Response to interpellation 2023/24:84 on policy for sparsely populated and rural municipalities
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
KD argues that the development of rural areas is crucial for Sweden's success 1 2 and that the government strengthens the conditions through investments in road maintenance, broadband support, primary care, and rural industries 1 2. KD emphasizes that agriculture is the basis for a living countryside 3 4 and that the forestry industry is important for jobs 4. S argues that the government's budget promotes centralization 5, that lowered fuel taxes benefit large cities 5 6 and that the reduction of grants to study associations is harmful to culture and education 5 7. S considers that maintained support for rural retailers and gas stations implies a reduction due to inflation 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.
Landsbygdsministern Peter Kullgren (KD)
Madam Speaker! Isak From has asked me which rural policy impact assessments I have conducted in connection with the government's budget, which, according to Isak From, risks increasing the gap between city and country.
The development of the countryside is crucial for the success of the whole of Sweden. Here, the government has a unified focus: All of Sweden shall function. The conditions for living, residing, and working in the entire country need to be improved. The conditions for the countryside differ in different parts of the country, which places demands on different measures and solutions. To achieve the goal for rural policy, a breadth of measures within many expenditure areas is needed.
The Government makes a collective decision on the budget where consequences for different areas are weighed. To strengthen the rural areas, the Government carries out special initiatives.
In the rural areas, the car is important for people to be able to get to work, services, and leisure activities. Fuel prices are at record highs. Therefore, the government is investing 5.76 billion kronor during 2024 to lower the tax on gasoline and diesel.
The maintenance of the road network is overdue. Already in the government's first budget, we prioritized funds for strengthened road maintenance with 1 billion kronor. In the budget bill for 2024, we are injecting an additional 300 million kronor per year for 2024 and 2025 to reduce the overdue maintenance. Additionally, 100 million kronor per year in 2024 and 2025 are invested in reinforced maintenance of the individual roads. The investment will contribute to maintaining accessibility and ensuring a reliable infrastructure.
Digital connectivity is important in rural areas. Digitalization enables the development of new services and improves the opportunities to live and run businesses in rural areas. The difference between sparsely populated and densely populated areas continues to decrease. The Government is now changing the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority's payment model for broadband support to streamline the use of allocated funds. Recalls of paid support are therefore expected to decrease, which creates conditions for increased effectiveness of allocated support in the form of more built-out broadband connections.
Madam Speaker! In order for it to be attractive to live in rural areas, there need to be country stores and fuel stations. This is of great importance for a robust society that functions both in everyday life and in a crisis. The Government therefore allocates funds annually to maintain commercial services - during 2023, the total amount amounted to 162 million kronor, and for 2024, a corresponding sum is expected to be distributed.
The government supports the development towards a close and accessible healthcare, with a focus on primary care. To specifically strengthen healthcare in rural areas, the government invests 300 million kronor annually during the years 2023-2025.
The primary industries are the basis for a living countryside. The competitiveness of the industry needs to be strengthened and production increased in a sustainable way. The Government continues to provide support for the production of fertilizer-based biogas when the current support expires this year and strengthens the existing grant for biogas support with 200 million kronor annually during 2024-2026. The Government also invests 720 million kronor in an extended tax reduction for so-called agricultural diesel. Additionally, an emergency support of 193 million kronor is distributed to farmers who have been particularly affected by this year's weather.
These are examples of a number of initiatives that the government is undertaking which contribute to strengthening the conditions in rural areas. The government continuously monitors the development of Sweden's rural areas and the implementation of rural policy. This is done, among other things, through various indicators that are reported in the budget bill but also in other assignments, for example, in the systematic follow-up that Tillväxtverket carries out. This follow-up and current societal changes form the basis for the government's development of rural policy so that it leads towards the goal of a viable countryside with equal opportunities for entrepreneurship, work, housing, and welfare, which leads to a long-term sustainable development in the entire country.
Isak From (S)
Madam Speaker! I would like to thank Minister for Rural Affairs Peter Kullgren.
One can have many different angles on this. The people in the countryside are no different from the people in the rest of the country. They demand the same opportunities for prosperity, welfare, and conditions for trade and entrepreneurship.
I will start with the part where I particularly agree with Peter Kullgren: digitalization. In that regard, we have been at the forefront, but we are now starting to lose ground against the rest of the EU. I traveled in Poland in August and could observe that for a large part of the journey, there were well-functioning 5G networks with very good connectivity. I cannot really see that it is fully the case in my part of the country. This also applies to many other parts of the country.
In the question about other parts, the Tidö parties choose to spend a very large amount of money on reduced fuel tax, with a general reduction everywhere. In large parts, it simply goes to metropolitan areas, because it is in the metropolitan areas where there are the most drivers and where people most often drive the most.
We Social Democrats have a different idea. We have launched Sverigebränslet, as an idea to truly lower the fuel price. We have also launched the idea of a support for car ownership in rural and countryside areas so that the support actually goes to those who really need it. It is the people out in the country who every day need to travel to work, preschool, and sports that we need to support. I am not entirely sure that the same support is needed for the metropolitan areas, which have well-developed public transport. But it is here that the government chooses to spend the large sums of money.
In area after area, the submitted budget bill points towards a policy of centralization. At the same time as the centralization of healthcare is being investigated, municipal mergers are also being investigated. At the same time as taxes are being lowered for the wealthiest, healthcare personnel—nursing assistants and dental assistants—are lacking in almost every one of northern Sweden's municipalities.
At the same time as we need to have attractive communities, the government is carrying out a drastic reduction of the study associations' activities. The study associations are the individually most important actors in rural and countryside municipalities for cultural events and educational initiatives to be able to be carried out. ABF Vux and Studieförbundet Vuxenskolan are in all of Sweden's municipalities. The government base wants to cut back significantly on these. We think that is bad.
Landsbygdsministern Peter Kullgren (KD)
Madam Speaker! Measures in many policy areas affect the conditions for living, residing, and working in rural areas. The Government makes a collective decision on the budget where the consequences for the various policy areas are weighed. Investigation proposals and other proposals are sent for consultation. After that, the issues are prepared broadly within the Government, which is part of the process of securing the rural perspective in the Government's activities.
It is tough times that involve great efforts for the entire economy. The municipalities and regions face great economic pressures. The government provides a substantial supplement to municipalities and regions in the autumn revision budget and in the budget proposal for 2024. It concerns 10 billion in a permanent general supplement and 6 million to the regions in a special supplement.
Regarding migration patterns within the kingdom, it is not a completely unambiguous picture that emerges. While some large urban municipalities have had a negative domestic migration net, many rural municipalities have had a positive one. This trend was particularly clear during the pandemic years. We do not yet know what the development will look like moving forward. But the investments being made, for example in broadband expansion, are important for both businesses and residents in rural areas. The development differs between different rural municipalities. Many municipalities have had a declining population.
The Government proposes, as the member mentioned, that the state contribution to the study associations be adjusted in favor of other prioritized measures within, among other things, folk high schools and other education for adults. The Government simultaneously proposes in the budget bill that the Riksdag, instead of a joint appropriation, shall decide on an appropriation for grants to folk high schools and a separate appropriation for grants to the study associations.
In this context, I would like to take the opportunity to highlight the fact that it is not only more state funds that create confidence in the future or success in rural areas. As I pointed out in my opening remarks, the agrarian industries are the basis for living rural areas. The competitiveness of the industry needs to be strengthened, and production needs to increase in a sustainable way. That is exactly why we are now working hard on an update of the food strategy where precisely strengthened competitiveness and increased production are in focus.
I am convinced that both the green and the blue nutrients are important hubs for our Swedish rural areas.
Isak From (S)
Madam Speaker! The Minister for Rural Affairs is certainly fully aware that we have had a number of debates with Mats Persson in this chamber. He is extremely clear about why one must abolish and limit study associations and drastically cut the appropriations.
The Minister for Rural Affairs argues that the investment they are making in the folk high schools is an investment. But in reality, it turns out to be a minus of 400 million for the folk high schools. One must actually say it as it is. It is a cut.
I had some fun visiting the websites for the adult education center and ABF in my area. They conduct training on how to shear sheep, how to slaughter moose and wild game, and how to grow vegetables, as well as courses to obtain chainsaw licenses, AM licenses, snowmobile licenses, jet ski licenses, and so on. This is what the government basis is clear about not needing to support. But in many rural and countryside municipalities, there is no market to run such things, and if there had been, it would probably have become quite a lot more expensive.
In Vilhelmina, this summer, the youth used the epatractor in home care. The government has - today, I believe - decided on a referral to the Council of Legislation regarding tightening the regulations for the AM-card. I welcome that. At the same time, there are many other measures that one as a rural party - as the Christian Democrats perhaps claim they are - could make. One could become immensely popular if one equated the moped car with the A-tractor so that it was allowed to drive 45 kilometers per hour.
It is completely incomprehensible that we have ended up in a situation where a small plastic car is allowed to go 45 kilometers per hour while a still quite safe former passenger car that has been converted is only allowed to go 30. For the youth in the countryside, a reform would be very welcome. If there is something that the Minister for Rural Affairs can imagine pushing for, the Minister for Rural Affairs would become quite popular among young people in many of Sweden's rural municipalities.
The Minister for Rural Affairs calls it an investment that we shall maintain the support for rural grocers and petrol stations because we are keeping that support unchanged. But with the current inflation level, it means a minus. We will, of course, make up for that part in our budget.
We also see that the state's service center receives a saving. They receive a mandate, which we welcome, to cooperate more with the Swedish Enforcement Authority, but we see nothing of the expansion plan for more service offices in more municipalities. Has that part completely disappeared?
We need to agree that state services must exist in all municipalities, with equal and fair conditions.
Landsbygdsministern Peter Kullgren (KD)
Madam Speaker! Thanks to the member for the tips and consideration of how the Minister for Rural Affairs can become more popular in the countryside! But I believe the member should direct the questions about e-tractors to my colleague in my department, Infrastructure and Housing Minister Andreas Carlson.
I would like to return to something the member mentioned in the introduction regarding fuel prices. I am pleased that the Social Democrats now realize that we need to do things regarding the petrol price and that they also see that the design of the reduction obligation was not as good as they have claimed and thought. It is important to ensure that fuel prices are reasonable in Sweden. At the same time, we shall, of course, try to produce biofuels that can drive our cars or possibly heavy vehicles in agriculture forward in a more environmentally friendly way with a raw material that comes from here, the country, not least from our Swedish forests, as the previous discussion touched upon.
There is a great deal that can be done for the well-being of the countryside and to ensure that it remains strong and vital, but I cannot escape the fact that the absolute most important thing for the entire chain is that business functions and that people continue to live in the countryside. That is often achieved if one has a job that one can live off of – a livelihood – and that there is a good basic service from society with school and healthcare. Precisely for that reason, we are also making a targeted investment with a rural perspective of 300 million kronor on primary care. It is a very important matter.
Sweden's farmers and agricultural producers, that is, the agrarian industries, are also important. A simple but yet attitude-changing matter that we have now included in an investigation concerns how one should view Swedish agriculture. Previous governments treated it as an environmentally hazardous activity. I have received an enormous amount of appreciation - in terms of popularity - after the investigation we have conducted where we consider whether we should remove it. One must look at how agriculture should be classified. Farmers - people - who have lived off and for the land, not infrequently for generations - should they be seen as environmentally hazardous by definition, or can one find another term and another regulatory framework regarding precisely their activities?
This government is pursuing an active forest policy and has stood up against the EU's greed in many cases. Sweden shall continue to have a successful forest industry and a successful, sustainable forestry that not only delivers climate-smart products but also contributes large tax revenues and with jobs and livelihoods for people who often live and work in rural areas. It is central to the government's rural policy to ensure that the base in the countryside lives and develops. In that regard, it is inevitably the case that the land-based industries are extremely important.
Isak From (S)
Madam Speaker! We Social Democrats invest in those who truly need it. We have prioritized a thought-support for those who live in sparsely populated areas and in the countryside so that the funds reach them and are not consumed by the world market price or the large gasoline and diesel companies. That is what we have seen. Now that the government has lowered taxes, it has not had the intended effect at the pump. An enormous number of billions will simultaneously go directly to the metropolitan areas.
We have now had a dialogue with the industry about how much biofuels they will be able to produce and what is reasonable. We have landed on just over 19 percent for diesel and 7 ½ for gasoline. The industry says that if one can cultivate the forest, take advantage of this and transition the process industry, they will be able to produce those volumes. It would be a very important signal to that industry, to the forest industry, that there is a long-term demand. The question then is whether this government should pay out emission allowances to the EU or subsidize our own industry.
There are many other parts of this that we have not addressed. We will, of course, continue to debate the conditions for the A-tractor, perhaps with Andreas Carlson. We shall see. We have not addressed the vehicle testing, but the possibilities in sparsely populated areas and in the countryside to have one's trailer registered and inspected have become much worse since the deregulation. The availability in metropolitan areas is much better than in sparsely populated areas. And then we haven't even entered the debate about the moose and the wolf! We will have to return to that.
Landsbygdsministern Peter Kullgren (KD)
Madam Speaker! The development of the countryside is crucial for the success of the whole of Sweden. The Government has a clear focus on the countryside and is working purposefully to improve the conditions for the countryside. As part of that work, the Ministry of Rural Affairs and Infrastructure has begun a review of the overall rural policy. The purpose is to present proposals that shall strengthen the conditions for the countryside.
The capacity and ability to handle challenges, crises, and societal changes that affect rural areas need to be developed and taken into account. This includes, among other things, looking at how the conditions for housing, work, entrepreneurship, service, and transport in rural areas can be improved. The review includes many policy areas that collectively will contribute to strengthening the conditions for good development in rural areas, and the government, as stated, focuses on ensuring that all of Sweden functions.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.