Response to interpellation 2023/24:83 on new state green guarantees
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns state green guarantees and the green transition in northern Sweden. M argues that industry is central to the economy 1 and that the government proposes extending the credit guarantee program 1. M emphasizes that the new industrialization creates challenges for infrastructure, housing, and skills 1 and that there is a consensus that solutions must be found methodically 2. M believes that Sweden should be a leader through research and innovation 3 and that guarantees are a tool where business, infrastructure, and housing policy are crucial 3 4. S wants to see a growth package with green credits for municipalities and national intakes in vocational adult education 5. S argues that the government is not doing enough to stop "barack-living" 5 and lacks a policy that enables guarantees to attract people to northern Sweden 6. S believes that the state and the government must jointly support the development to manage the high costs 7.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Statsrådet Niklas Wykman (M)
Madam Speaker! Isak From has asked whether the Minister for Finance has considered whether actors with cost effects arising for the social construction in the tracks of the green industrial transition should also be given opportunities for direct state support, new green credits, or other state guarantees.
The interpellation has been handed over to me.
Industry plays a central role for Sweden's economy and contributes both export revenues and jobs as well as sustainable solutions for the climate transition which are utilized globally. Promoting the industry's transition is therefore an important issue for the government. Sweden shall pursue an ambitious and effective climate policy to reach the climate goals, and the Swedish business community shall be given the conditions to be leading in the green transition.
In the budget bill for 2024, the government proposes that Riksgäldens credit guarantee program for green investments be extended. By contributing to making long-term investments possible, the guarantee program plays an important role in the development of sustainable large-scale industrial technology, for example within the energy sector.
The large corporate establishments and corporate expansions that are now taking place in the country place great demands on society in the municipalities and regions affected. The societal transformation occurring in northern Sweden as a result of the industrial initiatives currently underway creates challenges in many areas where, among other things, electricity production, infrastructure, housing, educational opportunities, and the influx of skills must be quickly put in place. The challenges involve complex issues that may involve risk-taking for the affected actors. The municipalities affected by the new industrialization need to grow significantly in a short time, as the demand for skills and labor is not judged to be able to be met by people who currently live in the two counties. A letter-writer was commissioned in June 2023 to promote the coordination of state interventions for sustainable community building in Norrbotten and Västerbotten counties. The assignment is to be reported by June 15, 2024, at the latest.
The Government also intends to develop a strategy for the new industrialization and social transformation in Norrbotten and Västerbotten counties. The strategy shall include measures within strategic areas as well as cooperation between the state, the business sector, and relevant municipalities and regions. The social transformation and the new industrialization need to proceed in step with each other.
The Government will monitor the need for additional measures to enable the industry's transition.
Isak From (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank Niklas Wykman for the answer, which I fundamentally think is good. I think it is particularly pleasing that even this government and the Moderates now believe that industry plays a central role for Sweden and its economy. It is not gone at all; rather, it is experiencing strong growth. It is very good that the government continues with the assignment given to Peter Larsson and has also given him the assignment, as a letter-of-the-law investigator, to continue investigating the coordination of the state interventions for the societal transformation in Norrbotten and Västerbotten.
I can also be pleased that the Moderaterna had a meeting in Umeå and that Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson saw that what is happening in northern Sweden, in contrast to many other parts of Sweden, are positive concerns. But it also requires that it actually happens.
I submitted this interpellation to the Minister for Finance, largely because different Moderates in the election campaign were in northern Sweden and promised different forms of support packages, loans, or other interventions. Now it comes down to this being realized. What has happened since then is that Sweden has entered a recession. A significant increase in housing construction was announced, not least in Skellefteå and other parts of northern Sweden. But now it has slowed down, largely because the housing sector as a whole has crashed in the country. The liquidity in the housing companies and construction companies is so poor that one does not dare to undertake the projects that now exist.
Northvolt came out a few weeks ago and pleaded greatly to society and the government regarding the important housing construction, which is central. What will happen without housing for those who are now being employed at Northvolt? Northvolt employs somewhere between 100 and 150 people every week. What kind of life are they to be given? What conditions shall there be? What will be the image of Sweden if everyone who is to work in the new green industries has to live in housing barracks and it becomes fly-in/fly-out? It will not be a good signal to the rest of the country, other municipalities, and other industrial investments – one looks at northern Sweden as a shop window.
Much of what has been announced, for example in Trafikverket's work with the expansion of the infrastructure in northern Sweden, has been pushed into the future and still remains. We do not see much of the necessary investments in the railway in northern Sweden. The Moderates were out in the election campaign and gave a loan pledge to Inlandsbanan AB so that Inlandsbanan could be renovated. In this way, one could create a transport hub in northern Sweden, not least for further transport to the port of Gothenburg. This and other investments are important. We must, above all, speed up the construction of housing.
Eva Lindh (S)
Madam Speaker! Many thanks to Isak From for posing an important question in his interpellation, and thanks also for the answer from the Minister for Finance!
Sweden is far ahead in the climate transition precisely thanks to large green investments and a clear political will. Our country shall take its share of the responsibility to reduce emissions but also to show the rest of the world how a faster climate transition creates jobs and export opportunities.
Swedish industry plays a key role in our social construction and will also do so for us to manage the climate transition. In order to enable the emergence of a new industry, we also need to create the best possible conditions for it.
We did what we could in government position. I hope that the new government does what it can to push for large investments to transition the industry. It is about industrial steps but also other important measures.
Right now, the green industrial revolution is most clearly visible in northern Sweden in municipalities such as Skellefteå, Boden, and Luleå. Here, there is green electricity, large areas of land, and opportunities for green transition. But there are also other municipalities that want to and are also looking at how it looks and how it is going up in northern Sweden.
Will it be the case that people will dare to take the step and enter into these types of investments? Initially, just as Isak From spoke about, it requires a considerable amount of effort from the municipality to make it possible. But if the municipalities dare, it will yield good effects back to our entire country with new jobs, a new green transition, and conditions for growth for the whole country.
When one looks at this, it is about conditions. Just as my colleague Isak From pointed out, it is a matter of being able to create it. But it is also about a social construction to manage what it entails for the parts of the country that it concerns. Some of the municipalities are Ludvika and Mariestad, which are now looking at whether they can manage to take this step.
We wonder: Are there also thoughts on how to manage the entire part of letting the green transition and the new industrial revolution take place? It will cost. I am grateful for an answer.
Statsrådet Niklas Wykman (M)
Madam Speaker! Let me begin by thanking Isak From for the debate and also for the praise and the common determination that, for all the world, also exists to handle many of the problems that Sweden has.
I took particular note of one thing. I do not know if it is a specific type of Norrland optimism. I thought that "positive concerns" was an interesting expression and a good way to capture a great deal of the challenges. Undoubtedly, there are a lot of challenges to address in order to manage the transition.
Madam Speaker! The interpellor points to one of these matters. Much capital may need to be procured and changes made and implemented in housing and certainly also preschools, schools and much more in a short period of time. It is clear that it creates a number of pressures and concerns.
It can, of course, also happen that it is a new type of challenge. Fundamentally, just as the interpellor describes it, it is a positive concern. Some municipalities may have perhaps been more accustomed to managing a relatively constant population, or in some cases have even had a shrinking population. They may face entirely new challenges.
Fundamentally, it is very good. As a resident of a municipality with a high influx of people, I know firsthand what kind of challenges this obviously creates. I have personally moved from Kalmar to Solna. It is one of the municipalities that has needed to expand very much. There have been new companies and new housing. It places demands on new infrastructure, new preschools, and new schools.
It naturally creates, just as the interpellator points out, a number of different challenges. This, in turn, affects many different parts of Swedish society. It concerns equalization systems, financing possibilities, Kommuninvest for a municipality's possibility to take out loans, and so on. Here, there are a number of different things that naturally interact around both the problems and the opportunities that exist.
One thing is, for example, Kommuninvest. It is a structure we have in Sweden so that municipalities can be able to finance investments. It now has major problems due to the bank tax that was introduced by a previous government where they are currently, for example, under severe pressure in their business model. It is a concern that exists in this area.
It is a long row of problems that are underscored here. It is infrastructure, housing and much more that require investments. Fundamentally, it is about the obviously good business ideas and good opportunities to run companies and create jobs. There is, of course, a financing power in that.
But there can also be a bridging problem where one has very high costs here and now and perhaps revenues later, as the interpellor points out. I am therefore pleased that the interpellor points out that the government has commissioned an investigation. There is also work that has been ongoing since earlier which, among other things, approaches these types of issues.
Fundamentally, it is always complex. We heard earlier in the debate how one needs to calmly look through different types of questions and challenges. Everyone knows that is the case. Fundamentally, there therefore does not seem to be any decisive difference of opinion that I can discern.
We shall, calmly and methodically, but also as expeditiously as possible, look at different types of solutions so that the green transition can proceed as quickly and effectively as possible.
It should, of course, be to the benefit of Västerbotten and Norrbotten but also, as has been highlighted here in the debate, for all of Sweden and all of society. It should also be to the benefit, even if it sounds a bit lofty, for the whole world. It is about meeting a global common problem.
Isak From (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Niklas Wykman, for the answer!
Various figures are circulating. The municipalities in northern Sweden assess that the debt burden on the municipalities and the investment needs for the municipalities – primarily Skellefteå, Luleå, Boden, Gällivare and Kiruna – amount to just over 600 billion.
It is clear that investments in the form of new jobs and new citizens will come in a later stage when tax revenues can increase because the population increases and the prosperity in the municipality has improved. Therefore, it is so important that it can be carried out in the right way.
I regret that the S-led government did not manage to implement the growth package with green credits to the municipalities that we worked very hard on. We are now presenting the proposal in our motions. We want to see a special initiative for the growth municipalities that are working with the climate transition.
At the same time, housing construction has completely collapsed. There is a broad dividing line running through Sweden. We have increasing unemployment and a total standstill in southern Sweden. We should be able to match this better, and the government can also take measures.
But we do not see that in the budget bill. There, the government base chooses to invest in rot for more countertops and kitchens to be replaced when we need to build more housing.
We also need to ensure the supply of skills with national intakes at yrkesvux so that all those who have become unemployed in another part of the country can take the jobs that actually exist now. We do not need to have unemployed people.
This is what we need to do. It is an important part of the future. But just as Eva Lindh pointed out, it is other municipalities in the rest of the country, perhaps also in the rest of Europe, that are looking at how it actually is going. Where will the upcoming investments be made? It is clear that as the party that holds the Prime Minister's post, one has a fairly large opportunity to make a difference here.
I have followed Peter Larsson in his assignments and work, and I know that he reports continuously. But for this to become credible, we need to move away from barrack housing. Then, for the new job opportunities that are now coming and for those who are going to work in the new green industries, they need real housing so that they can establish themselves in the area and contribute to a green future.
Eva Lindh (S)
Madam Speaker! Let me begin by making a statement. Sometimes there is a mistrust regarding whether we are actually making the green transition for several reasons. One reason is naturally to change and tackle the climate threat that we have ahead of us. The second reason is that the green revolution creates thousands of new jobs for Sweden. I just want to say this.
For municipalities and regions that have previously struggled with out-migration and reduced economic resources, this means something very positive: hope and faith in the future. But it is precisely about seeing the specific challenges at the same time. We want to see the hope and faith in the future above all else, but we must not turn a blind eye to the fact that this also involves large costs.
In order to be able to support a green transition, which is good both for tackling the climate threat and for developing and strengthening the labor market in Sweden and providing growth, we in the state, in the Swedish Riksdag and the government, must together at all times ensure how we can support this development so that it continues forward.
That is why I think it is so important that we have this debate today. So that we can raise what needs to be done and ensure that we get investments both in green credits and in that which has enabled the green industrial revolution. But it is also about helping those municipalities that dare to take the step and ensuring that they get the support they need.
Statsrådet Niklas Wykman (M)
Madam Speaker! I try to contribute to a lively debate, but it does not quite happen every time because the differences of opinion are perhaps not so great at their core.
It is good that there is a broad consensus that Sweden should be a leader, not only when it comes to ambitions but also when it comes to the realization and production of what is a climate-smart society.
It is good that there is as broad a consensus as possible on the importance of research, the importance of development, and the importance of innovation and new companies. In this area, one can, for example, note that we are now reallocating and adding resources for civil engineering education. It is clear that it is important that there are homes, but fundamentally, there must also be an engineer or some other skilled woman or man who wants to move there and do the job.
In area after area, one can see that there is a broad support for us in Sweden to be leading the green transition. Our northern regions have received a number of unique conditions regarding this. Some have it due to natural power in terms of forests, hydropower and minerals. Some have it for somewhat poorer reasons, based on the fact that there may have been a shortage of electricity production in southern Sweden - something that we intend to rectify.
Overall, Sweden obviously has fantastic opportunities. We live in a time that is, to say the least, heavy with problems, both in our own country and even more so when one looks out at what is happening in many parts of the world. Therefore, I think it is good that the interpellor raises a question that instills a hope for the future and a faith in the future that things actually can not only be, but also – if we behave reasonably well – will become better.
It is clear that one can look forward to a tomorrow where Sweden is leading in a number of different green industries, and then not just at the desk stage and the planning stage but so that we are far ahead for real. Then it is our products, our raw materials, our materials, our expertise, our IT competence, our mathematical ability, our programming ability and so on that are present not only here in the country but all around the whole world and make this happen.
I can only underline once again that I am pleased that the opposition, here in terms of the Social Democrats, has an agreement regarding the work methodology that we have. We have appointed a letter-by-letter investigation regarding this, which one can say is fundamentally a continuation of a previous assignment in another form, in order to continue to review how this shall proceed in practice.
Let me underline, Madam Speaker, that it is, just as the interpellor says, major societal changes that are required if we are to manage this. It is fundamentally something positive, but it is clear that it is also, to some extent, a strain. It is a strain on the financing possibilities, which is the theme of the interpellation.
For those living in a municipality that has expanded significantly over a long period, it also involves pressures on all possible levels when many people suddenly move in. It is about road construction and traffic problems that previously did not exist there. It is about schools that may have had a constant or sometimes fluctuating student population that will have to accommodate more students. It is about new types of challenges for preschools and much else in the municipal services.
This is obviously not just about guarantees, and that is what I really want to get to. It is clear that there may be a need for guarantees, and different variants and conditions are being tested in the forms we have already mentioned for this. I heard from the interpellor that the previous government had considered such things but had not reached a conclusion on it. But there is much that must be achieved at the same time. Guarantees can be a tool; they should not be ruled out. But it is far from the whole of this; there is much that needs to be achieved here all at once.
Isak From (S)
Madam Speaker and the Minister for Finance! It is good that we agree on the main outlines. I and we Social Democrats welcome that the Moderates now have a positive narrative about the industry.
In order for this to be possible and for more municipalities to want to participate, one looks at what is happening in northern Sweden. When it comes to what is happening in Mariestad, it perhaps is more about whether one gets the electricity that is needed and the connections that are required. It is slightly different parts.
What we see in northern Sweden is that there is a sluggishness. It is not entirely certain that people want to move from the Mälardalen region to northern Sweden even though they are unemployed. On the other hand, there is a positive image of northern Sweden in many of the central EU countries. Many chose to move to Sweden during the pandemic, because they saw a kind of a new lifestyle. But that requires that one can live in some other way than in a barrack, and it also requires that we have a policy that enables a guarantee where we need to take extra steps. I unfortunately lack that from the government.
Fundamentally, I still see this as something positive. I wrote the interpellation and wanted the debate because there are many actors who are listening and who contact the government, if not daily then at least weekly, and are putting on pressure. I think the Riksdag also needs to signal clearly that we see what is happening. We need to be involved, and the green transition must happen here and now. Then we need to do what is required together.
Statsrådet Niklas Wykman (M)
Madam Speaker! I would like to thank Isak From for this interpellation on an important issue. I am pleased with the broad consensus that exists regarding this. For those watching the debate, which Isak From referred to, it is also important to know that there is an ordered process with investigations for this - that is the way we work in Sweden - to review the measures that need to be put in place for the green transition. It is important - obviously not only in the northern counties, even though the investigation specifically looks at that, but in the whole country - that we have an effective climate work that allows us to meet the future in the best way possible.
Isak From mentioned that people may need to move here from Europe. Now I do not know how many who watch Swedish interpellation debates in these countries, but if anyone does, one can observe that many of not only Sweden's but also the world's most beautiful places are in our northern reaches, in Västerbotten and Norrbotten. There are thus good and strong reasons for those who want to move there, of which the green transition and the industrial optimism obviously weigh heavily in the balance.
In conclusion, Madam Speaker, I want to say that credits and different types of support can, of course, be an element that helps. Fundamentally, however, it is needed that we have good conditions for entrepreneurship, good infrastructure, good housing policy and electricity production throughout the country and that we do not have cumbersome and slow permit processes. Generally, a good and effective business policy is needed. It is not enough just with different types of support and subsidies.
Someone expressed it as that all these permit processes and such could be described as a wet blanket. I experience it more as a centrifuge whitewashing the operations. It is therefore clear that we have a lot to work on broadly. But we will do it - for Sweden's sake, for the jobs' sake and for the environment's sake.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.