Social economy and financial management

Ida Drougge (M)

Social economy and financial management

Madam Speaker! The Riksdag decides on the state budget in two different steps. First, we take the frameworks for each expenditure area. The expenditure framework determines the amount that the appropriations may then at most amount to. Then we make decisions on the 27 expenditure areas in substance.

On Lucia Day, last week, the first decision was made. It was the first time since 2009 that a majority of the Swedish Riksdag stood behind the government's budget. It is a statement of strength, especially in times when we, as our Finance Minister expresses it, are heading towards a tough economic winter.

After the framework decision, debates and decisions within respective expenditure areas have followed closely here in the chamber. It is these two steps that together constitute our budget process in Sweden.

Today's debate concerns precisely the content of expenditure area 2, Social Economy and Financial Management. We Moderates move for approval of the government's proposal on how the 19 billion kronor shall be distributed within the appropriation and for rejection of the motions.

The political orientation and the goals for the economy and for the financial management are about safeguarding financial stability, high confidence and well-functioning markets, about having high consumer protection and a financial system that also contributes to sustainable development, and about the state's financial management being conducted efficiently.

The authorities within this expenditure area are tasked with analyzing, making forecasts, and compiling information on reforms, the state's finances, and our socio-economic development.

In the large picture, the government's report shows that the authorities in this area have done a good job, but the clouds of concern for the future are accumulating. And their information will become increasingly important in the future. Therefore, several of the appropriations in the government's budget to these agencies are increased.

When it comes to this expenditure area, it may be particularly worth pointing out that it is important with precisely the increased efficiency within the state, to develop our work against money laundering and to stop incorrect payments from the state in order to counter grant fraud. Your tax money must not be able to end up in the pockets of criminals.

This expenditure area amounts, as stated, to 19 billion. The proposal implies increased appropriations to Finansinspektionen, Konjunkturinstitutet, Riksgälden and Statens servicecenter as well as to financial market research and so on. It is funds for Statskontoret, Statistiska centralbyrån and Kammarkollegiet. It is at least over 15 billion kronor for state occupational pensions. It is 19 billion in total.

The incorrect payments from the state are estimated to amount to 18 billion annually, of which approximately half are suspected to involve grant fraud. These are funds that are needed in welfare. They would have done greater good if they had remained in the pockets of hard-working nurses, nursing assistants, police officers, and teachers. They also, just to give an example of the scale, could have financed salaries for, for example, 26,000 teachers.

Stopping welfare fraud and benefit crimes is a high priority for the government, and it is good to now see that they are acting quickly in the matter by establishing a new payment authority, improved population registration through a census, and mapping of incorrect payments also at the municipal and regional level, among other things.

I would like to conclude here in the chamber by taking the opportunity to wish a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to my colleagues in the Finance Committee and to the members here in the Riksdag, to the Speaker and to the Chamber Office, but also to you who are sitting at home and not least to the Finance Committee's office, of course. Merry Christmas!

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

Adnan Dibrani (S)

Madam Speaker! Since the parliamentary majority in the first step of the budget process has given the budget policy a different direction than the one we Social Democrats desire, we abstain from taking a position regarding this expenditure area. Our budget alternative should be seen as a whole. And our proposal for the state budget is found in our party motion, which is treated in the report FiU1.

In Sweden, households and companies are being pressured by both high inflation and rising interest rates. Real wages are being eroded, and economic reality is intruding into people's everyday lives. Sweden faces a recession. The difficult economic situation highlights the need for a secure society, where welfare delivers across all of Sweden and where we face tough times together.

Unfortunately, the government's budget for 2023 does not meet the situation we face. It requires a responsible policy that puts welfare first and the fight against social problems foremost, and which prepares Sweden and the Swedish people for the times to come.

The Social Democrats have submitted a budget motion with substantial investments in welfare, in household finances, and to increase security for ordinary people. One way to do this is to continue expanding the state presence and services throughout the country through more service offices, decisions on relocations, and newly established agencies. This creates the conditions for thousands of new jobs all over the country. The work with relocations and the establishment of new service offices should therefore continue.

Madam Speaker! We Social Democrats had hoped that our budget motion would win, because then we could have collectively borne the burden of the difficult times to come, and the consequences of the upcoming crisis winter could have been mitigated. By supporting all the families with children who are having it extra tough and by taking responsibility for the financing of the welfare system, we could have avoided the cuts that are coming. Instead, the right-wing government's and the Sweden Democrats' budget alternative won, where one of the most important investments is a large tax cut for those who earn the most in our country.

The list of the right-wing government's and SD's election promises is only getting longer and longer. The high-cost protection that was supposed to be in place on November 1 will, at best, arrive in February. By then, the entire northern part of Sweden will be excluded from support. Swedish companies are also heavily affected and still do not really know when the support will arrive and what it will look like. The big, clear message regarding significantly lowered prices on fuels ended, as is known, with a few cents.

Madam Speaker! There are actually also good things in the government's budget. Several of the proposals in the government's budget are extensions of good Social Democratic policy. One example is a continued strengthened unemployment insurance, another is the extension of the housing allowance to the most vulnerable families with children. They also continue with investments in the justice system and the police. There are, therefore, also good parts.

Madam Speaker! The government's and the Sweden Democrats' policy is not sufficient to meet the recession we face. Right-wing conservative economic policy has been tested before. The financial crisis of 2008-2009 comes to mind. At that time, I sat at my job at the bank and saw how ordinary people were affected when the government at the time remained extremely passive. Nor did the right-wing government then compensate municipalities and regions for reduced tax revenues. Welfare had to take the hit, and large-scale layoffs occurred in school, healthcare, and elderly care. Sweden lost tens of thousands of jobs unnecessarily.

Looking at the corona pandemic, which we still live with to some extent today, Sweden fared quite well from an economic perspective. We compensated for the loss of tax revenue three times over. Hundreds of thousands of employees were able to keep their jobs with the help of short-term layoffs. The Swedish economy recovered relatively quickly and is today one of the stronger in Europe. More people are in work today than ever before.

Madam Speaker! We face a difficult economic situation. It demands a smart economic policy that strengthens Sweden and supports ordinary people without opposing monetary policy. We do not want to drive up inflation and interest rates any further.

In our budget motion, we show that it is possible and that it is important to prioritize. We Social Democrats propose an increase of the child allowance for the first three months of 2023. We have also presented a new tank discount which is aimed at the people who need the car the most, for example, a family in the countryside with two cars who would receive a support of up to 4,000 kronor.

Welfare is facing a cost crisis. Many municipalities and regions warn that they will run a deficit in 2023, and it can be expected that cuts will come. We must, at all costs from the state level, try to halt such a development. Therefore, we are investing an additional 6 billion in general government grants to try to help as much as possible. It is actually not reasonable that just high-income earners are fully compensated for inflation, while practically all other groups have to stand back.

Use these funds to support the families with children who are having it extra tough this winter when record-high electricity bills are waiting! Take responsibility for the funding of the welfare system so that the healthcare workers get tolerable working conditions and perhaps more friends at work, but above all, avoid layoffs and cuts! It is only so we can get through this crisis winter together.

With these words, I wish Madam Speaker and everyone in the Speaker's Bureau and at the office a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. The same I wish my colleagues and our fantastic staff in the committee.

(Applause)

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

Ilona Szatmári Waldau (V)

Madam Speaker! Under this expenditure item, the committee has also dealt with Agenda 2030 and the report that the government shall submit to the Riksdag every second year. Vänsterpartiet has, in a committee motion, proposed that Sweden should include LGBTQI issues in its implementation of Agenda 2030 and in its progress reports. My speech will therefore be about our motion and not about the expenditure area.

For Vänsterpartiet, the right to express one's sexuality and gender identity on one's own terms is a matter of fundamental human rights, regardless of where in the world we live. No state should be able, with reference to history, culture, religion and so on, to claim that these rights do not encompass all its citizens.

The development in the world is complex. It is now over 50 years since the Stonewall riots in the USA, which has come to be a symbol for the modern Western LGBTQ+ movement. The development in parts of the world has in many respects moved in the right direction since then. But unfortunately, we simultaneously see how LGBTQ+ people are persecuted, discriminated against, and murdered because of their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or sex characteristics in large parts of the world. Recently, we noticed all the trans people who have been murdered, even in countries where LGBTQ+ people have rights. Homo- and transphobia exists everywhere.

Across the world, LGBTQI persons are systematically subjected to violence. The oppression takes many forms. It concerns both repressive exercise of authority, invisibility, and the fact that the state and police fail to act against the violence and discrimination that occur in the country. It also concerns hate and threats from one's own family and close surroundings, not infrequently in a context of honor.

Many countries also have legislation that discriminates against hbtqi persons, and homosexuality is still criminalized in almost 70 countries. In a number of countries, hbtqi persons risk being sentenced to death, including in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria. As recently as 2019, Brunei tightened its already very harsh legislation, and homosexuals now risk stoning despite an assurance from the sultan following international pressure that the death penalty would nevertheless not be carried out. Many right-wing nationalists play on homophobic and transphobic rhetoric, as in Brazil where the country's former president Bolsonaro calls himself a proud homophobe. Several countries prevent organizing and have banned communication via dating apps for hbtqi persons.

Open discrimination of hbtqi persons also occurs on our own continent. When nationalist and right-wing populist forces gain ground, our right to our own sexuality and identity is challenged. Poland no longer provides access to assisted fertilization for single women, and in recent years, nearly 100 local parliaments have adopted homophobic resolutions and subsequently declared hbtqi-free zones. The risk of losing funds from the EU has indeed caused several regions to flip on the issue, but that does not mean that homo- or transphobia has decreased in the country.

Hungary has banned legal gender reassignment and has enacted laws targeting the encouragement or portrayal of gender change or homosexuality if it can in any way reach persons under 18 years of age. Bulgaria has removed the possibility for trans people to confirm correct names and gender in official documents. In Georgia, the constitution has been changed so that marriage is reserved for a man and a woman. In Turkey, the summer's pride was attacked by armed police. In Russia, organizations for hbtqi persons are being closed down. During the summer's pride parade in Oslo, two people were shot dead and over 20 were injured in an attack against a gay pub.

Sweden also follows the conservative and reactionary development. The Swedish work for LGBTQI issues globally is hardly benefited by the Sweden Democrats gaining influence over Swedish aid policy.

Social economy and financial management

Sweden should lead by example and highlight LGBTIQ issues within the framework of the national Swedish work to implement Agenda 2030 and in its progress reports. In the government's latest communication, it is only briefly mentioned that Sweden has a special task when it comes to defending and strengthening, among other things, LGBTIQ rights. This must be highlighted more clearly. I therefore move for approval of the Left Party's reservation.

When it comes to the expenditure area itself, we refrain from taking a position, as our budget motion has fallen.

The deliberation was hereby concluded.

(Decisions were made under § 17.)

General grants to municipalities

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