Response to interpellation 2023/24:257 on increasing debts at the Swedish Enforcement Authority

Statsrådet Niklas Wykman (M)

Madam Speaker! Ingela Nylund Watz has asked Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson partly what conclusions the Minister and the Government draw regarding the economic policy from the increasing debts at the Enforcement Authority and whether the Minister intends to take any measures based on those conclusions, and partly what risks the Minister and the Government see with poverty and economic inequalities increasing in Sweden and how the Minister intends to act to counteract increasing inequalities.

The interpellation has been handed over to me.

Households are now experiencing a pressured economic situation as a result of several factors, including increased living costs and rising interest rates. When the economy is worse, it often leads to individuals having more difficulty paying their debts, and the number of people who end up with the Enforcement Authority (Kronofogdemyndigheten) can then increase. The increasing number of cases at the Enforcement Authority that Ingela Nylund Watz refers to concerns applications for an order to pay in order to have a debt established. An increased number of such applications is an indication that more people are not paying their debts on time.

When individuals cannot pay their debts, it often involves personal suffering, but it can also have negative consequences for society as a whole. The Government takes the economic situation very seriously and is working broadly and long-term to dampen inflation and support the economically most vulnerable households. In the budget bill for 2024, the Government has, among other things, proposed that the temporary increase of the housing allowance be extended for an additional six months until June 30, 2024.

The over-indebtedness of individuals should also be taken seriously, and the government is working on the issues on a broad front. The over-indebtedness inquiry has submitted a report containing proposals aimed at reducing the over-indebtedness of individuals. The referral of the report was recently completed, and the proposals are now being prepared in the Ministry of Justice. The government will continue to monitor developments in the consumer credit market and is working continuously to ensure appropriate consumer protection. In this context, it can be mentioned that a new consumer credit directive was recently adopted. The directive aims, among other things, to strengthen consumers' position in the consumer credit market. The government has appointed an inquiry to assess how the directive should be implemented in Sweden, which will report on its assignment by October 2024 at the latest.

In addition to this, I can mention that the government has also given the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen) the collective commercial law supervision responsibility over consumer credit institutions. This means a unified supervision over credit assessments made by lenders - credit institutions, mortgage credit institutions, and consumer credit institutions - which are under the supervision of the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority.

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Ingela Nylund Watz (S)

Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer! One of the earlier interpellations debates today turned out to be about peeking at Christmas presents.

In Sweden, there are so many households that find themselves in such a pressured economic situation right now that many parents, not least single mothers, feel Christmas gift shame. They do not have the means to invite their children or friends to a proper Christmas dinner or, for that matter, buy Christmas gifts. I just want to provide this as background to this interpellation debate.

To some extent, the answer actually meets the question I have regarding what conclusions the government draws when it comes to economic policy. The government argues, and this is also stated in the answer, that the high and increasing indebtedness can both lead to the personal suffering that the Minister mentioned and entail negative consequences for society as a whole. I am curious about what negative consequences for society as a whole it is that the government sees ahead. The Minister is welcome to elaborate on this in his upcoming contribution.

I also want to say that I think it is good that the government is working on the issue of over-indebtedness. I look forward to proposals to the Riksdag in the near future regarding this. It is also good that the government is working on strengthening consumer protection. Here we can probably be very much in agreement.

But unfortunately, I am forced to state that the Minister does not give any answer at all to my second question regarding what risks the government sees with poverty and economic inequalities increasing in Sweden, which the increased indebtedness at the Enforcement Authority is a sign of. I wonder therefore: Does the government see no problems with this, or does the government lack the will and ability to reduce the inequalities?

Madam Speaker! The Swedish Enforcement Authority assesses that debts will continue to increase also during 2024. It is important to see that this is another symptom of that many households in Sweden are living under very severe pressure. When someone ends up with the Swedish Enforcement Authority, the person's financial troubles have, moreover, gone very far. It creates great anxiety and great suffering.

On October 28, Davor Vuleta, who is the private economic spokesperson at the Swedish Enforcement Authority (Kronofogdemyndigheten), spoke in Aftonbladet. He said: We receive calls from people who have never had anything to do with the Swedish Enforcement Authority before.

It is a statement that points in the same direction as the fact that the aid organizations testify that they are meeting completely new groups of people in need of basic support in the form of food and clothes, and that the schools testify that more food is consumed on Mondays and Fridays.

Ten years of real wage increases have been eaten up by inflation while electricity and food prices have skyrocketed. There are households in Sweden that cannot manage to put nutritious food on the table for their children. Many are dreading Christmas.

When these signals become so clear, I wonder: Does the government see that something needs to be done about relative poverty and the increasing inequalities, and what does the government want to do in that case?

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Mathias Tegnér (S)

Madam Speaker! I would like to thank Ingela Nylund Watz for having written this important interpellation, which concerns the over-indebtedness in Sweden. While I was pleased by Ingela Nylund Watz's interpellation, I was rather concerned by the answer. Minister Wykman's answer is, in short, worrying.

In my opinion, we have a government that does not act against the cost crisis in society and that does not help households when it is toughest. They do not act, but instead stand on their tiptoes.

Social democratic governments in Denmark and Spain have shown that it is possible to fight inflation with an active policy. Put pressure on the banks and the energy companies! Be a thorn in the side of the food giants! It has worked in other countries, but the SD government waits. I even believe that Vice Prime Minister Ebba Busch, here in the parliamentary rostrum, in an interpellation debate, explained that they did not act because they were not communists.

The number of Swedes with debts with the Enforcement Authority is counted in the hundreds of thousands. Around half a million Swedes have debts with the Enforcement Authority, and the number of Swedes who have such debts is increasing. Over-indebtedness involves great suffering and negative consequences for the individual but also for the individual's relatives. I believe it was Lund University that stated that around 20 percent of those who are over-indebted have attempted to take their own lives.

The over-indebtedness investigation submitted a report and a number of proposals already at the end of the summer, but right now I perceive that we have a government that is dragging its feet. Then the question becomes: When will concrete proposals arrive? I wonder, just like Ingela Nylund Watz: Does the government intend to take measures against the increasing gaps in society in light of the increasing indebtedness?

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Statsrådet Niklas Wykman (M)

Madam Speaker! The interpellor Ingela Nylund Watz is attempting with some success - it must be said - to discuss two issues simultaneously. Both are very important. One concerns problematic indebtedness. It is not about mortgages and the like, but about the type of debts that perhaps stem from consumption and other things, where one fundamentally lacks the ability to pay. Let me be clear that we are not to have that type of lending in Sweden.

I think it is good that Ingela Nylund Watz agrees with the direction regarding the measures being taken. We have talked about some of them here, and they can be clarified. It is about, for example, gathering more of the supervision and expertise at Finansinspektionen. It has been spread out across different agencies under the Social Democratic government and previously. This may have led to the fact that this has not been handled sufficiently well. I appreciate that Ingela Nylund welcomes this direction, which is about gathering more of the expertise and supervision in one place.

We must not have unhealthy lending in Sweden. I can discuss how a number of different measures that have been previously taken have driven different types of debt behaviors. Some things that the previous government did were very good when it comes to avoiding this, for example this with that one should not be offered to pay on credit as a first option. There may be more things that need to be done. It is about reviewing what this structure looks like.

It is obviously very important that we have effective supervision and that we counteract over-indebtedness in society at large. There is much to address regarding the trends that exist around online trade and consumption, for example this matter of being able to buy now and pay later. This drives a great deal of people into very difficult situations that they get stuck in for a long time.

I perceive it as Ingela Nylund Watz standing behind the government's choice of direction in this area. That is good. We will return to this in the future. We are doing a lot. We will return with more important, so to speak, when it comes to reducing this type of indebtedness.

At the same time, Madam Speaker, it can be said that it can have very troublesome consequences if one completely closes off the possibility of obtaining credit. This can be the case, not least for those people who have the smallest margins and who, from time to time, on completely legitimate grounds may need a credit to bridge a problem that has arisen. It is, again, a trade-off. But we shall be very tough against over-indebtedness, and we shall be very tough against and strike down unhealthy lending in Sweden. One should not be able to grant loans to those who cannot pay them back. It is good that we are working together in that direction.

When it comes to the economic development generally, we are in a very difficult situation. There is high inflation. We have a very uneasy world around us. There is war in our vicinity. It is tough for many of the countries that mean a lot for the Swedish economy, such as Germany and China. We are more indebted in Sweden at the household level than one is in many other countries. We also have high indebtedness in our corporate sector, in some sectors more than others. All told, this puts a great pressure on the Swedish economy.

Here, it is obviously intended that one acts decisively but also in a lasting way. Bringing down inflation is a priority, but it is of course important that we now also increasingly tackle the labor market. Fundamentally, the best way to have a good, secure, and stable household economy is to have self-sufficiency, a job. Here, for a long time, far too few measures were taken. It is important that we work on this. Many have ended up permanently outside the labor market. That is not how we want it in Sweden.

I will gladly return to this more.

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Ingela Nylund Watz (S)

Madam Speaker! The whole point, Minister, with me raising the increasing debts at the Enforcement Authority is that it is a symptom that something is broken in Sweden. With that as a starting point, I have asked two questions.

I think I have partially received an answer to the first question, so I will leave that there. But then it is about the second question. As a consequence of us seeing that more and more families and households are very short of money and find it difficult to cover bills and food, I wonder: Does the government see any problems with the fact that relative poverty is increasing in Sweden and that the gaps are increasing in Sweden?

I use the increasing debts at the Enforcement Authority as an example of something that is breaking down in Sweden. With the government's priorities in the budget for the current year and for next year, it is actually the case that it is the households that take the biggest hit from the cost crisis. And worst of all, those who had no margins, or very small margins, already before the crisis are affected.

Most who work with these types of issues believe that relative poverty in Sweden will continue to increase in the coming years. What then is relative poverty, as we have in Sweden? It means that the proportion of households in Sweden with an income lower than 60 percent of the average in Sweden and who live with a very low economic standard has increased in many municipalities. The gaps between people are increasing.

My questions to the Minister regarding what risks the government sees with the increased debts at the Enforcement Authority, poverty, and the widening gaps are posed so that the government will have an opportunity to explain how it views this situation.

This is how I see it: A society with large gaps between people creates contradictions and instability. Therefore, the signals telling us that many households in Sweden are being pressed very hard by the cost crisis should make everyone think one step further. What kind of society is emerging when the gaps increase?

If one then adds that unemployment is now increasing and that the municipalities are forced to make cuts in schools, I think it is quite easy to understand that it will do something to Sweden. Sweden will become colder and harder. Mistrust and contradictions will increase as Sweden and many Swedes become poorer and poorer.

As I said, the increased debts at the Enforcement Authority are a symptom of Sweden being torn apart. I think it is important to emphasize that the priorities the government makes mean that households are forced to bear the cost crisis. The government is prioritizing high-income earners, luxury renovations of housing, and the abolition of the plastic bag tax.

I think that is wrong. I think that the children, the families with children, and the teachers are more important.

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Statsrådet Niklas Wykman (M)

Madam Speaker! Let me again emphasize that I think it is good that there is a broader consensus regarding different types of measures to prevent over-indebtedness. It should not be possible to lend money to people who fundamentally cannot pay it back. Even if the need here and now may be great for an individual household, it is doing them a disservice. They end up in lasting and sometimes lifelong problems, just as is also described, with their own health and the health of loved ones at stake.

An important example is that increased indebtedness is linked to excessive gambling. Gambling is such a risk factor. Previously, there was an exception which meant that one was allowed to sell lottery tickets over the phone without written consent from the purchaser. For all other goods, written consent was required, but here the Social Democrats specifically exempted lottery tickets. One could thus be sold something over the phone that one then could not handle in the same way as other goods.

I assume that Ingela Nylund Watz also welcomes those types of proposals and measures. It is clear that one should not be able to sell lottery tickets to people on other terms than one sells other goods. The requirement for written form is also important there.

So, a long series of different measures are being taken, not least in the gambling market, to reduce the risk of falling into different types of problem gambling.

Households are unfortunately having a tough time. Inflation is a contributing factor to that. That Sweden has had low GDP growth per capita for a long time is another. The problem with our export markets, such as Germany and China, is a third, and the war that is ongoing as well as geopolitical tensions overall is a fourth.

This hits hard against a country like Sweden, which lives so much off its openness and its trade. This needs to be handled forcefully.

When Ingela Nylund Watz and the Social Democrats decided, they chose, for example, to abolish the wealth tax, the tax that was paid by those with the highest incomes. This government has chosen a different profile for its policy. We are lowering the tax on pensions, and we are lowering the tax for people with low and medium incomes who go to work.

At the core, it is how we must hold society together: that all people who can work also go to work. Here, changes in the benefit systems are important. Here, it is important to continue making it more profitable to work and to offer more tools and opportunities to enter the labor market for those who stand outside.

Contributions are needed, and contributions can help in various difficult life situations. But the permanent, lasting cohesion in a society is built by alarm clocks that ring and people who get up and work, fall asleep tired, and then do the same the next day.

All these people have an all too weak voice in politics, I would say. I and the government are gladly their voice and want those people to become more numerous. That is how we hold society together sustainably.

I understand Ingela Nylund Watz's concerns regarding this. In 2021, after many years of Social Democratic governing, the Gini coefficient, i.e., the economic inequalities, were at record highs in Sweden. The number of people living with a persistently low economic standard had increased by approximately 17 percent.

Despite the economic boom, a lack of reform left major problems in society. Some of them do not have to do with the economy itself but concern, for example, crime. These large gaps in various types of state activities, for example, crime fighting, we are now working to fill, while simultaneously strengthening the work line.

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Ingela Nylund Watz (S)

Madam Speaker! Finally, we received some words from the Minister regarding how the government views what is happening in Sweden with the development of relative poverty and the increasing inequalities. I naturally share the Minister's view that work is the foundation of prosperity, so on that point, we are in complete agreement.

I still cannot help but reflect on the way the Minister and the government approach the issue that we have increasing relative poverty and increasing gaps in Sweden. It becomes a kind of instrumental talking about which factors affect societal development and very little about what own responsibility one has as a government. But as a government, one can actually prioritize.

I am well aware that the development of inequality in Sweden has been ongoing since the 80s. We want to do something about it. We want to pursue a completely different policy. Therefore, we are submitting completely different proposals than those presented by the government.

We do not want households to bear the cost crisis alone, with high food prices and high electricity prices. We do not think it is reasonable to prioritize luxury renovations of homes for already wealthy people. We also do not think it is reasonable to prioritize lowering the plastic bag tax when schools are forced to cut back and already poor children are affected by a worse school.

We make a completely different prioritization and tackle the problems of increased poverty and growing inequalities in a completely different way than the government. Unfortunately, the government seems to be turning a blind eye rather than seeing.

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Statsrådet Niklas Wykman (M)

Madam Speaker! Ingela Nylund Watz underestimates the problems that exist in Sweden. Ingela Nylund Watz underestimates the major deficiencies that the previous government left behind.

It cannot be understood in any other way when Ingela Nylund Watz sets our serious societal problems against a plastic bag tax. It is deficiencies in the school, deficiencies in the police, people's very tough situation regarding their own livelihood, the integration issue, the problem that we are not able to integrate the immigrants into our labor market and resource shortages in the core of some of our operations that are central for the welfare to function. This is what Ingela Nylund Watz sets against a plastic bag tax.

When one does that, one has lost the proportions regarding the challenges Sweden faces. It is about threats from the outside world and about problems with our basic societal functions. It is about disorder in the population registry and about deficiencies regarding the coordination numbers. It is not in proportion to abolish or, for that matter, introduce a measure that is not effective in an environmental sense. It is not an honest way to communicate with the Swedish people.

One can be for or against a plastic bag tax. One can think that we should take ineffective symbolic measures, or one can also be against them. Personally, I am against them. But one cannot set such a thing against the problems Sweden faces. We have war in our vicinity, and we have many people who stand permanently outside the labor market. We have a cost development that drains pensioners and families with children as soon as they enter a grocery store. We have high indebtedness among our households, which makes us exposed to interest rate hikes.

Proportion is needed in a discussion about which measures stand against each other. This government intends to strengthen the work line and cohesion in Sweden.

The interpellations debate was hereby concluded.

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