Response to interpellation 2024/25:106 on the work against unauthorized influence
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
M emphasizes that the government prioritizes combating organized crime through a national strategy and action plan 1. M is pleased with new legislation that will clarify liability and build a robust protection for local representatives 2. M considers it extremely important to safeguard the integrity of democracy and the rule of law, but considers the systems in the Government Offices for security screening to be very robust 3. S argues that it is a threat to the system that the largest party in the government's basis has a party leader with associations in the gang criminal environment 4. S demands clearer internal control in the government's coordination office 4 and wants the government to invest more in welfare and the authorities' crime prevention efforts. S considers it serious that criminal networks can influence the state, the region, and the municipality. S argues that the Sweden Democrats have problems with Nazi connections and connections to the MC environment and that their party leader has socialized with the president of a criminal MC gang 5.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! Sanna Backeskog has asked me if I intend to take any measures to prevent unauthorized and improper influence on politicians from the gang criminal environment, as it can ultimately affect our democracy.
I want to begin by establishing that the task of pushing back organized crime is, of course, one of the government's most important. At the beginning of this year, the government also decided on Sweden's very first national strategy against organized crime (skr. 2023/24:67). One of the five main goals established in that strategy is precisely that illicit influence must not gain a foothold in Swedish society. The strategy is about both safeguarding the integrity of public decision-making and preventing so-called threats from the inside in the form of insiders and infiltrators.
During the year, the government has also decided on a new action plan against corruption and undue influence. The action plan is an important basis for strengthening the public administration's ability to withstand corruption, infiltration, and undue influence.
To further develop the preventive work against illicit influence, more and deeper knowledge and more support to lean on are needed for various actors. Therefore, the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, Brå, was given a government mandate last year to study system-threatening actors and groupings that exert illicit influence against elected officials, political parties, and decision-making assemblies (Ju2023/00880).
Brå shall focus particularly on unauthorized influence from actors and groups within organized crime and in criminal networks. Together with Statskontoret, Brå has also been tasked with developing and disseminating support material that can be used to prevent and manage unauthorized influence in government agencies, municipalities, and regions (Fi2024/01456).
Furthermore, it is proposed in the department memorandum Strengthened protection for certain elected officials and clearer internal control in municipalities and regions (Ds 2024:10) that an obligation in the Local Government Act be introduced for municipalities and regions to prevent ill health or accidents resulting from threats and violence against certain elected officials. The proposal aims to strengthen the protection, while it is assessed to strengthen local democracy and have a crime-preventing effect.
Corruption in all its forms constitutes a serious threat to our liberal democracy. This applies particularly to improper influence directed at politicians and towards our democratic institutions. With these measures, we are moving forward to safeguard the fundamental democratic principles that form the core of our free and open society.
Sanna Backeskog (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for Justice for coming here to discuss these important issues with me.
I have submitted the interpellation to the Minister for Justice because I want to discuss the seriousness regarding the fact that the government's largest and most influential party has a party leader whose social circle consists of leading individuals from the gang criminal environment.
The security surrounding our politicians is extremely important, and this is ultimately a matter of democracy. When it emerges that a gang leader was present at a wedding where several high-ranking politicians were present, including the Deputy Prime Minister, it raises serious questions. Since this was uncovered, I have received many questions from friends and acquaintances at home. There is a concern about how socializing with gang leaders risks affecting political decisions.
Even before the 2022 election, Expressen and Acta Publica revealed that candidates to the Riksdag as well as municipal and regional councils had documented connections to the criminal MC environment: If one moves in an environment where threats and violence occur, and where extortion, murder, and drug trafficking have occurred, one exposes oneself to an enormous risk as a person in power of being influenced and of placing oneself in a vulnerable situation. This was said by Amir Rostami, docent and associate professor in criminology, regarding the investigation.
Madam Speaker! The Minister for Justice mentioned in his presentation the departmental memorandum Strengthened protection for certain elected officials and clearer internal control in municipalities and regions. The proposals concern our very municipalities and regions. I call for clearer internal control in the government's coordination office, where all Tidö parties reside together.
Madam Speaker! I naturally have understanding and respect for the fact that one cannot or should not describe the Security Service's work in detail, but there are still many who want more concrete answers on how the Minister for Justice acts as head of the Ministry of Justice and as the government's representative regarding the security at the government's coordination office to minimize the risk of unauthorized influence. I hope that we here together today can bring a little more clarity to the whole, and I want to ask the following two follow-up questions.
What measures will be taken to ensure that the mentioned party leader's associations do not expose this person or employees at the Government Offices to the risk of extortion and attempts at influence from the gang criminal environment? How does the Minister for Justice view the risk that this party leader's associations weaken the government's ability to act credibly before the citizens in terms of security and the work against organized crime?
Mattias Vepsä (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank Sanna Backeskog, who has initiated this important and fundamentally necessary debate on illicit influence and how politics should be protected from organized criminal networks and their attempts to influence political decisions.
It is not the first time that the Minister for Justice and I have met in the chamber to talk about how precisely one party has major problems with links to various criminal groups and system-threatening groups. We have had debates about how incitement has occurred from the chamber in the form of how leading representatives for the government base's largest party have expressed themselves, pointing the tip towards minority groups or encouraged activities concerning burning Qurans or inciting large demonstrations. It has also been noted outside the chamber in reports in the media before and after the election how just the Sverigedemokraterna still have problems with Nazi links among active representatives. 214 representatives stood on the lists before the general election two years ago, and we are celebrating the halfway point of this parliamentary period. Still, we seem to return to that question. Not enough of that, it has also been revealed time and again after election day that Sverigedemokraterna has links to a Nazi and extremist environment.
This spring, TV4 revealed a troll factory orchestrated from the Sverigedemokraterna communications department. When we thought that scandal had first erupted and then died out, it was discovered that the party leader of the government base's largest party, Sverigedemokraterna's Jimmie Åkesson, had invited an active mc-top to his wedding. It is clear that for those of us standing outside the Government Offices, this raises questions. Has everything that could be done been done in the preparations to assume government power? Have all the important control questions been asked? Have all the security checks been performed? Are we sure that it is not just an arm's length distance to the groups but also a closed door? Is Swedish politics being influenced by gross organized crime?
The government itself argues in its work that it is precisely the gross organized crime that is a threat to the system, and it has restructured the crime policy according to its own statement to address the problems. But if one looks at the overall picture, I am inclined to agree with Expressens editorial which says that the gang leader at the wedding is only the tip of the iceberg.
Many of us are concerned about the gang links. I have also noted that the Minister for Justice has discussed with Jimmy Jansson from Eskilstuna the illicit influence on municipal representatives and what the government wants to do to help municipalities where representatives take clear responsibility, do not invite representatives of gang environments to weddings but instead stop the crime, and stand at the forefront to put an end to the activities. In those cases, one has to endure threats and hate both against oneself and against one's children.
Can the Minister for Justice guarantee that everything has been done? Has the Minister for Justice asked Jimmie Åkesson whether measures have been taken after the wedding?
Annika Strandhäll (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for Justice for being here today and taking the debate with us.
I can understand that if you are sitting as a government representative and a parade of opposition politicians arrives and wants to discuss the issue, one thinks that this is a political game. I believe that we must take the issue much more seriously.
The Minister of Justice notes that we have previously discussed the serious far-right extremism that also exists in Sweden, how it has attacked, for example, May 1st demonstrations. We agree that there is a system-threatening crime in Sweden that eats its way into all parts of our society. Not least, both our previous government and this government have placed at the top of the agenda what must be dealt with in this country.
At the same time, it is impossible to ignore that your largest coalition partner, and Sweden's second-largest party, has a party leader who invites the president of a criminal MC gang as a wedding guest.
Before the 2022 election, just as Mattias Vepsä said, Acta Publica had conducted a major mapping, "Ur mylla brun", of the last five years' elections and the proportion of far-right candidates on the parliamentary lists. A total of 1,100 candidates in the five elections have been examined. 80 percent of them belonged to the Sverigedemokraterna. Before the last election, regarding connections to racist or Nazi organizations on the parliamentary lists, it turned out that of 289 people, 219 were Sverigedemokratiska candidates.
One had also looked specifically at MC organizations. Of 64 candidates who could be seen to have connections to MC gangs, 38 belonged to the Sverigedemokraterna. Many of them have also remained on the Sverigedemokraterna lists after the election. One example is a vice president in a Hells Angels-loyal club who now sits as a member of the environment committee in Mölndal. For that part, a group leader for the Sverigedemokraterna in the municipal council in Sigtuna was included until very recently, when Expressen began to ask questions after the wedding scandal, in a closed Facebook group in support of Hells Angels in Uppsala.
The question is truly serious, Gunnar Strömmer. We are talking about the government's largest coalition partner. I know how the government's work functions. I know that they have officials at the coordination office in the Government Offices. And I know that as a party leader, one receives a great deal of information.
What are your thoughts as Minister of Justice on the fact that it looks like this, while at the same time you want to give the impression that you are doing everything in the fight against gang crime?
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! Thank you for the opportunity to discuss these very important issues today!
There is no doubt whatsoever that this government came to power because the voters rejected eight years of Social Democratic rule, not least regarding the inability to handle organized crime here in the country. I do not know how many times the fatal shootings have doubled or tripled over a ten-year period. It is a fact. The criminal economy has been allowed to grow to a turnover of 100 or 150 billion kronor. The recruitment of children and young people now does not only target minors but is far below the 15-year limit.
We have for many years seen examples of how criminal clans, in for example Gothenburg, exert pressure on social services and how criminal networks in Södertälje get into city planning offices and political parties and take over other so-called service jobs in the private sector that are engaged in delivering to the criminal networks. It is clear that all of this makes us rightly describe this crime as a threat to the system.
It was the Social Democrats' inability to take the systemic threat seriously enough and to do enough to strike against the violence, strangle the criminal economy and stop the recruitment of children and young people that resulted in a change of government.
Since October 2022, we have in all these respects done everything that can be done over a period of two years to specifically strike against violence, stifle the criminal economy, and break the recruitment of children and young people. One of the most pressing issues when it comes to the systemic threat is precisely the problem of undue influence, pressure of other kinds, threats against individual civil servants, politicians, and others. That is also why we direct so many resources to that issue.
There is no doubt whatsoever that the examples raised here regarding the Sweden Democrats are deeply concerning. For those who have an interest in listening to the debate with an objective ear, there is also no doubt whatsoever about what the Moderates, I myself, the Prime Minister, or other representatives of the government have said about the matter.
But for those who truly and seriously want to tackle this issue, it might be wise to still have a broader perspective. I remember that 22 of the reviewed candidates in the publication in Acta Publica were on the Social Democrats' lists. This autumn, we have also received reports that the Social Democratic lottery activities have evidently had a close interaction with various gang criminal actors. The failure in Botkyrka municipality, with criminal infiltration of the youth center activities which led to a party split of the Social Democrats locally, also belongs to the picture.
I am very pleased that Mattias Vepsä took up the reporting last week which took its starting point in the Moderate municipal council in Sigtuna. He otherwise took over after a corrupt failure with Social Democratic rule that collapsed. He has had the fight against corruption and organized crime as his highest priority and has had to pay an extraordinarily high price for it.
Jimmy Jansson, a Social Democrat in Eskilstuna, also testifies to that background. Boel Godner, a Social Democrat in Södertälje, and many others have also testified that there are major deficiencies in our way of protecting vulnerable politicians.
That is why I am so glad that we have now, in a fast track, produced legislation aimed at clarifying responsibilities and at building a robust protection around, not least, our local representatives around the country who stand up against organized crime.
Återigen: I am very pleased to have the opportunity to discuss these issues today. For those who are truly interested in the issue and want to do something about the problems, the examples that have been raised from the rostrum here today undoubtedly contribute to the picture. But the picture is immensely broader, and it is that which we must attack with joint forces if we are to seriously be able to safeguard the integrity of our democratic constitutional state.
Sanna Backeskog (S)
Madam Speaker! I note that the Minister for Justice chooses not to answer the two questions I asked regarding the specific incident that this interpellation debate concerns. I truly look forward to more discussions and conversations, broad or narrow, about organized crime.
Madam Speaker! Let me quote the chairman of the Police Association, Katharina von Sydow, in Dagens Nyheter on October 9. She comments that there are criminals in the social circle of the Sweden Democrats' party leadership, which was revealed in connection with the wedding in September. She says that the gang criminals "want to enter contexts where one gains access to persons who both have power and the ability to make different types of decisions."
Katharina von Sydow argues that top politicians must be aware of the methods of system-threatening crime and the risks of infiltration and attempts at influence. "We must understand how serious it is, that it is a methodology and way of working that they employ. Everyone who has a position in society needs to pay attention to who they have in their network."
I imagine that threats and extortion may occur in order to influence legislation. It would be naive to believe otherwise.
Madam Speaker! This is the background to my questions to the Minister for Justice today, given that the largest and most influential party in the government's base has a party leader whose social circle consists of leading individuals in the gang criminal environment. Criminals want to enter those contexts where one gains access to persons who have both the power and the ability to make political decisions.
The broad organized gang crime is entering all parts of society and affecting many Swedes in their everyday lives. The criminal networks are a threat to the system. But now it seems that they are also a threat to the government, as if they exist in the government's coordination office. The risk that they succeed in influencing both the state, the region, and the municipality, and ultimately democracy, is great and serious, based on what we have recently found out but also based on other events earlier.
Several have underlined that the motorcycle clubs have a clear political agenda with clear strategies to gain influence and affect legislation. That is what they are after. That is where we are now. The situation is very serious.
Madam Speaker! Organized crime has come into close contact with elected officials who govern Sweden. They have been in the same contexts as several elected officials, including the Vice Prime Minister. The seriousness and the danger in this specific case cannot be overemphasized.
What level of insight into state affairs do gang criminals risk gaining access to? Is legislation being influenced to suit the gangs' objectives? We do not know. But we are concerned.
I understand that the Minister for Justice agrees regarding the danger in this, but I and several others with me would have really wished for a clearer statement on this specific issue: unauthorized influence linked to the Sverigedemokraterna.
Is there anything else that the Minister for Justice wants to bring up that he and Ulf Kristersson intend to act against in order to ensure democracy and that the governing Tidö parties shall be free from unauthorized influence from criminal gangs?
Mattias Vepsä (S)
Madam Speaker! Every time I hear a representative for the government or the Moderaterna say here in the chamber that they are doing everything that can be done, I am almost despondent, even if it is the completely wrong wording. I really want to break the development we have. I believe there is more to be done if we are to be able to combat organized crime, get things in order, and achieve increased safety. I want people in our entire country to feel safe, experience that the streets are secure, and know that the criminal economy is being pushed back.
I know that the view that more can be done is also shared by Moderate representatives, for example in Södertälje. There, they have said that one could tackle the law on freedom of choice. One could also regulate profits in welfare, do something about background checks, or refrain from putting welfare on a starvation diet so that the social workers that Gunnar Strömmer mentions have a job to go to. They are needed, after all, to break the recruitment to the gangs. We cannot have a welfare sector put on a starvation diet.
We have debated this before. Is this what the government means by doing everything they can, that is, cutting back on welfare? A few weeks ago, you also mentioned in a debate that it is the students from the Social Democratic school who are committing these terrible crimes today. Then I wonder how on earth one can put Swedish school on a starvation diet and why the social services do not have enough resources.
Madam Speaker! I believe much more can be done, and I have mentioned a few things: invest in welfare, strengthen the authorities' crime prevention efforts, and strengthen the justice chain. But what is absolutely simplest in terms of what this debate is about, to ensure that we here in this chamber can know that we can trust one another, is to pick up the phone to Jimmie Åkesson and ask: Have you and the Sverigedemokraterna taken all the measures you can to prevent criminals' unauthorized influence on politicians?
Annika Strandhäll (S)
Madam Speaker! I note that the Minister for Justice is not answering the questions that Sanna Backeskog has asked at all. These are serious questions. It should, at the very least, be in the interest of both the government and the Minister for Justice to ensure that no form of infiltration from gang criminals occurs that can reach all the way into the Government Offices.
We are talking here about the fact that the leader of the Sweden Democrats has socialized with the president of a criminal motorcycle gang. He has not only invited him to his wedding but also had him as a guest at crayfish parties and glitter parties. The socializing has obviously been ongoing since 2016. It has also been established that several in the Sweden Democrat party leadership have connections to the same gang and the same environments. Yes, gang criminality has eaten its way in.
The Minister of Justice stands here and talks about lotteries and subscription lotteries to elderly people. What has been uncovered is certainly nothing we are proud of, but it cannot be compared to a party leader of a Swedish parliamentary party socializing with a president of an MC gang.
Gunnar Strömmer! This is not sufficient. It is not sufficient if, at the same time as you say that you prioritize the fight against gang crime, you cannot clearly and distinctly answer the questions that Sanna Backeskog is asking you. They come from ordinary voters in her constituency who wonder what on earth is going on.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! I just want to repeat that it is extraordinarily important that we talk about issues concerning undue influence, corruption, and threats and hate against political representatives, political parties, various actors of the rule of law, and civil servants at the municipal, regional, and state levels.
The government has a strategic task in this area based on our new national strategy against organized crime. We are introducing legislation to protect political representatives locally. We have developed an action plan dedicated to countering corruption at all levels of the state administration, including the state level. We have tasked our important authorities to work with integrity and security regarding both decision-making processes, the protection of employees, and other matters. We have an extremely close and good dialogue with representatives at the municipal and regional levels about the reality that exists there and how it should best be addressed.
I have no great need to compare the value of different actions. I can possibly imagine that one or another elderly person who has been cheated in a lottery operation with clear links to gang crime might think that it, in any case, allows itself to be compared or discussed in the same context as the wedding guest in the case in question. For my part, I can only state that it is extremely inappropriate for leading politicians to have such social circles, and I dare say that the vast majority who have had reason to comment on the issue have also underlined that.
We will continue to work very methodically in this area. I would like to take note of the very important debate of the past week which has concerned the protection of local representatives. It is not nearly as robust as what can be offered to politicians at the national level, at least not when it comes to personal security. Therefore, I am very pleased that we, in close cooperation with the country's municipalities and regions, are now finally getting legislation in place that clarifies that municipalities have the same responsibility to protect their local representatives, elected officials, as they do when it comes to their employed civil servants. I believe this will be an extraordinarily great gain for privacy, for our democracy, and for the protection and security of our decision-makers.
Sanna Backeskog (S)
Madam Speaker! Let me clarify and clearly emphasize that the background to my interpellation is not about either finger-pointing or political points. If I had the intention today to highlight the greatest differences between the Minister of Justice's party and my own party for the purpose of forming public opinion, I would perhaps rather choose to discuss distribution policy with the Minister of Finance and talk about the avalanche-like increasing class inequalities that we now see in our country.
No, I invited a debate in the chamber because I am deeply concerned about the Sverigedemokraternas absolute top-tier collusion with organized crime and because I have been contacted by several people at home in my county who share my concern. That Jimmie Åkesson in the media has referred to that specific person's leadership in mc-gangs as a "leisure interest" does not make me any less concerned.
However, there are several parts in the Minister for Justice's opening response that I absolutely appreciate. But I am now forced to state that the Minister for Justice does not fully want to acknowledge the security risks that actually exist linked to the fact that the government's largest party, which is also very influential, associates with leading individuals in the gang criminal environment. Specifically, it is system-threatening and constitutes a threat to democracy. It can be extremely dangerous.
I invited this debate because I believe it is about protecting democracy and maintaining public trust in politicians and the justice system. We must together be unwavering in our work against gang crime, and that includes never letting these individuals come near our elected representatives.
Justitieministern Gunnar Strömmer (M)
Madam Speaker! I thank Sanna Backeskog for the opportunity to discuss these issues today. I fully agree that it has and must have the highest priority to safeguard the integrity of our democracy, our rule of law, and our decision-making processes in public, whether it concerns the exercise of authority against individuals or the legislative work here in the Riksdag.
When we speak of this crime being a threat to the system, that is exactly what we mean. In addition to the devastating consequences of the shootings, the explosions, and the frauds for individual crime victims, the effects for society as a whole and, in the long run, the threats to our free and open society are so great that they justify very far-reaching measures with the aim of reversing and pushing back the development.
I have no problem at all saying that it is, of course, inappropriate to have a gathering where there are individuals with connections to criminal contexts, regardless of whether one is a party leader, member of parliament, minister, or anything else. I also feel extremely confident that the systems that exist in the Government Offices regarding security screenings and security work in general are very robust and would catch any risks in those respects.
I know that the Committee on Justice is to discuss these issues together with representatives from our authorities. I welcome that discussion. It is good that we discuss how our system can build resilience against various threats to the integrity of our democracy. I am sure that we will have many opportunities to return to this in an exchange even here in the Chamber, both in terms of debate and regarding concrete legislation. The Government intends to return already during next year with important proposals aimed at strengthening the protection of our democracy and our rule of law and safeguarding our free and open society.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.