Response to interpellation 2023/24:397 on operating grants for the National Association of Village Halls
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
1 KD considers civil society to be an indispensable prerequisite for a vibrant social life and that community centers (bygdegårdar) are important for community and for countering polarization 1. 1 KD argues that state grants to civil society should normally be handled by a state agency 1. 2 3 KD views support for civil society positively and emphasizes that community centers are an indispensable part of viable rural areas 2 3. 4 C considers community centers to be a strong rural actor that needs money to develop its activities 4. 5 C wants funds to go via the Ministry of Rural Affairs and Infrastructure to community centers 5. 6 KD considers that the government has a unified focus on strengthening the conditions for living, residing, and working throughout the country 6. 6 KD argues that regardless of whether one lives in the countryside or in a large city, one should be able to create a good life 6.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Landsbygdsministern Peter Kullgren (KD)
Madam Speaker! Mikael Larsson has asked me whether I consider a rural policy-motivated operating grant to Bygdegårdarnas Riksförbund to be important and whether I will pursue the issue of a rural policy-motivated operating grant to Bygdegårdarnas Riksförbund.
I agree with Mikael Larsson in his description of how important a strong civil society is. The actors in civil society all contribute in different ways with important input, knowledge, and efforts for a sustainable national, regional, and local development. This is important both in times of peace and in times of crisis.
Civil society constitutes both an indispensable prerequisite for a vibrant social life and an expression of an open democratic society that is larger than the state. Within civil society, both large organizations and small communities of people between one another are contained. In civil society's communities and human encounters, understanding and respect can grow between people, something that can contribute to counteracting hatred and polarization and to breaking down exclusion and involuntary loneliness. Civil society also acts as a democratic school and as a carrier of voices, and carries out socially useful activities within various sectors across the entire country.
This is a fundamental attitude that I carry with me into the work of a comprehensive review of rural policy, which has now commenced at the Ministry of Rural Affairs and Infrastructure. The goal is to submit a rural policy proposition in the spring of 2026 as well as to raise awareness about conditions in different types of rural areas.
When it comes to operating grants to individual organizations such as Bygdegårdarnas Riksförbund, the government's starting point is that state grants to civil society organizations should normally be handled by a state agency.
Mikael Larsson (C)
Madam Speaker! I would first like to thank Minister Kullgren for the answer to my interpellation. I hope that this moment with the interpellation can become a good debate, a good conversation, and highlight the questions I raise in the interpellation and which the Minister answers.
I want to start with the question about community centers. Within the framework of Bygdegårdarnas Riksförbund, that is, the association that connects community centers in Sweden, there are 1,469 venues for culture, parties and, as the Minister mentioned, democracy-promoting measures - incredibly important. 240,000 members spread across the entire country represent a fantastically large popular movement. Masses of active members make up the community center movement - spread across our entire country from north to south.
With this interpellation, I want to highlight the understanding of community centers (bygdegårdar), and I hope that the Minister has a great deal of knowledge about community centers. It is important that they are highlighted on a broader and larger scale.
I am pleased that the Minister, in his response, mentioned polarization and hate as something we must counteract, and it is the community centers (bygdegårdar) all around Sweden that are the place to counteract polarization and hate. To fulfill the mission of being an open, democracy-promoting movement in the difficult times we live in, money is actually needed. The community centers around the country receive support from municipalities and, in some places, also from regions, to keep the premises in good condition and to carry out various culture-promoting measures. Of course, the community centers also have a lot of their own activities around the country, ranging from coffee houses and gymnastics to open meetings. They also have assembly halls that can be rented out for a multitude of different activities, as I said initially.
In order to be able to develop their activities at the local level and at the national level, it is important to complete the assignment so that one can demonstrate the power that exists within the community centers' activities. The community centers are a strong rural actor, and they have existed in our Swedish countryside for over a hundred years.
Just as the Minister said in his answer, Boverket and Kulturrådet distribute money to Bygdegårdarnas Riksförbund, partly in the form of an operational grant, partly for culture-promoting measures, and partly to be a support for local community centers around the country. It can be to provide help with renovations. I know that Boverket and Kulturrådet are in contact with other Ministers other than Minister Kullgren, so we shall not go into those questions here, but a certain amount of support is indeed given from there.
Since the national association is such a significant rural actor that takes an enormous responsibility for developing Sweden's rural areas - which looks different from north to south, from east to west - I wonder if the Minister considers that a more rural-oriented activity support for Bygdegårdarnas Riksförbund is important.
Landsbygdsministern Peter Kullgren (KD)
Madam Speaker! I thank you for the follow-up questions.
I do not come from a tradition where one is in a community center from childhood. I grew up a bit too close to an urban area for that to be the culture. But through friends, I have for various reasons had the opportunity to spend quite a lot of time in different community centers. There is one in particular that is close to my heart, and I can say that I love community centers. I have been to very fun parties in community centers with people whom I perhaps had not met before.
The village hall becomes the heart of the heartland. It pulses. Things happen. You get activities there. It binds together people in the countryside, who are in great need of interpersonal community in a different way than one is in the large urban area.
With that said, I believe that many people in our country would benefit from that type of community and the pride that comes with having an active cultural life, an attractive meeting place that is accessible to the vast majority, and a gathering place for both celebrations in times of joy and in times of sorrow.
This is something incredibly important, and I am proud of all the voluntary time that is spent on this – the commitment that exists when a new grill hut needs to be built somewhere, when it needs to be repainted when the floor starts to get a bit worn, or when the roof starts to leak.
As I mentioned, we at the Ministry of Rural Affairs and Infrastructure are now making a new attempt and working to produce a rural policy proposition. It does take some time if one is to do it in a comprehensive manner.
It does not mean that things will not happen in the meantime. We lift most of the stones that exist under the rural policy agenda, so I can neither confirm nor rule out that this will be such a part. But I still want to convey that I see the fantastic work that is happening all around in our rural areas and that the community centers are important.
That is why we also view support for civil society positively. The state distributes 24 billion kronor annually in state grants to civil society organizations. Just as the member mentioned, Bygdegårdarnas Riksförbund is one of those organizations, and it already has state support today via Boverket and Statens kulturråd.
Mikael Larsson (C)
Madam Speaker! Once again, thank you, Minister Kullgren, for the answer!
It is exactly as the Minister is touching upon regarding community centers. I want to begin within the Minister for Rural Affairs' area with precisely the countryside. What would Sweden be without our beautiful countryside?
Where is it that people meet in the countryside? Well, it is in the community center (bygdegården). I can imagine that the Minister meets countless LRF branches, Lantmännen, and household guilds all around the country, and where is it that they meet? Well, it is in the community center. The community centers truly bring together Sweden and the rural organizations that exist.
As the Minister mentioned, work is being done on rural policy and a rural policy proposition and direction. I think that sounds interesting and that it is good that these issues are being highlighted so that we can really achieve something very good from this.
It is what I truly feel in this when we talk about the word countryside. What is it that we weigh into the word countryside? It can be different for whichever person we are talking about, and that is well what is the fine thing to remember – that countryside is so immensely much.
The community centers (bygdegårdar) truly unite Sweden. I sit myself in the Committee on Defence and in the Defence Preparedness Board, and just before Christmas we submitted a report on force generation where the word community centers is mentioned for the first time in the board's history as an important part. In the event of a crisis and high alert, it is important to be able to be in a community center, where one perhaps already is, and have a warming center and gather if big, terrible things happen. The community centers will fulfill an important function – and the Minister also says this in his response – in the event of a crisis or war.
I hope the work with the rural area bill can become some kind of direction where one speaks about what one wants for Sweden and our rural areas and the civil society organizations and companies that exist in the countryside. But what one also must remember to speak about is how money should be invested.
As for the community centers, some funds are distributed by both Boverket and Kulturrådet, but it would be interesting to look at how one can arrange for funds to go via the Ministry of Rural Affairs and Infrastructure to community centers specifically, in order to be able to strengthen activities all over the country.
That brings me to my question on this. When one is to develop something, one must truly know how things are connected and how things function, that is, learn from what is happening out in the world, at the grassroots level. That will be my next question to Minister Kullgren regarding the work with this bill. I would like to ask the Minister if he is prepared, in meeting and dialogue with Bygdegårdarnas Riksförbund, to make submissions regarding how the development of the countryside and community centers in the countryside could take place so that it truly enters this countryside bill.
Landsbygdsministern Peter Kullgren (KD)
Madam Speaker! I perceive that the government and Mikael Larsson are fundamentally quite in agreement. We view civil society positively, and we view the community centers positively. We both want a strong civil society both in the city and in the countryside.
I believe I have described much of the positive contributions that the community centers provide. As said, they receive support from the state level, and they receive support from other sources. There is a great deal of voluntary commitment.
I believe, however, that we also need to adhere to some main principles for grants to civil society. There is a government bill, A policy for civil society. It should be regulated through ordinances, which makes it possible for more organizations to apply for grants on different terms based on how they contribute to society.
The member is also a member of the Defence Preparation Committee. The security policy situation of recent times has focused on the preparedness perspective, how one views different institutions in society and different phenomena, everything from community centers to food production, and how we should increase the resilience and resistance in our society. It is a constantly changing matter who performs socially beneficial actions, who regardless of anything will be important and need to be pointed out as such actors, and who can receive new and additional assignments in the event of a crisis or, at most, war. It is an ongoing discussion where I cannot exclude or guarantee anything.
The work on the bill is, as said, far ahead, but that is because we want to try to gather together much of what we do and set a direction forward for rural policy. It must not be mistaken for the fact that no other decisions will be made in the meantime. I do not think the member believes that either. But the fact that we have this work also means that we can gather this up from a significantly broader perspective.
One must remember that rural areas look different. Rural policy is not just for the Minister for Rural Affairs either, but it cuts straight through all policy areas. In that case, we need to have a broad perspective when we talk about how we best proceed from the state level. The state, as the member knows, cannot do everything, but we can point out the direction and provide support in certain matters.
All parts are needed, everything from schools to healthcare to commercial services and various actors in society, so that we can have viable and living rural areas. In that regard, the community centers are an indispensable part.
Mikael Larsson (C)
Madam Speaker! Again: Thank you, Minister Kullgren, for the answer! I wanted to use this debate or this conversation to shed light on the issue of community centers as important rural development actors. I am pleased by what the Minister last mentioned: that the countryside really must be an issue that lies with many ministers and departments. I am also pleased that one is looking at how state support and grants should be designed so that they are located in different places but also have a long-term perspective. I think this is extremely important in order to be able to conduct an operation as well as possible.
I really hope that the Minister keeps the community centers in mind and in his words when the rural area bill that he is currently working on becomes a reality. I hope that through this, more money can be directed to civil society actors in rural areas, where the community centers are included.
I have been and am deeply involved in the community center movement - from that one at home up to our federation. I would like to conclude by saying that my best community center memory is my 30th birthday party that I had in the community center at home. I want, Madam Speaker, as a final question to the Minister, who mentioned that he has been in a community center many times, to ask him himself to speak about what his best memory from a community center is - just to get the community centers on the agenda.
I want to thank you for all the answers, and I hope that we can have a constructive conversation and a discussion, for the community centers and Sweden's rural areas moving forward.
Landsbygdsministern Peter Kullgren (KD)
Madam Speaker! I may have to censor some parts. As I mentioned, I did not grow up in community centers and have not had it in me since I was a child. But Fageråsen's community center is very dear to my heart. One of the funniest memories I have from there is actually a hard rock party, arranged by, among others, a colleague of yours and mine, the formerly active Center Party member Henrik Lander, who lives in the area. It was a very fun bash and a tradition that I hope they take up again. Of course, countless meetings have also taken place. The community center is the meeting place for hunting teams, where they hold their hunting meetings. And a great deal of entertainment has occurred. But this is one of my best memories from there.
In conclusion: The Government has a unified focus: The conditions for living, housing, and working in the entire country shall be strengthened. Regardless of whether you live in the countryside or in the big city, you shall be able to create a good life for yourself.
I would therefore like to thank you for an interesting conversation about the important community centers.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.