, namely in the integration policy, in order to reduce exclusion. People in work gain increased empowerment. One gains increased participation in society, and one can contribute as new nation-builders to our common prosperity. We have taken on that work.

The Swedish population voted for change in the election. It is that change that we are now working for. It is about ensuring that we increase safety, increase efficiency in climate policy, take us out of the energy crisis, and restore the Swedish school's ability. There is a fair amount of talk in my role as Minister for Employment regarding what we should do to solve the skills shortage. Yes, above all, we must ensure that we do not create new skills shortages. Children should leave school with passing grades and have the opportunity to build their own future.

(Applause)

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

Statsministern Ulf Kristersson (M)

Mr. Speaker! Broader support on some key political areas, I believe, would strengthen Sweden. I hope that it is possible when it comes to specifically crime fighting, immigration, and the energy supply. In these areas, it is particularly important with clear messages to the rest of the world, for we have eyes on us.

Let me first address migration. If citizens from other countries understand what currently applies and what will apply for a long time, the pressure of asylum seekers who lack grounds for protection will also decrease. This government is not just talking about a stricter immigration policy – we will implement it, because we want to, because we can, and so that Sweden will have a chance to manage the integration. In a first step, the number of quota refugees is reduced, and the maintenance requirement is tightened for labor migrants.

But the course must remain firm. Therefore, it is concerning that there are demands here in the Riksdag that the regulated immigration should be abandoned and that an amnesty should be issued to those who are in Sweden without permission. My government will not follow that line.

The same applies to crime fighting and the energy supply. Investors want to know that the policy is stable, and those who are to devote a professional life to fighting serious crime want to know that they will, in the long term, have the resources and mandate to perform their very difficult job.

Mr. Speaker! Let me now again turn directly to the opposition's party leaders. We disagree on much, but perhaps not on everything. Do you want to be involved and contribute to the restructuring of immigration policy, energy policy, and crime policy? In that case, there are conditions for truly long-term politics in three very important areas.

(Applause)

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

Magdalena Andersson (S)

Mr. Speaker! The high prices that have followed the pandemic and Putin's energy war hit households hard across Europe, and so also in Sweden. We hear alarm reports that children eat more in school when the money at home is not enough to satisfy their hunger – especially much on Mondays and Fridays. Bris warns of more calls than ever during the Christmas holidays, and Stadsmissionen testifies that more families with children are seeking support.

We Social Democrats have proposed increased child allowance, an electricity bill emergency, and crisis calls. But the government says no.

Ulf Kristersson! What is required for you to have the strength to act and support Swedish families with children?

(Applause)

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

Statsministern Ulf Kristersson (M)

Mr. Speaker! Our budget, which won in the Riksdag because we have a majority for our policy, gives the most to those who have the worst. One only has to look at the distribution annexes. I just want to remind that there are previous budgets that had almost the opposite profile, which gave the most to those who earned the most. So we do not do that.

The second thing I think one should emphasize is that there is nothing worse for Swedish households than inflation. If inflation takes hold again, almost no political proposals will be able to cope with it. Bringing down inflation is a paramount task, and we shall help those households that have it the toughest.

Then one can make efforts, and that is what we do too. We have systems in Sweden that keep up. When inflation rises, one is compensated in several of the important systems - other countries do not have such systems. This serves Sweden very well. But if inflation remains stuck and growth remains negative, we are back to the 70s' economic problems. We will not pursue that policy.

(Applause)

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

Magdalena Andersson (S)

Mr. Speaker! Ulf Kristersson says that his budget gives the most to those who have it the worst. Those who have it the worst are, therefore, high-income earners, such as Ulf Kristersson and Jimmie Åkesson, who receive 10,000 kronor in tax cuts.

This explains the government's policy – if one thinks that high-income earners are those who have it the worst in Sweden. It explains that the major investment in the budget was in lowering the tax for high-income earners, rather than on the families with children. Here we have the explanation. But it is obvious that Sweden should have a government that sees the problems of families with children and sees that it is the families with children, the pensioners, and single-person households who have it toughest, not the high-income earners.

(Applause)

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

Statsministern Ulf Kristersson (M)

Mr. Speaker! I do not quite understand the high tone. One only has to look at the distribution annexes. There one sees how the policy affects different households. It is traditional. In this case, it was important to emphasize that those who have it toughest should manage through the recession in a reasonably good way.

I said during the election campaign: There is no government in the world that can take a recession away from people and compensate for everything. It is simply not possible. Furthermore, it would be irresponsible. It would only add to the inflation. On the other hand, one must compensate those who have it toughest, and we make those kinds of interventions. We lower the electricity price, with the possibilities that exist in the short term. Above all, we create long-term conditions for a lower electricity price. We lower the gasoline price at the pump. We will do so even further next year. We make those kinds of specific interventions. Above all, it is about not letting inflation bite in.

I note that I do not receive any answer to the question regarding the long-term migration policy, energy policy, and crime fighting. I note that.

(Applause)

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

Nooshi Dadgostar (V)

Mr. Speaker! I became very curious when Ulf Kristersson said that he has lowered the electricity price and lowered the fuel price. That has not happened.

Swedish electricity prices are unnecessarily high, and they are driving inflation, which we agree that we must lower. This is because it is the continental prices that set the prices for Swedish electricity consumers. This has been criticized with full force by many countries in Europe – especially Ursula von der Leyen, who argues that we must now reform the entire European electricity market directive.

What is Ulf Kristersson's position on this issue? He is now to lead the work of fundamentally changing the electricity market. It requires France, Spain, Germany and Poland. All these countries now have their own models to protect their own electricity consumers. What is Ulf Kristersson going to do in this work?

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

Statsministern Ulf Kristersson (M)

Mr. Speaker! These are important issues. The truly big question for all European countries is about fossil freedom. In the 70s, the beginning of fossil freedom was a question of getting rid of extremely high oil prices, the 70s prices. In the 80s and 90s, it became more and more a question of climate policy, when we realized the enormous consequences for the climate. Now it is also a question of pure security policy and geopolitics.

The great task for all European countries - which is noted especially at the European Council - is to get rid of the dependence on the fossil and, above all, the Russian fossil. It is the most important task of all.

The second important task is to ensure that one has enough fossil-free electricity production in one's own country or that one can trade with each other. There is still a huge amount to be done there.

Our own Swedish experience is that with a lot of nuclear power and a lot of hydropower, complemented by increasing solar and wind power, we can become completely fossil-free and completely self-sufficient. Furthermore, we can then export to other countries.

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

Nooshi Dadgostar (V)

Mr. Speaker! I do not hear Ulf Kristersson tell the Chamber what the Swedish position is. Now France, Spain and Germany have demanded that the way we set prices be fundamentally changed, namely that it is the most expensive kilowatt-hour that shall set the price for all Swedes.

We export the most electricity in all of Europe. At the same time as we export our electricity, Swedish consumers pay sky-high prices. This is not fundamentally a good system. Does Ulf Kristersson agree with that? Will he now step forward with force and lead the meeting to change the way we set prices in Europe? He has the chance. The whole world is watching. What will Ulf Kristersson do in his presidency? Wasn't it the energy issue he wanted to cooperate on? What is the government's position?

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

Statsministern Ulf Kristersson (M)

Mr. Speaker! I believe that all countries now realize that what we are doing today is not working. It is primarily about the dependence on gas and about a marginal pricing, as it is called, where gas sets the price for much of the produced electricity. It does not work. What is being done about it? Everyone probably understands that this is difficult to change, not least when 27 countries have completely different energy supplies and furthermore have different opinions on different types of energy.

I met the President of France the other day. We discussed what we can do together regarding changing the market design, as it is called. It will be difficult, but there will be proposals from the Commission. We also talked about how both our countries, which like nuclear power, can build new nuclear power in France and in Sweden and thereby increase the stability in our own energy production. They are going to build 14 or 15 new reactors. We are going to build several new ones in Sweden as well. There are excellent opportunities for cooperation here between countries that are like-minded in their view on energy production.

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Märta Stenevi (MP)

Mr. Speaker! On January 8, an eight-year-old boy was found dead at his father's home. The police found him after the mother could no longer get in contact with him, and the father is now detained on probable cause for murder.

This boy had over several years expressed his great fear of the father, and the mother had also been granted sole custody. But despite the boy's fear, and despite the mother's warnings, the child was sentenced to visitation with the father. And now the boy is gone.

This boy was not the only one. Every day in all of Sweden, desperate, frightened mothers are forced to hand over their children to men who have abused them, often at risk to both themselves and the children.

On Friday, the government will receive the investigation on custody and visitation after violence that we commissioned in the autumn of 2021.

Mr. Speaker! I disagree with this government on very much; it is probably no secret. But in this matter, I want to appeal to the Prime Minister. Let the Riksdag agree that we shall introduce a lex Tintin immediately. Let us in this matter show that we can take the responsibility that the voters have given us and work together for the best interests of the child.

(Applause)

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Statsministern Ulf Kristersson (M)

Mr. Speaker! I want to first say that I value the basic attitude towards cooperation in political issues. If the conditions exist here, we shall cooperate. That was exactly what I meant. I do not believe that either Märta Stenevi or I want to enter into the exact legal case, for natural reasons. We will come back to the investigation. But if there are conditions in this area for a very broad consensus in legislation that better protects children, in the same way as we a few years ago reached a consensus on the issue of aggravated violation of a woman's integrity which we had not had previously, then I value that very much. I will very gladly return to this issue.

(Applause)

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Märta Stenevi (MP)

Mr. Speaker! I want to thank you for this. There is a time for conflict, and there is a time for unity. We have legislation in Sweden today that exposes both women and children who are victims of violence to situations that are unreasonable when the parental right and the right to visitation weigh heavier than the child's own story.

We have a need to ratify the additional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. We have a need to give children their own representatives, their own voice, so that we also get their stories into the balancing acts that need to be made.

There are a number of proposals, and we naturally also look forward to seeing what the investigation concludes. But I hope that this chamber, all members who I am convinced want the best for the child, will be able to find a way forward and a consensus that allows us to protect our very youngest and most vulnerable from a forced contact that does not benefit the child.

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Statsministern Ulf Kristersson (M)

Mr. Speaker! I just want to agree again and truly confirm that where we genuinely disagree, we have healthy debates about this. Where we do not, let us then agree.

I completely share the view that the child's own rights in Swedish legislation must be strengthened. This applies to the Social Services Act, and it applies to LVU. But it also applies in pure crime fighting. The child's own right to freedom and to safety must be strengthened in Swedish legislation. Can we agree that it would be very much to our advantage.

(Applause)

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

Magdalena Andersson (S)

Mr. Speaker! At this very moment, thousands and thousands of Swedes are wondering how they will manage the finances this month. Families with children are struggling with electricity bills, pensioners with food prices, and people in the countryside with gasoline and diesel prices. Regarding the Sverigedemokraternas and Moderaternas promise of a high-cost protection for electricity, we see nothing yet, nor do we see the promised abolition of the amortization requirement. Of a promise to lower the tax on diesel and gasoline, it became 14 öre. Instead, people are met with increased taxes on, among other things, alcohol, repairs, and snus.

From the government representatives, one hears excuse after excuse. But, Mr. Speaker, excuses do not pay a single electricity bill this winter.

At the same time, the Sweden Democrats and the right-wing government say no to what we Social Democrats propose. When households are pressured by high electricity prices, they say no to introducing an electricity bill emergency, and they say no to higher child allowance to support families with children through this tough winter. When schools, healthcare, and elderly care are hit by the same high prices as households, they put the funding on a starvation diet. When the recession is at the door and more people need help getting into work, they cut back on active labor market policies. When the business sector pleads for leadership and new wind power, they dismantle the climate policy and worsen the conditions specifically for new wind power. They cannot even manage to invite a crisis call.

Mr. Speaker! Our Sweden can do better than this.

(Applause)

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Jimmie Åkesson (SD)

Mr. Speaker! Ulf Kristersson was, in both of his speeches, emphatic about the importance of finding consensus where it can be found. One issue that not only requires consensus here but which the business community in particular requires consensus on is future energy production. There, Magdalena Andersson in particular has been very active in pointing this out. She herself mentions wind power in her speech. But, Mr. Speaker, I would like to talk a little bit about nuclear power because we need more baseload power in this country. We need stable electricity production. The business community demands certainty and long-term stability.

Magdalena Andersson has so far had desperate difficulty answering whether she is for new nuclear power in Sweden or not. Therefore, I intend to take the opportunity to simply ask the very straightforward question: Is Magdalena Andersson and the Socialdemokrater for or against new nuclear power in Sweden?

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Magdalena Andersson (S)

Mr. Speaker! We Social Democrats are for more electricity regardless of which type of power it comes from. We see a great need to expand Swedish electricity production. It is also for that reason that we see the need for long-term and stable rules of the game and think that the government should invite broad energy talks. Several of the government parties did, after all, drop out of the energy agreement that we had, which also meant that it is fully possible to build new nuclear power in Sweden. It is a policy that we Social Democrats continue to stand behind.

(Applause)

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Jimmie Åkesson (SD)

Mr. Speaker! That was not a particularly straight answer. That one is for more electricity is one thing. But what we need is a stable production at the base. More wind power cannot contribute to stability, but what can contribute to stability in the electricity system is more nuclear power. And if one is to be blunt, it is not us who need to give a statement, for we have already done so. We are very clear about new nuclear power in Sweden. The Moderates and the government have been very clear that they want new nuclear power in Sweden. What all of Sweden is waiting for is a clear statement also from the Social Democrats. If we want new nuclear power in Sweden, if we want to signal long-term stability in energy policy, it is the Social Democrats' statement that must be given.

Mr. Speaker! I would then like to ask if Magdalena Andersson can give a clear statement to the whole of Sweden now. Do Magdalena Andersson and the Socialdemokrater want to contribute to new nuclear power in Sweden or do they not want to? It is a very important statement to the business community and to the Swedish people.

(Applause)

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Magdalena Andersson (S)

Mr. Speaker! The Social Democrats have already contributed to the possibility of new nuclear power in Sweden through the energy agreement we concluded with several other parties - but which some parties unfortunately dropped out of. We have already contributed to this. We also stand by the view we had then and have the same view now: It shall be possible to build new nuclear power in Sweden.

The problem now, however, is that we have a government that only focuses on nuclear power that can come in 20-30 years. Yes, it can of course take 15 years as well, but it takes a long time. For new nuclear power to be of use, the investments that are now being planned by the business sector must be in place, and for that to become a reality, more electricity is needed in the medium term. Better conditions for wind power are needed now, so that the planned investments will be realized – which is a prerequisite for us needing new nuclear power in the future.

(Applause)

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Statsministern Ulf Kristersson (M)

Mr. Speaker! When we visited the military exercise in Norway in March last year, Magdalena Andersson, who was then Prime Minister, said something important: We may disagree on many things, but we are both fighting for Sweden's security.

We disagree on much – Magdalena Andersson is a Social Democrat, and I am a Moderate. I respect our differences and our different roles. But the message was important, namely that we put Sweden first. I therefore try again. Are the Social Democrats prepared to contribute with clear statements on support for reforms that allow even nuclear power to contribute to a doubled energy production? Are the Social Democrats prepared to contribute to long-term rules of the game and clear investment conditions for everyone who wants to build new energy in Sweden?

Are you prepared to not pit force against force but instead include new Swedish nuclear power in a long-term Swedish energy policy? Is the answer yes or no?

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Magdalena Andersson (S)

Mr. Speaker! Of course, we Social Democrats want to contribute to Sweden's best in every situation. I might suggest that Ulf Kristersson take out the megaphone, because we Social Democrats have been clear about where we stand on the issue of energy. We need more cheap electricity in Sweden. We need to expand Swedish electricity production.

We reached an agreement, together with the Moderates, which provided long-term conditions for all types of energy to grow and develop. The problem – that we do not have long-term conditions now – is due to the fact that you jumped out of the agreement we had reached, Ulf Kristersson.

(Applause)

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Statsministern Ulf Kristersson (M)

Mr. Speaker! I do not share Magdalena Andersson's view. It is that kind of baseless energy conversation that has led to today's energy crisis. It is exactly that kind of conversation for the sake of conversation that has led to the fact that we today have decommissioned half of the Swedish nuclear power capacity.

I will not take the initiative for such conversations. For conversations to be meaningful, we must agree on what the goal of the conversation is, and the goal must be to build new Swedish nuclear power, wind power, and solar power – all fossil-free types of energy – and to create long-term investment conditions for these types of power. To gather us together for new conversations that are to redo the mistakes of the last 40 years in energy policy would be bad for Sweden.

What the world wants to know now is whether Sweden can have long-term rules of the game for this. My answer is yes, but then the Social Democrats must decide: yes or no to new nuclear power?

(Applause)

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Magdalena Andersson (S)

Mr. Speaker! Ulf Kristersson has an interesting attitude towards his predecessors who concluded the energy agreement with other parties here in the Swedish Riksdag. That was done precisely to create long-term conditions for Swedish electricity production. If I remember correctly, Ulf Kristersson was also very active in the Moderaterna at that time. It is a strange way to describe the energy agreements that have been concluded.

Does it also mean that the policy pursued during the Alliance government's time was completely wrong when it comes to energy policy? Are you, therefore, denouncing the policy pursued by the government you yourself sat in, Ulf Kristersson? It should be seen as a rhetorical question.

(Applause)

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Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)

Mr. Speaker! It is great to see that there are so many listeners on site!

Last week, the company LKAB presented a huge piece of news: Europe's largest deposit of rare earth metals has been found in Kiruna. Rare earth metals are important components in the manufacture of electric cars, wind turbines, home electronics, and so on, and according to the commission, the demand for rare earth metals will quintuple within the EU by 2030.

Currently, the refining takes place almost exclusively in China, and in a time of increased geopolitical tensions, Sweden can lead the way forward here. My predecessor in the position of Minister for Enterprise, Karl-Petter Thorwaldsson, gladly spoke about how much he loved mines, which was nice. The problem was only that the Social Democrats had the Green Party as a partner, which prevented mine establishment in Sweden.

My question to Magdalena Andersson is therefore: Does Magdalena Andersson also love mines, or does Magdalena Andersson love Miljöpartiet more?

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Magdalena Andersson (S)

Mr. Speaker! I also love mines, and I see that in order to achieve a climate transition – which is fundamentally about respect for future generations – we will need metals in order to, among other things, be able to manufacture batteries. Batteries are necessary for us to be able to store energy, which will be an important part of the future electricity system. I therefore see that it is naturally important that Sweden has the opportunity to contribute to this.

With that said, mining must take place in an environmentally friendly manner and with great respect for the Sami people's rights.

(Applause)

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Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)

Mr. Speaker! I could not agree more with the last thing Magdalena Andersson said.

The fact remains, however, that much more could have been done during eight years with S in power. During your government's time, an actual deindustrialization of Sweden occurred, Magdalena Andersson. Now, instead, a new start is taking place. Sweden takes the lead in the green transition, where industry will play a decisive role. The new strategy for northern Sweden will also become an important cog in that work, and then it simply needs to become easier to open new mines.

This requires a review of legislation, permit processes, and processing times, and it also requires political stability over time. The Social Democrats need to show leadership even when the winds blow in another direction and not put things on the back burner. My question is therefore whether Magdalena Andersson can imagine replacing MP with KD – "KDS" has been a successful concept before!

Seriously: Should I interpret Magdalena Andersson's answer as that she and I can join forces for more mining establishments in Sweden?

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Magdalena Andersson (S)

Mr. Speaker! Let me just say something about the industry. Last time the Christian Democrats sat in government, they supported a Prime Minister who said that Swedish industry was "basically gone". That was the Alliance government's industrial policy.

(Applause)

(EBBA BUSCH (KD): He was wrong!)

After eight years with Stefan Löfven as Prime Minister - well, almost, it was seven and a half - we now have record-breaking plans for a new industrialization in Sweden. It is a green industrial revolution. It is the result of eight years of Social Democratic and Green Party rule.

(Applause)

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Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Johan Pehrson (L)

Mr. Speaker! Well done, Magdalena Andersson!

(Applause)

This matter of rhetoric is important. But who were the ones who governed before these eight years? Who were the ones who then laid the foundation and created the conditions for Sweden to become a leading European example in the green transition? Well, it was the Liberals.

(Applause)

Long before that, my friends, the Social Democrats stood for nuclear power. They were involved in planning for 24 reactors. They were involved in building 12 reactors. Now only 6 reactors remain. They were involved in starting a Swedish nuclear weapons program in a time when the war and the threats were at their worst. This was stopped, and perhaps that was good. Now, however, we are on our way into Nato.

What do the Social Democrats want to do to improve the conditions for more nuclear power? Does one want to lower the tax or increase the support? What do the Social Democrats want to do? We must have more nuclear power. This generation must have a fossil-free future.

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Magdalena Andersson (S)

Mr. Speaker! The problem with the right wing right now is that they are completely fixated on a single issue, namely nuclear power. What if we listened to the Swedish business community and what the business community is requesting? This week, the CEO of Northvolt was out and said that we must be able to build more wind power. The only way that the industrial establishments that are currently in the works can become a reality is if we, in the medium term, build more wind power.

The problem is this: If the government does not solve the wind power issue but continues to worsen the conditions for wind power, no nuclear power investments will be needed, because these establishments will end up in other countries.

The Social Democrats stand firm that we should have legislation that allows us to build more nuclear power, but we must also enable more wind power.

(Applause)

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Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Johan Pehrson (L)

Mr. Speaker! Not the Liberals against – we need both solar power, wind power and nuclear power. We have hydropower. We must double the energy production in this country to manage the electrification and to get rid of coal, gas, oil, diesel and gasoline. We must become green for real, and that requires much more energy.

This has been pushed and pulled, and different measures have been taken to drive different types of energy. For example, massive taxation on electricity, which is fossil-free, has been introduced. Why has that been done? Is it something that Magdalena Andersson can imagine contributing to removing?

We want straightforward and long-term rules that make it possible to invest in wind power. The piles of applications for wind power waiting for approval are half a meter, or certainly a meter, high. The government is now making efforts to speed up this process and, for example, increase the possibilities for municipalities to say yes to investments in wind power.

Welcome wind power, but also nuclear power!

(Applause)

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Magdalena Andersson (S)

Mr. Speaker! Yes, gladly wind power, but also nuclear power. Nuclear power shall be a part of the Swedish electricity production for a very long time to come; there is no doubt about this.

Johan Pehrson says that he has nothing against wind power. The problem is that the government is pursuing a policy that goes in the exact opposite direction. The conditions for offshore wind power have been worsened so that less offshore wind power should be built. There can be no other reason for worsening the conditions for offshore wind power than that they do not want it, or at least do not want as much of it.

Regarding the fact that the municipalities should say yes to more wind power, you in the government have worsened the possibilities for the commission to come forward with such concrete proposals. You have changed the directives to the commission so that certain proposals, which could lead to more wind power being built, cannot be submitted.

It is difficult to understand why the government is pursuing a policy that prevents us from having the electricity production needed for the investments that are currently underway to be realized. It is a no-to-industry policy that the government is practically pursuing right now.

(Applause)

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Jimmie Åkesson (SD)

Mr. Speaker! Magdalena Andersson spoke in her first speech today about respect. I agree that there are very many in our country who deserve respect. This applies primarily to the groups and people that Magdalena Andersson herself mentioned – those who work hard and contribute to their own livelihood and to the good of society. It applies to the elderly who have worked a whole life and deserve a dignified old age. Crime victims also deserve respect by the society taking its responsibility to give them the redress they are entitled to.

I could stand here for a long time and talk about people who deserve respect. However, I think it is somewhat remarkable that it is precisely Magdalena Andersson who is standing here and talking about respect. This is not only because it is extremely disrespectful to sit here in the chamber of the Riksdag and laugh mockingly when someone else is speaking, but it is primarily because Magdalena Andersson has held government power for eight years.

One may ask, Mr. Speaker, where the respect for those who deserve it was when stone-throwing rioters were offered juice and buns instead of bread and water in prison. Where was the respect when fully functioning nuclear power was laid down and our well-planned energy system was smashed? Where was it when Magdalena Andersson said that persons with disabilities and the sick must stand back for the costs of the costly asylum migration? Where was the respect when Magdalena Andersson promised not to raise the petrol tax but then did so anyway?

It is easy to talk about respect, Mr. Speaker, but it is obviously most often much harder to show respect in practice.

(Applause)

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Magdalena Andersson (S)

Mr. Speaker! This week is usually called the poorest week of the year. This year, it is poorer than it has been in a long time, not least due to Putin's energy war, which raises electricity prices throughout Europe and also in Sweden. Many Swedes are finding it difficult to make ends meet.

In the election campaign, the Sweden Democrats, together with the governing parties, promised most solemnly that a forward-looking high-cost protection against the high electricity prices would be in place by November 1 at the latest, but no support is in place yet. Nor is it the electricity bill emergency that could have supported households until the support arrives. This has not been managed. Instead, the government has prioritized producing a proposal to classify as confidential who is entitled to the electricity bill support when it eventually arrives in the future.

It is very un-Swedish to classify things as confidential, Jimmie Åkesson, but above all, I want to ask why your government prioritizes quickly producing a bill on secrecy rather than the actual support or at least an electricity bill emergency?

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Jimmie Åkesson (SD)

Mr. Speaker! I do not have a government. I do not belong to the government. However, I have contributed to voting in the government, and we cooperate with the government in substantial parts of the policy. One such part is support for electricity consumers. Even though the payments have not yet been made, this is something that will be in place at any time, which is very good.

I am at least as eager as Magdalena Andersson that this should go quickly. One can, of course, have views on the measure that the government has settled on, but we have established that this is the measure that will go the fastest.

I mean that the most important thing is that electricity consumers, who are heavily affected by Magdalena Andersson's Social Democratic prices, are now given the opportunity for support. They do not get it by us arguing over individual technicalities and thereby delaying the proposal further, but they get it by us pushing this proposal through the Riksdag as quickly as possible so that people can receive this support.

(Applause)

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Magdalena Andersson (S)

Mr. Speaker! There was no answer at all to the question of why resources are being prioritized to produce a proposal to make it confidential who can receive the support. Why was it more important than working out an electricity bill emergency? Why did one prioritize just this utterly un-Swedish proposal? In Sweden, we have openness and transparency; one should be able to scrutinize who receives various things. But here, they want to hide, I assume, how much high-income earners can get out of the electricity support. The public and journalists should not be able to scrutinize it. Producing such a proposal had high priority in the Government Offices. Obviously, it was more important than producing an electricity bill emergency. Why was it so important to produce this proposal?

Jimmie Åkesson says it should go quickly. Yes, but the problem for Jimmie Åkesson is that he promised the entire Swedish people a forward-looking high-cost protection by November 1, 2022, and it is not in place.

(Applause)

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Jimmie Åkesson (SD)

Mr. Speaker! I think that Magdalena Andersson should direct this specific question to the government and not to me.

I note that we have received a proposal, and there are certainly things to say about it, which can be done. We can continue to talk and discuss. Or we can get to work and ensure that those who paid extreme electricity prices during the past year receive support in the form of a refund for what they paid in overprice. We prioritize this. We think it is more important that the electricity support is put in place than to argue about the technicalities that Magdalena Andersson obviously thinks are more important than people receiving their electricity support.

(Applause)

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Nooshi Dadgostar (V)

Mr. Speaker! Jimmie Åkesson speaks about respect. What has he himself achieved? He demanded tightening of the regulations for the health insurance in his palace agreement. He demands that Swedish electricity customers should pay sky-high German electricity prices and says no to Swedish prices. In the election campaign, he promised 2,000 kronor in increased pension. Today, pensioners often pay more for electricity than they receive in pension. There were to be tax cuts for Sweden's pensioners already now in January, and you promised that the Pension Group would be changed. None of this has Jimmie Åkesson implemented.

The Government's list of bills and communications has arrived. 107 new bills and communications are announced, but not a single one concerns higher pensions.

Åkesson speaks, but in practice he hides under the Moderaternas heel. He does nothing and shows no respect for the Swedish people.

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Jimmie Åkesson (SD)

Mr. Speaker! I have demanded some of the things that Nooshi Dadgostar mentioned. But in negotiations, one cannot get exactly everything one wants; sometimes one has to give and take. That is how politics works, and Nooshi Dadgostar should be well aware of that.

Only a few months of this mandate period have passed, and it is a bit unreasonable to demand that all election promises should be in place already, especially from a party that does not belong to the government but cooperates with the government.

I can assure Nooshi Dadgostar that the things we promised during the election campaign we are driving in our contacts, conversations and negotiations with the government and in the work here in the Riksdag - because just like Vänsterpartiet, we are, after all, a parliamentary party.

Nooshi Dadgostar must have a little patience, and she is welcome to contribute to ensuring that things that are good, regarding for example health insurance and pensions, are put in place. I am happy to have a conversation with Nooshi Dadgostar about this whenever she wishes.

(Applause)

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Nooshi Dadgostar (V)

Mr. Speaker! When the Left Party chose to influence government policy, we raised the sickness benefit by 1,000 kronor and improved the regulations for the sickness insurance. Now Åkesson has signed an agreement that entails tightenings.

When we were able to influence the prime minister's vote, we raised the guaranteed pension by 1,000 kronor. Jimmie Åkesson has prioritized other things in his palace agreement because he obviously lacks the respect he himself speaks of. Why was it more of a priority to do something else in the palace agreement than to demand increased pensions?

The only thing Åkesson has managed to get through is a coffee with the parties, a conversation with the different parties about the pensions. That is good, and we thank him for that. But I would like to know from Jimmie Åkesson when the government and Jimmie Åkesson will invite to this conversation about increased pensions?

(Applause)

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Jimmie Åkesson (SD)

Mr. Speaker! The Government must answer as to which meetings one invites people to and when. I cannot answer that.

I can, however, state that Vänsterpartiet was a coalition party with the previous government for eight years, and when did the increase of the guaranteed pension come into place? Well, it was three weeks before the election. It thus took Nooshi Dadgostar's party eight years to increase the guaranteed pension.

We have only had a few months. Have a little patience, Nooshi Dadgostar, and you will see that we deliver what we have promised our voters.

(Applause)

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Märta Stenevi (MP)

Mr. Speaker! We have heard about politicians who want to take down rainbow flags, politicians who try to stop Lucia parades because Lucia does not have a gender identity that suits the Sweden Democrats, politicians who try to stop drag queens who read fairy tales, and politicians who criticize pride parades. We have seen scandal after scandal among elected officials who express themselves in a derogatory manner.

Mr. Speaker! Can LGBTQ+ people be seen in the Sweden Democrats' Sweden?

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Jimmie Åkesson (SD)

Mr. Speaker! Yes.

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Märta Stenevi (MP)

Mr. Speaker! Since the election, the Sweden Democrats have moved the positions forward. LGBTQ+ people became cannon fodder in the culture war, and the price is paid, not least by our children and young people. It is not a drag queen in makeup and glitter reading a fairy tale in a library that is the threat to our children, but this is about young people who do not dare to come out and who feel that they are not accepted for who they are. It is about children and adults being harassed for their gender identity or their sexual orientation.

The rights of these children and adults shall weigh as heavily as everyone else's. Their right to exist and be seen shall be as self-evident as others'. These children and adults deserve respect, not a rhetoric from the Sverigedemokraterna that has been taken directly from Russian anti-gay propaganda.

(Applause)

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Jimmie Åkesson (SD)

Mr. Speaker! I actually have no other opinion than the one Märta Stenevi expresses when she does not go outside the framework of what is a reasonable and honest debating technique.

(Applause)

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Nooshi Dadgostar (V)

Mr. Speaker! Ulf Kristersson's mission is now to unite the union for support and aid to the Ukrainian people with what is being requested. We have just been reached by the terrible news that the Ukrainian Minister of the Interior has died in a helicopter crash. Many are reported to be dead and injured, including children.

The fight for freedom must be fought together where it is being waged. The support must be unequivocal. This applies in Ukraine, and it also applies in Iran. There, more and more people are now taking to the streets for their freedom while the regime uses violence to strike down all those who only demand the most fundamental rights. At least 481 people have been killed, including 64 children. Mohsen Shekari, 23 years old, Majidreza Rahnavard, 23 years old, and Alireza Akbari, 61 years old, are some of those who have been executed by the regime by hanging. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights correctly considers that the executions taking place now correspond to state-sanctioned murders.

The whole world is now watching as Sweden leads the EU's work. It is the government's moral duty to unite the EU countries to condemn the state-sanctioned murders of Iranian women and men, demand the immediate release of all political prisoners from Iranian prisons, terror-label the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in order to be able to direct sanctions against those who carry out terror in Iran and abroad, and give dissidents seeking protection from the regime a haven in the EU. The Swedish government now has an important task in uniting the EU in support of all those who seek freedom. Do not betray the Iranian people!

(Applause)

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Statsministern Ulf Kristersson (M)

Mr. Speaker! A terrible announcement came today. The EU has condemned in strong words what is happening in Iran, and I think it is one of our chairmanship's absolutely most important tasks to maintain the unity in Ukraine, for Ukraine against Russia: more economic support to Ukraine, new sanction packages against Russia and against those who cooperate with Russia and more extensive military support from not least our own country to Ukraine - we see what is happening in other like-minded countries - so that their ability to defend themselves can be maintained.

No other task is more important during our presidency than maintaining the unity that was not self-evident in any way. I have taken that task extremely seriously in all conversations with other European leaders since we assumed the presidency on 1 January.

(Applause)

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Nooshi Dadgostar (V)

Mr. Speaker! The scenes we see now in Ukraine are appalling. We must stand up for international law. No country has ever had the right to, through violence and aggression, override another country's right to decide its own future. We need to have unity regarding further joint arms deliveries to Ukraine, preferably powerful ones, because the Russians must now leave every millimeter of Ukrainian territory. An attack against Ukraine is an attack against all of us, because in the end, it could mean that another country could also be attacked as a result.

But it also concerns the Iranian people who stand up against the mullahs. They must also receive the EU's unambiguous support in order to succeed.

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Statsministern Ulf Kristersson (M)

Mr. Speaker! This leads me to what I had intended to bring up.

We stand quite far apart ideologically on well-known issues such as taxes, freedom of choice, and security issues, but we have also actually found common ground from time to time. We eventually landed on a common understanding about sending weapons to Ukraine. We made joint decisions several times during the previous government when we felt it was making mistakes and where we could agree on joint decisions. That is important.

Now we are in government, and you are in opposition. But what you say in Vänsterpartiet is still important, not least for the credibility of a united government alternative to the left. Therefore, it is important.

And therefore I want to ask with genuine sincerity: Does Vänsterpartiet continue to demand that amnesty be issued for those who are in Sweden without permission, or can you also join in that Sweden needs a very strict immigration policy for a long time to have a chance to manage the integration?

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Nooshi Dadgostar (V)

Mr. Speaker! Now I would still like to correct the Prime Minister. What the Left Party thinks and intends is important for very many different reasons. We are those who rule and manage in Swedish politics, many can probably attest to that. All voters should know: a vote for the Left Party will have an impact, regardless of which government takes office.

It is the case that many people, both young and old, may have been in Sweden for five, ten, sometimes fifteen years - they have a job, they have children, they have married. Take the example from a few weeks ago with a woman who is a Russian oppositionist. She was to be deported back to Russia. I do not think that is a good refugee policy. We do not think it is good that the Ukrainian refugees are not met with respect in Sweden.

That is why we think differently than Ulf Kristersson on these issues. One must be met with respect and be allowed to contribute to the Swedish economy.

(Applause)

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Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Johan Pehrson (L)

Mr. Speaker! Ukraine's cause is ours. We will need to continue for a long time to help the Ukrainian people in its struggle for freedom. Never believe that Putin's murderous regime will stop if he, God forbid, were to conquer Ukraine. This is their thought, their ideology; it comes from nowhere, but it has existed for a long time.

But he is also waging a war of energy against Europe. He wants to divide, smash, and ensure that we tear up the union so that he can rule in Europe. And then Nooshi Dadgostar says that we should cut the cables. She warns of German prices. She warns that Europe is something dangerous.

We need to cooperate in Europe to ensure that we advance Ukraine's cause for freedom, and in that, we must protect our continent. We are transitioning and want to produce energy. Why do you want to isolate Sweden and tear up the European cooperation?

(Applause)

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Nooshi Dadgostar (V)

Mr. Speaker! Putin must never be allowed to influence us, our continent and our prices. We must fight this with force.

It is not my government, Johan Pehrson, who has stopped the cable expansion. It is Johan Pehrson and his government who have done it. He has now stopped the expansion of the cables. All parties in Swedish politics are now in agreement on this. Why then does he think it was so important to do, if he is such an opponent?

Of course, this is what Emmanuel Macron thinks, this is what Germany thinks, this is what Spain thinks - the core countries in the European community. You are falling behind, Johan Pehrson! It is Sweden that stands passive. Now we must be present when we change the foundations of the European electricity market. It must not be fossil energy that sets the prices for the clean renewable. It is unreasonable!

(Applause)

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Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Johan Pehrson (L)

Mr. Speaker! There is so much I want to raise in this minute, so I do not know where to begin.

The first thing is that Nooshi Dadgostar actually has Macron in France as a new political idol. One doesn't know where to begin! That is not how it looks on the streets in France, where the contradictions are growing to the largest in many years for that government's part.

It is clear that we will do what we can to ensure that the gas catastrophe that has occurred in Europe when countries have tied themselves to Russian gas imports can be managed, and we will return. The idea that we export electricity on a common market, that the European electricity grid is interconnected and that we pay and buy electricity sometimes and sell quite a lot of electricity is nothing we are going to stop doing.

But we must stick together. We must ensure that Sweden continues to export electricity, and then you say no to new nuclear power. You want to continue to phase out nuclear power. It is a resource that can create enormous prosperity in Sweden. We must be able to sell, but then you shall regulate and stop. And if you are not going to cut the cables, you should at least throw gravel into them.

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Nooshi Dadgostar (V)

Mr. Speaker! It is Johan Pehrson's government that has cut the cables, so Johan Pehrson must take it up with Ulf Kristersson and ask why he has done it.

The electricity market is not working. It is dysfunctional. That is what almost all European countries think, especially the large ones. New coal mines are being opened in Germany, Johan Pehrson. It is not reasonable. It is not good. Why has it become profitable to have fossil energy again? Something is wrong with the European electricity market.

Why should a country like Sweden, which exports so much electricity, which we think is absolutely excellent, have to pay for it by having the pensioners in Skåne and Central Sweden go under? Is that the thanks? Is that how you want to thank Swedish electricity consumers for exporting electricity? That is not a good thanks, is it? Lower the prices! Continue with the electricity exports!

(Applause)

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Annie Lööf (C)

Mr. Speaker! On February 2, I will step down as party leader for Centerpartiet. In connection with this, I will also leave my seat as Member of Parliament for Jönköpings län. Therefore, I would like to use these minutes to express my appreciation to everyone who has contributed to making my 16 years in the Riksdag completely unforgettable.

To begin with, I would like to extend a big and warm thank you to the Speaker's Presidium, which leads the parliamentary work with that honor, during the last mandate period under the leadership of Andreas Norlén and before that Urban Ahlin and Per Westerberg.

I want to thank everyone who works in the Riksdag and every day contributes to the heart of democracy beating safely - security guards, cleaning staff, restaurant staff, IT service and civil servants within the Riksdag Administration and the committee and party offices. A big thank you to the employees who worked in the Government Offices during my time as Minister for Enterprise and as Department Head! Thanks to everyone who has worked with my personal protection so that my family and I have been able to live a life as normal and safe as possible!

I also want to thank all the members of Parliament from all parties - the Jönköping bench, Center members, and members from across the country - who, despite different ideologies, devote many long hours and effort and energy to what we believe in, for democracy and for Sweden's best.

Last but not least, I want to thank my fellow party leaders - 20 in number during my time as party leader - for all the tough debates and election campaigns, but also for all the kind words in between, SMS messages, cheers, and confidential chats. I wish my fellow party leaders all the best for the continued important work. I will miss our cooperation.

(Applause)

(TALMANNEN: Thank you for the kind words!)

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Magdalena Andersson (S)

Mr. Speaker! Annie Lööf has spent over a decade in Swedish politics. Very much has happened. The changes in Swedish politics have been huge - enormous. What characterizes a skilled leader is precisely the handling of large changes - to manage to handle these and at the same time hold the course toward the goal, toward what really matters, one's own values and the higher principles.

This is what Annie Lööf has truly done. She has stood firm for equality, for the principles of the rule of law, and for the equal value of all people. Upright and proud, she has taken responsibility for Sweden even when the wind has blown hardest and when hatred and threats have cast shadows over the conversation and over her life.

Mr. Speaker! Annie Lööf is a leader in the truest sense of the word. For this, she deserves our deepest respect.

(Applause)

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Annie Lööf (C)

Mr. Speaker! I want to thank Magdalena Andersson for the trusting cooperation we have had during her time as party leader, but also thank for the fine cooperation that I had the privilege of having with Stefan Löfven. I have also had the privilege of cooperating with Håkan Juholt during his time as party leader, but then it was more debate than cooperation.

I also want to thank Magdalena for her accountability in a worrying time for Sweden and for the courage to re-examine old truths for Sweden's security. I have always appreciated her straightforward manner and strong integrity, and that she has taken the time to meet, sit down over quite a few cups of coffee and find ways forward when it comes to both budget issues, prime ministerial votes, and Nato.

I am very proud of our cooperation in the January Agreement and of having been able to participate in and congratulate Magdalena Andersson as the first woman to become Prime Minister. A few weeks ago, a number of seven-year-olds stood in this speaker's chair, and they knew Magdalena Andersson's name. It is because Magdalena Andersson is a pioneer as the country's first woman as Prime Minister, who has shown boys and girls all around our country equality in practice. Thank you for this, and thank you for good cooperation!

(Applause)

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Magdalena Andersson (S)

Mr. Speaker! This would never have been possible without the support and cooperation of Annie Lööf and the Center Party.

Annie Lööf has worked hard and will surely work hard in the future too, but hopefully get a little more time for the family. Therefore, I have brought a book with me. I know that Annie Lööf, just like myself, enjoys the outdoors, so the book is Barnfamiljens friluftsguide till Stockholm. I hope that Annie Lööf can have great use of it, but not only that, I also want to invite Annie Lööf with family to a sausage barbecue in my local area in Nacka. I promise to reveal my favorite barbecue spot if she promises not to tell anyone else.

(Applause)

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Annie Lööf (C)

Mr. Speaker! Absolutely, and thank you very much, Magdalena Andersson!

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Jimmie Åkesson (SD)

Mr. Speaker! I have, on my part, ticked off some such acknowledgments over the years, and there may be more.

Annie Lööf is the one who has sat longest as party leader, besides myself, and we have had many debates. I was asked before entering the chamber if I will miss the debates with Annie Lööf, and I actually said no, I will not. As I believe we both noted in Aktuellt recently, we have done this a few times now, and it is the same thing and the same old arguments. We are getting nowhere, so we are finished with each other, I feel.

I would still like to say that I have appreciated the debates. I think they have been good debates. Even though we should, of course, counteract polarization and contradictions, clear ideological contradictions were needed for politics to become lively and for it to feel meaningful for voters to go and vote when there is an election every four years. I would therefore like to extend a big thank you to Annie Lööf for these years and for all the debates, all the disputes, and all the fine and sometimes less fine words that have come from her mouth.

Speaking of polarization, I think that sometimes, even when we debate with each other, one might want to increase the understanding for each other a little bit. That is why I have also brought along a small book. It is Björn Östbring's Nationalstaten. I do not know if Annie Lööf has read it. The subtitle is An essay on liberal nationalism and Sweden's future. I have read it and think that it is fantastic in many ways. I do not agree with everything, but I believe that it can increase the understanding a little bit between me and Annie Lööf. I hope that Annie Lööf wants to read the book now that she gets to be free for a while, when she is not taking care of the family and all such things.

(Applause)

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Annie Lööf (C)

Madam Speaker! When I was asked outside the chamber whether I will miss the debates with Jimmie Åkesson, I actually answered yes. But perhaps it was more of a dutiful answer, because it will actually be nice to just watch the continuing debates.

I and Jimmie Åkesson are as far apart as one can get politically, but I am very grateful that we have been able to be bench neighbors and fellow human beings. Even though many outside this chamber do not believe it, I and Jimmie speak with each other quite often. We do, perhaps not about politics, but about life, the children, and more everyday things, despite political differences. Furthermore, Jimmie has struggled his way in as a member of the Riksdag from Jönköping County for the last five years. We have belonged to the same county bench.

I am grateful for the conversations we have had and the laughs we have actually had from time to time. Jimmie has the art of formulating impactful text messages. I have not always been angry at Jimmie, I can state, despite his clear marking on just this in debates.

Thank you, Jimmie, for eleven and a half years as a party leadership colleague in the Riksdag, and thank you for all the debates! What would the headlines on the evening newspapers' websites be without them?

(Applause)

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Jimmie Åkesson (SD)

Madam Speaker! Thank you, Member, for that! When one has read a book, one also likes to discuss it with someone. I would very much like to discuss the book with Annie Lööf at some point.

Since she has now told us that we are such good friends outside of this chamber, I still thought I would take the chance to invite Annie Lööf to the wonderful Listerlandet to hang out for a day, perhaps with families if that suits. The main item there is, of course, that we are going to talk a bit about the book but also watch a football match when Mjällby hosts Värnamo at Strandvallen. The date is set for October 1, but it can be changed since it is so long until then.

I hope that Annie Lööf is interested. She is cordially welcome to Listerlandet. In that case, I will take good care of her and her family.

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Annie Lööf (C)

Madam Speaker! I truly look forward to that!

(Applause)

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Statsministern Ulf Kristersson (M)

Madam Speaker and dear Annie! You and I have collaborated in many ways in opposition and in government. We have reached different conclusions sometimes, sometimes in small matters and sometimes in quite large ones. I have truly appreciated you as a person and as a politician.

You have fought for a free market economy both in the company of the right and in the company of the left. It is consistent. You have protected free entrepreneurs and free enterprise.

As a colleague, you have shown consideration, warmth, and compassion towards all your fellow party leaders. I truly appreciate that. I hope that you have felt corresponding support when you have been severely targeted in ways that few of the rest of us have been targeted.

One of your qualities that I appreciate extra much is your progress-friendly, optimistic view of existence – that economic development is always possible and that technological development always leads to something better.

You said in the election campaign in many debates that we need more of all fossil-free energy, and so that is what will happen now. There will be more wind, more solar, and more nuclear power. So I believe, despite everything, that we are heading towards much brighter times.

As a small symbol of the faith in progress and the optimism that you and I share, I also want to contribute a little inspiration to the next generation. When you get a few evenings off now, you and the daughters will get Alga Science. Nothing is like playing games with your children. It is experiments with electricity, electromagnetism, batteries, motors, and solar cells. That's you!

Good luck, Annie, in the next phase of life!

(Applause)

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Annie Lööf (C)

Madam Speaker! Thank you very much! It will come in handy. This weekend, the daughters visited the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities and appreciated it very much.

Politically, Ulf Kristersson and I have had a lot in common during these years. I want to thank Ulf Kristersson for many long, trusting conversations over the years, not least within the framework of security policy.

It has been a real strength that he and I, together, both behind the scenes and publicly, urged the previous government to open up for deliberations with all parties in the Riksdag to reach a broad consensus on the country's defense and security policy. It was important for Sweden, it was important for security, and it was important for the safety in the country.

The Center Party and the Moderates have for many decades constituted an important and trusted axis in Swedish politics. I also want to take the opportunity to thank Fredrik Reinfeldt and Anna Kinberg Batra for the confidential cooperation within the framework of the Alliance that we had and how it developed our parties but also Sweden as a country.

As Ulf said, here we have not only been party leadership colleagues but also ministerial colleagues in the alliance government for several years. I also want to thank you, Ulf, for the time we had together in government positions. I want to thank you for all the lunches, all the shared trips, all the negotiations, all the confidential conversations, and all the thoughtful lines. All the best in your important mission as Sweden's Prime Minister!

(ULF KRISTERSSON (M): Thank you!)

(Applause)

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Nooshi Dadgostar (V)

Madam Speaker! It has been up and down with Annie, one could say. I want to thank Annie Lööf for her political work. I have known you since you were called Johansson and were at the school debates. You were very sharp even then, when you promoted the CUF gospel. We remember that.

You have also in so many ways been a pioneer and an inspiration - a record-young woman as the leader of a people's movement party. It is very significant, and you have inspired many people and young women out there. I really want to thank you for that. You have done it with such great skill and success. You have managed to go around problems, and you have managed to go into problems and come out alive fantastically well.

For many, you will be remembered for standing up against racism and for all people's equal value. I know that very many Swedes appreciate it, and I personally want to send a warm thank you for having done that. Many of us are very grateful that you have stood up for it.

I want to thank you for our conversations and our laughter, for your knowledge and for what you have taught me. We did not always stand on the same side in politics; that is what many people know. Those are the rules of the game. On the other hand, you and I have had very valuable conversations.

You have worked hard. I notice that many people want you to read books, but I understand that you don't have the energy for that. I want to give you a spa day instead. You are to have it in Nacka, and it is for two. You don't have to take me with you.

Thank you, Annie, for everything you have done and for everything that will stand for you in the history books! I hope that after so many years of toil and stress and so many things you have done, you can, in any case, rest for a little while.

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Annie Lööf (C)

Madam Speaker! Thank you very much! I think we shall decide here in the chamber that it is Nooshi and I who take that spa day together. It would be fantastically fun.

Politically, I do not share much with Nooshi Dadgostar, Madam Speaker. On the other hand, we do actually share an elevator, floor, and ceiling in the Riksdag building. Sometimes we also share pastries over conversation and coffee.

I have appreciated our conversations at the office but also in forums on women's leadership and at girls' and women's shelters. I have appreciated Nooshi's sharp humor and thoughtful personality.

Thank you for all the ideologically spirited debates and for the inspiration! If the inspiration has ever flagged, which it actually does from time to time, I have always felt a new fighting spirit when I have read about the Left Party's latest move.

Nooshi, as I said, the office just below me. I can stomp on the floor and wish good morning or good evening for that matter. In this work, there will be quite a few and long days.

I want to thank Nooshi for taking on the party leadership a few years ago. Sweden needs more strong personalities who lead and show the way. I also want to take the opportunity to thank Jonas Sjöstedt and Lars Ohly, whom I have also had the privilege of having as party leadership colleagues during this demanding decade.

I look forward to going to the spa with Nooshi!

(Applause)

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Nooshi Dadgostar (V)

Madam Speaker! You are of course welcome to come over to my home as well if you wish, Annie Lööf!

I think it is so wonderfully fun and pleasant to see another woman here. When Annie Lööf became chairperson, she was relatively alone as a woman in the political landscape, but one must say that she has paved the way for very many other female leaders. A strong first pioneer was needed to open the door for others. There were also many others, but Annie Lööf has been one of the clearest and most shining stars.

I am very happy that I have had the opportunity to share this experience with you – to stand here and debate and influence Swedish politics. I hope that we will meet in other forums and in other ways in the future, and I wish you all the best in your future life and in your future career.

(Applause)

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Annie Lööf (C)

Madam Speaker! Thank you very much, Nooshi Dadgostar!

(Applause)

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Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)

Madam Speaker! I can already say that I will deviate from the rules of debate regarding time. There is also a risk that I will be cut off, and it will only be a single reply - from my side, at least.

Party leader Lööf, dear Annie! I want to start with the gift from me and from my party. It is a gift to My Big Day from the entire Christian Democratic Party and our movement. But it is also a hope that we will have the opportunity to have dinner, just you and I. We will eat well and perhaps also drink well and share such things as women in leadership positions share with one another. We have taken part in that during visits from, among others, Finland and New Zealand.

You are the colleague I have had the longest. When it was clear that I would be elected party leader for KD, you reached out and invited me to a meeting. You were the party leader I first sat down with one-on-one. It was also in the Alliance, with Anna Kinberg Batra, the humble Jan Björklund and you, Annie, that I for the first time ended up in a work context where women were in the majority.

It was there that I experienced women's leadership in the way I wish it would always be: tough competition on substance, but without envy and above all without quotas. There was no set limit or quota for how many women we could be in the group. I did not risk pushing out any other woman, because the glass ceiling for how many women were allowed in leadership positions was already shattered. I was a party leader among sisters.

We are two politicians who happen to be women and who are having a substantive but difficult discussion in all seriousness about which path is the right one for our country in the coming years. I believe that these discussions have contributed to taking the edge off misogynistic headlines about catfights, girl fights and other such things. It has changed norms. It is now what governs a country like Sweden, where women's leadership is simply just leadership.

We are party leaders for two different parties with a strong ideological compass and set of values. Sometimes our paths have run parallel, and sometimes they have gone in different directions. Many times they have crossed. Today we stand on the same path, at the same place, but at a crossroads.

I believe I know quite a lot about the strong convictions you have and that have carried you here. But I also know a bit about what you have had to carry and what others around you have had to carry so that you could stand at this milestone. So, from power holder to power holder, from elected representative to elected representative, from woman to woman, but perhaps above all from mother to mother, I sincerely hope from a special place in my heart that when the dust has settled you will feel: It was worth it. We made the road a little wider for our daughters.

Thank you for your hard work, Annie! Thank you for our time together! I already look forward to when we meet again.

(Applause)

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Annie Lööf (C)

Madam Speaker! It is worth it, and it was worth it. It has been a fantastic journey, and I feel an enormous gratitude and pride to have been able to undertake it.

There is an old article about Ebba and me from 2018 with the headline "Good friends - but disagreeing on most things." We perhaps weren't disagreeing about everything; we were probably actually in more agreement than people have thought. But that is the way it is with these sensational headlines, which Ebba brought up in her wonderful thank-you speech. There, strong women who are political leaders are often portrayed as some who only participate with sparks between them or in so-called catfights. Then they haven't known that we have seen through it as two political leaders.

I am very grateful for the friendship, Ebba. We have been able to have conversations both about the conditions of politics, about sleepless nights, and about parental leave periods as parents of small children. Ebba is also the one who surprises and who comes with that little extra. It can be a new mobile case, perhaps because I need it sometimes, coffee bread and funny movies via text. When I came back after my eldest daughter's birth, she had organized a small baby shower with one of those diaper cakes and a small gift in my office. Thank you, Ebba!

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Göran Hägglund, whom I had the privilege of being a party leadership colleague with for many years. I want to thank Kristdemokraterna as a party for the fine cooperation that Centerpartiet and Kristdemokraterna have around the country and have had at the national level for so many years.

Many thanks, Ebba! I look forward to the dinner.

(Applause)

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Märta Stenevi (MP)

Madam Speaker! As Madam Speaker says, this is definitely more of a thank-you speech than a reply. You will receive these gifts shortly, Annie, but not quite yet.

I have prepared a short speech, but as I sat here and listened, it struck me that I am the one who has had the opportunity to experience Annie Lööf for the shortest time. I am a bit sad about that, I must say, and I am also a bit sad that we do not get to have more such occasions in the chamber. I have appreciated them incredibly much.

However, I have an experience that I do not believe any of my other party leadership colleagues have. It is that I, as a voter, have experienced Annie Lööf. When Annie Lööf took office, I had not yet become a member of any political party; instead, I sat and observed the entire circus we are engaged in here from the outside, as a voter without a party-political connection. I saw then a young woman take her place on this stage, while I took a different journey—in the business world and in a completely different type of leadership. I got to follow your journey into this world from the side and from the outside. It was very inspiring and fun.

For the Green Party, the rotation principle is an important principle. We believe that it is good for politics and for society that people enter and leave politics. It is good to have experiences with you into politics that you cannot get in this room and among these colleagues alone, and that you then take these experiences with you out.

I saw the beginning, not of your political career but rather of your career as party leader. Since then, I have had the privilege of stepping in and becoming a colleague, and now I am incredibly much looking forward to following what comes next. I am quite convinced that it will not be so much about spa experiences and forest walks as about new fantastic initiatives in important areas of our society.

I thank you for this short time from this perspective and for the perspective you gave me then, when it began.

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Annie Lööf (C)

Madam Speaker! The Green Party's fantastic rotation principle has meant that I have had the privilege of having five party leaders - or spokespersons - colleagues from the Green Party. I would like to start by thanking all five - Gustav Fridolin, Åsa Romson, Isabella Lövin, Per Bolund and Märta Stenevi - for the cooperation, the confidential conversations and also the tough negotiations that we have had during the years that we have cooperated in Swedish politics. We have not always had the same solutions to the same problems, but I have truly appreciated the results that we have achieved, not least within the environmental and climate area.

I am also grateful that we have been able to work together for important values in Sweden - for an offensive environmental and climate policy, but also for LGBTQ persons' rights and for children's and women's rights.

Thank you, Per and Märta, for the time we have collaborated! Thank you, Miljöpartiet, for all the years we have collaborated both locally and nationally! Thank you for the lunches, for the tough negotiations and for the conversations! And above all: Thank you for your strong commitment to fateful issues regarding the environment and climate! It is crucial for the entire political field to take leadership moving forward. It is absolutely crucial for our common planet.

So thank you for your work, and thank you for our joint cooperation!

(Applause)

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Märta Stenevi (MP)

Madam Speaker! I will now become a bit more serious. I also want to join the chorus of thanks regarding the political work and thank you, Annie, for your courage and your commitment. In a time when we have seen authoritarian and xenophobic winds blowing through both Sweden and Europe, you have constantly stood firm in your belief in freedom, democracy, and openness. When others have turned their coats with the wind, you have shown what it means to be a liberal politician in our time. You have stood by your word and never allowed racism into power or given it a single millimeter. I know that you have paid a high price for it, but I hope that you also during these years have felt the support from all of us who have backed it, both as voters and as politicians.

I also want to extend a special and great thank you to you for your voice for the vulnerability of women and children. Thank you for always having stood on the side of women and girls and for having made so many others do the same!

As a parting gift from Per, me and the party, we have donated a gift to Plan Sverige, which stands by girls when it is needed most - just as I know you have always done and as I am also convinced that you will always do. For that, we are very grateful to you.

(Applause)

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Annie Lööf (C)

Madam Speaker! Thank you very much, Märta Stenevi!

(Applause)

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Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Johan Pehrson (L)

Madam Speaker and Annie! You are an impressive person. I have been in politics for a long time, but you have been party leader for over eleven years. I haven't even been it for eleven months. My God, how tough it is! What demands and expectations one has to meet, what one must sacrifice and how much one loses that little nice freedom that we liberals like, to be able to move freely and do what one wants! It is constantly staged. It must be arranged and one has to check: When are you coming home, when are you going there, where are you going, who are you going to meet and blah blah blah.

But it is necessary. In the environment of hate and threats that we live in, you know the importance of it being organized and that there are so many people who help us to be able to bear our leadership. This you have done in a strong way and at a price that has been terrible, which you have told about.

You are smart. You are funny. You are warm. You express your political fire in a very strong way. It is about being a local patriot for Marmarö.

(ANNIE LÖÖF (C): Maramö.)

Maramö. I myself am that for "Orebro". I had to write outrikiska yesterday, so it became Orebro. But that presence there is important.

You stand for the broad lines and the important societal changes that are necessary to meet the future. You also do not fail to stand up for the most vulnerable. You work broadly on equality, for women's conditions, for women's right to equal pay, for good preschools and for reasonable maternity care. You also stand up for the women who are most vulnerable, those who are affected by violence and oppression in different ways. You do this in a fantastic way. Therefore, the Liberals' gift is a gift to Unison.

You are supposed to both swim and grill sausages now. Since the sausage was busy, I hope we can eat pizza soon - I can cook it - at any place here in Stockholm, so we can talk a bit about how it is.

Even though I am young as party leader - and there you are a veteran - I have seen colleagues in the Riksdag and other leading politicians, many of whom haven't even been around as long as you, for whom it has become quite empty when the light has gone out a bit and they are to move on. I am no more than a hobby psychologist, but take your time to rest, reflect on what you are going to do and focus on that which perhaps means a little extra! I saw that you were going to take care of handball for the children a bit. That is perfect. You are not afraid of anything, so if nothing else, you will be able to stand in goal when the children shoot.

Your energy will be well put to use wherever it lands, but why not in Swedish business, where much knowledge of the functions and conditions of politics is needed and where people are also prepared to work in the long-term way that you have. And should it, against all odds, become difficult, I have contacts at Arbetsförmedlingen, so we can talk about how you, with the help of Centerpartiet, can both equip and match people who need to take the step into the market. I do not think it will become relevant, but if it hits a snag, I can help with that.

Thank you, please Annie, for everything you have done and for who you are!

(Applause)

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Annie Lööf (C)

Madam Speaker! Johan had a fantastic closing speech. I thought I would say, from the soon-to-be-retired party leader to the very freshest, as Johan has already told us he is, that my best advice is usually to always be yourself. However, I do not need to give that advice to Johan Pehrsson. To always be yourself and fight for what you believe in is a quality that I believe no one has missed in him.

I want to thank Johan and the Liberals as a party for all the cooperation over the years, both in the Alliance and in the January Agreement. I want to thank Jan Björklund, whom I had as a party leader colleague for almost eight years, and Nyamko Sabuni. I have appreciated the close cooperation we have had over the last decade and everything we have been able to accomplish as two liberal center parties. I hope, of course, that there will be more of that in the future as well, because Sweden needs more liberal politics and stronger liberal parties, both the Center Party and the Liberals.

I want to thank you, Johan Pehrson, for your warmth, your personality and your thoughtfulness. The text message hugs and emojis that you send have warmed me when I have received them and needed them most. You spread joy and vitality in the service of democracy.

Now I will say my absolute last sentence in this speaker's chair. The reason I entered the Riksdag was a very supportive and encouraging one from my parents. My parents are sitting here today and have listened to the party leader debate, so my final thank you as a Member of Parliament and party leader goes to Mom and Dad. Thank you so much!

(Applause)

(ANDRE VICE TALMANNEN: Best of luck with everything, Annie Lööf!)

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Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)

Madam Speaker! I shall try to manage to return to the debate.

If there is anything that the political part of this debate has shown so far, it is that there is no other government alternative than ours. There is no united opposition. There are four factions without a common view on the great challenges of our time: the energy supply, crime, healthcare, and the economy. Against these factions stands a government and a government base that takes responsibility in a difficult time. It is a government that is inspired to help, alleviate, and support in this very special time.

Madam Speaker! The responsibility for one's neighbor, the idea of solidarity, is a fundamental pillar in the Christian Democratic tradition of ideas. The golden rule of treating other people as one would wish to be treated is not just a beautiful ideal; it also needs to be translated into practical action.

New figures show that almost one in four Swedes feels isolated or lonely. Loneliness is greatest among young adults and the elderly. It is also in those groups, especially among men over 85 years old, that the highest suicide rates are found. Loneliness causes the blood vessels in the body to physically contract. Loneliness is as great a danger to health as smoking.

Loneliness is a major societal problem that we must act against. For the first time ever, the question of countering involuntary loneliness is becoming a priority for a Swedish government. We are allocating 300 million per year and working broadly to break involuntary loneliness at the national, regional, and municipal levels, and not least through civil society.

Madam Speaker! Much work remains. But I am glad that we have taken this step in a time when people are carrying a heavy burden.

(Applause)

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Magdalena Andersson (S)

Madam Speaker! The Christmas and New Year holidays provide an opportunity for rest and recovery. But for far too many Swedish families, that was not the case this year. We have seen new waves of shootings and explosions, most recently just last night. Young men, in some cases boys, are shooting each other ruthlessly and spreading fear throughout entire residential areas.

We Social Democrats want to see harsher punishments and more police. In government, we tightened 80 punishments, and further legislative proposals were in the works. Therefore, it was with some surprise that I noted that the new government has chosen to let the officials at the Ministry of Justice spend time, effort, and energy on abolishing the danstillstånd. These are resources that could have been used to quickly produce more legislation on harsher punishments.

Ebba Busch! Why did your government prioritize abolishing the detention order when we need to put all our efforts into toughening the sentences?

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Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)

Madam Speaker! We need to manage to do two things. We need to ensure that we strengthen and sharpen the repressive work. But we also need to do incredibly much more to strengthen the preventive work, to ensure that people do not end up in those environments at all.

I can understand that it may seem rewarding to allocate some time for a scrapped danstillstånd compared to everything else. But the fact is that it has taken unnecessary time and unnecessary focus from our law enforcement authorities, specifically Polismyndigheten, to administer the danstillstånd.

If there is anything that characterizes the Swedish police and many other parts of our society, it is that they are completely over-administered. We do not need more paperwork. We need more police officers, harsher penalties, and the opportunity for better and more long-term preventive work out on the streets and squares.

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Magdalena Andersson (S)

Madam Speaker! We really need harsher penalties. That is perhaps what would need to be prioritized at the Ministry of Justice.

Ebba Busch says that it is important to work with preventive measures. But even that prioritization is strange from the government's side. In the budget that was presented last autumn, priority was given to lowering taxes for high-income earners. It is a very expensive reform at the same time as municipalities and regions have not received the support needed now that the increased prices also affect their operations. It is the municipalities that are responsible for much of the preventive work. It is also a somewhat strange prioritization from the government.

The question to Ebba Busch then is: Why have you prioritized lowering the tax for you and other high-income earners over providing the municipalities with resources so that they can actually work on stopping the recruitment of new members into gangs? Why are high-income earners more important than stopping the recruitment?

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Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)

Madam Speaker! The Social Democrats are welcome to boast that they want to raise the tax by 13 billion for 1 million Swedes. They are welcome to be proud that they want to raise the tax for three out of ten police officers and for one out of four midwives. We think that is wrong.

We have instead chosen to prioritize maintaining, strengthening, and extending the extra supports to, for example, single women. The increase of the housing supplement is an important part of that. We are adding on to strengthen beyond the automatic reinforcements that nevertheless occur from the guaranteed pension. I am responsible for that prioritization. If one looks at the budget, one sees that we give the most to those who have the least.

In addition, we are making a reorganization; when it comes to crime fighting, the crime victim will now be in focus. That is where the focus should lie. And we marry the parental responsibility, the responsibility of mothers and fathers, with the preventive part with supportive measures to achieve it simultaneously while we tighten the penalties.

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Nooshi Dadgostar (V)

Madam Speaker! This government has failed to lower Swedish electricity prices and introduce a high-cost protection for electricity. It has also failed to pay out an electricity price compensation. And now that it plans to do so, it has focused entirely on keeping secret the information regarding who receives an electricity price compensation.

Information has appeared in the media that there is a skewed payout. Billionaires with large estates receive a very large amount in electricity price compensation, while those living in northern Sweden until a few days ago were not supposed to receive anything at all, and will not receive particularly much now either.

When such payments have been made, the principle of public access has always applied. It applied during the covid support. Our incomes and where we live are also public information. One can see which boards people sit on, what assignments they have, and so on. Why was it so important to keep secret who is to receive electricity price compensation, Ebba Busch?

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Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)

Madam Speaker! Now we shall begin by clearing up this matter regarding that we were supposed to have pulled our legs back. I and the government have now been reported to the KU because it has moved too fast.

I promised during the election campaign that we would stand on the side of the Swedish people, that we would not leave them in the lurch, that we saw them, that we heard them and that we would do everything we can to build the Swedish energy system strong again. We would not accept the vulnerable position that the previous government has put us in. That is what we are delivering on now.

We also promised that electricity support would be prioritized. We have changed the model. I stand by that. I think this model is better. But Nooshi Dadgostar's criticism concerns that it would go slowly compared to in other countries. The time period extends from the autumn of 2021 to the autumn of 2022. Who was in government then? It was the Vänsterpartiet government. This, therefore, does not hold.

I look forward to answering the question regarding confidentiality in the next round.

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Nooshi Dadgostar (V)

Madam Speaker! There were many words but no answer to the question. The fact is that in Sweden it is public so that journalists and others, and above all the voters, should know whether they should vote for this government next time or not. One must know what the Swedish people's money is being used for.

The government has been very clear regarding privacy issues: If you live in a certain residential area, you must live with being searched on your way to and from home - what is called visitation zones. People without any connection whatsoever to anything criminal should know that the police can intervene and check them at any time. Privacy plays very little role when the government is to monitor the population.

Is it the case that Ebba Busch cannot tolerate that the citizens also monitor the government? Are you afraid of this? What is it that is so secret about the electricity price support that it cannot be public?

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Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)

Madam Speaker! I believe this is a matter of honor. The explanation for why the electricity price support is classified is that what has led us here is a naive policy with a dismantled electricity system. This means that the Swedish people are forced to pay an unreasonably high price now during Russia's war of invasion in Ukraine - a higher price than would otherwise have needed to be paid.

It is naive politics that has led us here. Believe me: it will not be any naive politics that leads us forward. Now we are shifting gears! I mean that it would be naive in a difficult security policy situation to make the personal data of approximately 4.5 million Swedes available to anyone.

The Swedish people have not asked for or approved that the data be disclosed. One also cannot opt out of the electricity subsidy, and therefore we think it is unreasonable in such a difficult security policy situation that Medelsvensson should be forced to pay an even higher price for the Left Party's rhetoric regarding both energy and privacy issues.

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Märta Stenevi (MP)

Madam Speaker! I almost forgot it was my turn, because it was so exciting to listen to this reasoning.

My question concerns the fact that when M, KD, and SD rejected the 2022 budget, the energy efficiency support for multi-family dwellings was also scrapped. This week, the announcement was made that the government is stopping the investigation into incentives for energy efficiency, which was soon to have submitted its proposals, despite there only being a few months left.

Miljöpartiet has repeatedly proposed that the state should step in and take greater responsibility for a rapid efficiency increase and thereby also mitigate the effects of Putin's energy war against Europe. Instead, the government has withdrawn support and chosen to urge households and companies to save electricity.

Money is being paid out to heat up pools while no support is given to switch out direct electricity. Given the acute situation on the electricity price market in Europe and Sweden, Madam Speaker, I would like to know why Ebba Busch and the government are actively opposing policies for energy efficiency that would benefit Swedish households and companies.

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Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)

Madam Speaker! The answer is that we simply do not do it. It is prioritized in the budget bill for 2023, and also in the next one, to support households' energy efficiency. It is important. There are still far too many households that have direct electricity. They are in an incredibly tough situation now because everything in society is so expensive. There are also long lead times if, despite that, they have the economic margins to purchase air source heat pumps and other things. Therefore, it is important that we stick to this – however, in a different form. It is clearly prioritized in our budget.

I also want to say that it is not the case that we are asking the Swedish people to save because it is fun. We do it because it is an important part of keeping prices down and because there is a real risk of so-called disconnection in the electricity system because 3,000 megawatts have simply disappeared in recent years. Now we are trying to counter that while we rebuild the system again.

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Märta Stenevi (MP)

Madam Speaker! Energy efficiency is the absolute fastest way to cut prices that we have available. It is also the absolute most effective way to ensure that we do not get the type of effects in the system that disconnection is - because that risk exists, even though Sweden now exports more electricity than ever and is Europe's largest exporter of electricity.

A villa owner who switches from direct electricity to geothermal heating saves large amounts on their electricity bills, both when prices are high and when they are lower. The energy efficiency also makes the prices lower for everyone. But what the government is doing is too little and too late.

That one cannot manage to tackle energy efficiency while simultaneously having a great focus on nuclear power and on support for billionaires – which one also wants to keep secret – we will need to return to, because the answer that Nooshi Dadgostar received earlier was really not satisfactory.

The energy policy is lazy and bad, because it does not provide an effect here and now. It is a betrayal of the households that are sitting with the electricity bills. Falukorv is not enough here. Swedes should not have to wait for jerky alms. Offensive investments for lower prices are needed now.

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Energi- och näringsministern Ebba Busch (KD)

Madam Speaker! Criticism may be directed at me for the work on the electricity support having gone too fast. I do not agree. We have worked as hard as we possibly could. We presented a new electricity support when prices also for electricity areas 1 and 2 skyrocketed in November and December. They did not do that in the same way during the entire year before that. It was a self-evident matter.

We are keeping as fast a pace as we can. Others are welcome to spend time brooding that this should go slower, but I do not agree. Others are welcome to be naive and think that Sweden, in a difficult security policy situation, should make this type of information about approximately 4.5 million Swedes, who have not asked to have the information disclosed, available to others. I do not agree.

We are continuing the efficiency work. I share Märta Stenevis's opinion that energy efficiency is important. We will facilitate the transition for more households while simultaneously making the large energy system strong again.

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Märta Stenevi (MP)

Madam Speaker! The criticism against the government is harsh. It comes, of course, from opposition parties but also from civil society, experts, and other countries. The Sweden Democrats' puppet government is pursuing a policy for the culture war, not for reality. But there is another way for Sweden. We can solve the energy crisis through offensive investments in renewable energy that quickly increase electricity production in southern Sweden and through energy efficiency measures that lower electricity bills - not just this year, but for a long time to come.

We can take the biodiversity crisis seriously and make the investments that are urgent to preserve the biological diversity in our forests and seas instead of continuing to push forestry into a dead end. We can invest in our children and let the money go to the school instead of to the venture capitalists and give all children the right support instead of threatening their parents and searching children without suspicion.

We can strive for more freedom for more people and towards an open society where young people dare to come out of the closet and live freely - not be pushed back by either honor oppression or SD politicians who have adopted Putin's rhetoric to cast suspicion on hbtqi persons.

We can stand up for democratic values - and by democracy we mean more than that elections are held: A free debate, a free press, a free opposition, an independent rule of law, a minority protection worthy of the name and a free people.

We can take a stand against every state that violates and murders its own and others' populations - every time. We can conduct a feminist foreign policy in words and deeds and publicly condemn Iran's regime while simultaneously branding the revolutionary guard as terrorists.

We can let solidarity become the guiding principle instead of protectionism. We can see that none of us is isolated and that we all need each other, and therefore build a society where we stand up for one another.

This is no utopia and no naive vision. It is simply a matter of political priorities and will. We both can and want to. As soon as the Liberals find their liberal backbone again, we are ready to bring down this government.

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Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Johan Pehrson (L)

Madam Speaker! At this end of the debate, I want to focus on Sweden's nation-builders. It concerns all those hard-working people who stress themselves through every morning to cook porridge, dress their children and perhaps get them off – not always so lively – to school. Or one must ensure that they themselves get off to their job. It could be the first job or one of the many jobs that one has during a professional life. This applies in every respect also to all those nation-bearers who have built Sweden and gone to work in all weathers.

Without society builders who work, run companies and thereby form the basis for the tax base, it is difficult for us to be able to collectively pay for healthcare, elderly care and the entire social welfare. It would be difficult to pay for the school that gives all children good life chances. For every hour of work that ticks in, money comes to our common welfare. That is how we create prosperity, and that is how we ensure that more can truly manage school and enter employment and that companies can be strengthened in the long run so that Sweden continues to be an industrial nation.

The Liberals do not promise utopias, but we know that the school must function and that it must always pay to work. There must be care and a social safety net for those who are struck by misfortune in life's lottery.

Welfare must be available when it is needed, for example if one needs a hearing aid, which was indeed raised earlier in the debate. In that area, the queues are long in many places. One should be able to get an investigation at BUP if one's child is struggling and has entered a darkness. Central authorities, such as the police, must have resources to be able to perform their work. Freedom from crime is a right for everyone.

The social contract must work. Then the will, the strength, and the ability to build a stronger, freer, and greener Sweden also increase for future generations.

(Applause)

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Magdalena Andersson (S)

Madam Speaker! The Swedish labor market model has served Sweden well. Last week, representatives for LO, PTK, and Svenskt Näringsliv gave clear messages. Let me quote: "On the other side of the strait, the new government in Denmark, Sweden's closest ally in the opposition to the minimum wage directive, has now decided to file a declaration of invalidity against the directive in the European Court of Justice in line with Denmark's principled stance throughout the negotiation. - - - The Labor Market's EU Council therefore urges the government to, in close consultation with us parties, intervene in the case at the European Court of Justice in support of our allies in Copenhagen, anything else would be a dereliction of duty."

Johan Pehrson! Can you give notice here in the chamber today that the government will intervene?

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Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Johan Pehrson (L)

Madam Speaker! We are waiting with anticipation to see what the notification from the Danes will look like. I have not seen it yet. I believe that the last day they can submit it is actually today. This is part of the cooperation that Denmark has achieved after its election. We are analyzing this carefully and will look at what they write, what grounds they have, and how the whole thing is to look.

I want to remind that we have work underway to ensure that the Swedish labor market model is protected. These issues arise from the fact that we have established that we are to work with conditions and rights for people throughout Europe and not just in Sweden. The Social Democrats were strongly driving for a social pillar in the European Union. What became the result of this clearly shows that the Swedish labor market model shall be protected.

But I hear the concern and have read this. I promise Magdalena Andersson that we have a close and near contact with the labor market parties.

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Magdalena Andersson (S)

Madam Speaker! Just so that it is clear: Was that a yes?

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Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Johan Pehrson (L)

Madam Speaker! Sometimes the replies are short!

The answer is that we continue to analyze this. I or Deputy Minister for Employment Paulina Brandberg will get back to you in the near future. We obviously have no other interest than to safeguard the Swedish model. But we also have a great interest in keeping Europe together and seeing what we can do so that all people in Europe have good living conditions and reasonable wages. The Swedish model shall, however, be safeguarded.

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Nooshi Dadgostar (V)

Madam Speaker! It is 97 percent of the teachers who do not want market school. The Swedish people do not want profit-driven schools. There is a great understanding that many people have landed in this, because it has severely destroyed Swedish school. We see very large deficiencies in many schools.

The large school group Academedia has put forward a large number of proposals to protect its own profits and ensure that it can survive as a company. It is a list that the Liberals have now taken forward and intend to implement. That is, at least, Academedia's own perception. The school groups make the assessment that the proposals the government is now coming forward with will not affect their profits.

The Minister for Education himself comes from a school group that was previously called Hälsans förskola. Can Johan Pehrson guarantee that the Liberals have never received money from any commercial school interests?

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Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Johan Pehrson (L)

Madam Speaker! We are now carrying out the largest deregulation that has occurred to ensure that people in Sweden shall have the opportunity to choose school, regardless of wallet. It is something that representatives of the Left Party's leadership have reasonably done over the years. One shall have the opportunity to choose school for one's children. It is an important part of giving power to the citizens.

In recent years, however, we have seen that it has been too lax. During the years when Vänsterpartiet supported the government, nothing was done in practice to tighten the regulatory framework so that order and discipline should prevail and that one cannot skimp on anything. The school fee provided is for the children's best interests in school. We are now adjusting this upwards to keep fortune seekers away.

We Liberals, as said, stand up for the freedom for all people in Sweden to be able to choose school, regardless of wallet.

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Nooshi Dadgostar (V)

Madam Speaker! Now Johan Pehrson did not answer my question. Can he guarantee in this chamber that the Liberals have never received money from commercial school interests?

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Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Johan Pehrson (L)

Madam Speaker! The Liberals are a broad movement. I have never received a crown from independent schools. I have children who have attended both independent schools and municipal schools. It has been very good to have had that choice. The same applies to others.

I can guarantee that I have not done so. We ensure that we do not receive contributions in any way that is incorrect; a TV program about such was shown during the election campaign. This shall be handled correctly. But as I have said, I have not received any money.

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Märta Stenevi (MP)

Madam Speaker! In December, the world's countries agreed to restore 30 percent of the damaged ecosystems on land and at sea. It was a historic success that was completely necessary for us to have a chance to save biodiversity. But it takes more than a signature on an agreement for change to occur. Sweden is now obligated to implement the policy required to protect and restore our damaged nature and our seas.

The Liberals were previously the green conscience of the blue-brown coalition. Often we stood on the same side in issues regarding the environment and nature, and so also ahead of the election in autumn.

That era came to a clear end when the new government presented its first budget. The environmental budget was halved, and a massive slaughter of the investments that protect our nature took place. Instead, a third of the reform space in the budget went to fossil subsidies.

Madam Speaker! I cannot make sense of this. How do Johan Pehrson and the Liberals think we are going to save our nature when we stop working on the issue?

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Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Johan Pehrson (L)

Madam Speaker! Biological diversity and the climate are truly interconnected. It is worth noting that one first has COP 27 and then the biological, our nature's summit, directly afterwards. Internationally, people are trying to do what they can to save our planet and ensure that we hand over a planet with life chances to the next generation. Arctic rivers, heat that makes birds fall from the sky - the threats are interconnected. The climate struggle is crucial to saving biological diversity. One must do both.

We are now shifting and have delivered the second highest climate budget that the Riksdag has ever decided on in this chamber. We have done this because we believe it is important. We have removed certain measures that we believe are not needed, such as subsidies for electric cars. Instead, we are investing in charging the electric cars that exist, ensuring that development happens on its own, and producing electricity.

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Märta Stenevi (MP)

Madam Speaker! I thank Johan Pehrson for the exposition on the state of the climate and the meetings that are taking place.

It is not only the national environmental policy that the Liberals and the government have abandoned. At the EU level, Sweden is embarrassing itself by, question by question, abandoning old positions and instead adopting new ones where we weaken environmental and climate legislation. One example is the deforestation law; they now prefer to protect clear-cuts and the forestry industry rather than the Swedish forest and its biodiversity.

Many share my concern over what the consequence will be of Sweden's environmental policy being dismantled. Sweden needs to be a strong voice for biodiversity. It is a great disappointment that the Liberals have thrown away their commitment to the environment in order instead to join a government that consists of a - I quote Johan Pehrson - brown sludge.

The Green Party will stubbornly continue to pursue politics in the Riksdag for nature, for the oceans, and for the animals. I want to be clear that the Liberals are welcome to stand behind our proposals for strengthened protection of nature every time. I hope that Johan Pehrson and his party soon realize that anything else is a great betrayal of what we previously worked for together.

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Arbetsmarknads- och integrationsministern Johan Pehrson (L)

Madam Speaker! I assure Märta Stenevi that investments in wetlands are being made. They are made not only for the climate but also for biodiversity. The discussion we are now having about being able to ensure the restoration of natural watercourses for aquatic animals after this crisis is part of this. But right now, we must ensure that the power present in the smaller watercourses, which still provides some energy, is protected. That is why those decisions have been made.

I also promise that we will ensure that we continue to have a balance that allows us to safeguard the Swedish wolf. But in every way, there will be fewer wolves than if Miljöpartiet were to decide.

The party debate was hereby concluded.

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