Response to interpellation 2024/25:142 on the wolf
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 government has already reduced the wolf population and taken measures to protect domestic animals and dogs 1. KD has announced that the government will report a reference value of 170 individuals during 2025, which corresponds to a halving of the wolf population 1 2. KD argues that the previous government failed to take initiative and that they are now cleaning up the legacy after the wolf population increased by 150 individuals 3. KD emphasizes that they follow regulations and EU obligations 4 2. S argues that the Minister for Rural Affairs has not delivered on the promise to halve the wolf population but has only halved the allocation of wolf hunting 5 6. S argues that the wolf causes damage to animals and dogs as well as the fact that hunting is decreasing 5 6. S demands a yes or no on whether the promise will be fulfilled 7. The debate on the wolf is hereby concluded 2.
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)
Mr. Speaker! Patrik Björck has asked me whether I and the government will fulfill our promise to the voters and more than halve the wolf population.
I want to begin by saying that it is clear that the government's efforts have already yielded results. We already have a smaller wolf population today than when the government took office. The government has taken several measures. Among others, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, in response to a government mandate, has updated the guidelines for protection hunting, which increases the possibilities to protect livestock and dogs.
The Government has also clarified a government mandate regarding how the wolf's reference value in terms of population size for a favorable conservation status according to the Habitats Directive could be in accordance with the Riksdag's announcement and within the range of 170-270 individuals specified in the bill A sustainable predator policy. The report of the mandate also states under what conditions the reference value can be in the lower part of the range.
Furthermore, the government, together with a number of other countries, has carried out advocacy work within the EU which has resulted in the EU, together with other countries, succeeding in lowering the wolf's protection status in the Bern Convention.
As recently announced, the government intends to decide that the reference value for favorable conservation status for wolf shall be reported as 170 individuals at the next reporting according to Article 17 of the Habitats Directive in 2025. The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency will be tasked with reporting that value when the authority completes Sweden's international reporting on the issue.
The Government has tasked the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency to investigate and submit proposals on what additional management measures are required for the Swedish wolf population to maintain a favorable conservation status according to the Habitats Directive at a reference value of 170 individuals. The assignment shall be reported by March 15, 2025, at the latest.
Based on the report from Naturvårdsverket, the government intends to make decisions which mean that responsible authorities are tasked to undertake the specific management measures that the reference value presupposes and which are necessary to initially reduce the wolf population to 270 individuals, to subsequently - in line with the specific management measures being undertaken and as soon as possible - reduce the population down towards the reference value, while the opportunities for license hunting are maintained and the guidelines regarding protection hunting are not tightened.
The wolf must have the conditions to exist in Sweden in the long term, and we have EU legal obligations to live up to, but it needs to be a significantly smaller wolf population than today.
Patrik Björck (S)
Mr. Speaker! I would like to thank the Minister for Rural Affairs for finally coming to the chamber to discuss this important issue. The reason for that comment, Mr. Speaker, is that I submitted this interpellation in October and we had a scheduled time at the beginning of November, which the Minister for Rural Affairs then, for some inscrutable reason, did not adhere to but cancelled. I received a strange reply that the reason for the delay was that the chamber was fully booked. It is a bit tricky because we actually had a scheduled time for debate at the beginning of November.
I say this because I raised this debate when I saw the result of the Minister for Rural Affairs' policy. My question was whether the promise to halve the wolf population would be fulfilled. The Minister for Rural Affairs has not answered this in his opening response here, Mr. Speaker, and he has also not, in practice, in his actions as Minister for Rural Affairs, been able to deliver this. The only thing the Minister for Rural Affairs has halved is the allocation for wolf hunting.
When the Minister for Rural Affairs took office, there was a decision from the County Administrative Boards from the period before the Minister for Rural Affairs was given responsibility for these issues, when the Social Democratic-led government still held the responsibility for them, regarding a license hunt for 75 wolves before the hunting year 2023. In the decisions that have been taken since the Minister for Rural Affairs was given responsibility for these issues, the wolf hunt has been more than halved, to an allocation of 36 wolves for the hunting year 2024.
When I – and not just I, but also concerned animal owners, hunters, and rural residents – was informed that the Minister for Rural Affairs' policy ahead of the 2025 hunting year meant a further reduction in the number of wolves allocated for license hunting to 30 individuals, I wrote this interpellation in October. It is because very many concerned voters are asking me what is going on. Why is the allocation of wolves before the wolf hunt being halved instead of the wolf population being halved?
More than half of the parliamentary term, during which the Minister for Rural Affairs has been responsible for these issues, has now passed. We can constantly see that the problems exist. Sheep, horses, goats, cattle, cats and dogs are killed by wolves. Hunting with loose dogs is difficult to conduct in large areas in Sweden. It is difficult to have grazing animals. I have neighbors who have sheep on pasture but withdraw them because one does not dare to have them far from the farm since one cannot protect oneself against wolves.
When one lives in such a situation, where the wolf causes enormous damage and costs an enormous amount of money and there is a promise from the Minister for Rural Affairs to tackle these problems and do something about them but nothing happens in reality, it is clear that the Minister for Rural Affairs' voters become worried and wonder if the promise to the voters to halve the wolf population will actually be fulfilled. This question remains, and I will continue to ask it of the Minister for Rural Affairs until that promise is actually fulfilled.
Landsbygdsministern Peter Kullgren (KD)
Mr. Speaker! This interpellation was supposed to be answered on November 14. We were informed that the chamber was full at that time. I guess such things can happen, but the member can take it up with the Speaker or someone else, perhaps the group leader, at the appropriate time. But that is the information I have. I do know, however, that we offered to have the debate on November 15, i.e., the day after – I know it is not good to be late, but it was still the day after – and then also on November 29, but the interpellor declined these dates, for some reason that is surely extremely relevant. But I think it would be more appropriate to stick to the truth and describe the entire procedure instead of making it seem as if I were dodging a debate with the Social Democrats about wolves, which I absolutely do not do in any way.
Patrik Björck and I have discussed the wolf issue earlier in the chamber, in a way that has surprised me. But it is still somewhat pleasing that a Social Democratic representative can be so clear when it comes to the wolf policy and the ambitions. I believe it is fundamentally good that we have a broad consensus in the Swedish Riksdag about what we want to do. But Patrik Björck also knows how complicated the management of wolves is and what rules surround the wolf policy, nationally but also at the EU level.
It is quite right that the allocation has not been as large as in 2022. That is because we have a reference value, which is broken down into the different areas. Based on current rules, the county administrative boards decide how large a hunt we can have. If Patrik Björck had been just as persistent earlier and the previous government in 2019, when we last had the opportunity to change the reference value for wolf, had seen to making that change, we probably would not have needed to have this debate. Then we might have been able to halve the wolf population even earlier.
Now this demands changes. We have also seen that it can be relatively central that we achieve a change in the protection status for wolf, to begin with in the Bern Convention, which is a prerequisite for being able to change the Habitats Directive, before we can change the reference value in Sweden. The Government has already signaled that at the next possible opportunity we will notify a reference value of 170 individuals. This we can do based on what I described in my initial response.
Patrik Björck (S)
Mr. Speaker! Minister for Rural Affairs Peter Kullgren brings up this with complicated rules and the EU and that it is the authorities that rule so that he has no influence over the wolf policy. Then perhaps one should not issue that type of election promise about halving the wolf population, because then one actually has to take responsibility for delivering on this. Yes, Mr. Speaker, I am aware that the rules are complicated and that the EU is a concern when it comes to these types of issues. The EU is an organization that many times is of benefit, but in just these issues, the EU is actually a problem – perhaps that I and the Minister for Rural Affairs can agree on.
But the Minister for Rural Affairs actually has the opportunity to direct his agencies - to take the lead on the issue. Furthermore, the Minister for Rural Affairs and the government have a responsibility to fulfill their election promises. And if one makes an election promise that more than half of the wolf population is to be removed, one must simply ensure that it is arranged. Then I realize, Mr. Speaker, that it can be problematic to deliver on election promises, regardless of what they are. It can be problematic because the regulatory framework is governed at the EU level. As a government, one might not find the right tools to direct agencies and other things for the purpose of fulfilling its election promises. But one is still obliged to its voters to fulfill the election promises.
The fact is that when the Social Democratic government was in power, decisions were made regarding the allocation of 75 wolves for the 2023 hunting year. Since then, the number has decreased every year, and I know that people in the countryside are incredibly frustrated by seeing this development. The damage that the wolf causes to livestock, for hunters, and to dogs remains. The damage to biodiversity because grazing ceases in large areas in Sweden remains.
All the damages remain, and the costs remain. But the hunting only decreases and decreases. Can the Minister for Rural Affairs here in the chamber of the Riksdag promise that we will double the licensed hunting of wolves next year? Then perhaps we will reach the Social Democratic levels of 75 and more than double the wolf hunting. Could one get such a promise so that I can go home to the voters in my constituency and say that we have a Minister for Rural Affairs who actually takes this problem seriously? That would be something to strive for. Then perhaps the Minister for Rural Affairs and I could reach an agreement. Then perhaps we could debate other issues here in the chamber than this election promise, which the Minister for Rural Affairs has so far not managed to fulfill.
Now the Minister for Rural Affairs has a little time left in the mandate period. Hopefully, we will see steps being taken in the right direction. But so far, it is only the hunt that is being halved. This is the only result of the Minister for Rural Affairs' policy.
Landsbygdsministern Peter Kullgren (KD)
Mr. Speaker! As I said, I appreciate Patrik Björck's commitment to this issue. But it is still a bit interesting to talk about wolves with a Social Democratic Member of Parliament. For seven out of eight years in a governing position, the Social Democrats did nothing, and it was only during the last year, when the Social Democrats were alone in government, that a mandate was submitted with some kind of direction toward implementing what the Riksdag had announced so many times.
During that mandate period, the number of wolves increased by 150 individuals in Sweden. There is a lack of initiatives to keep the wolf population in check and a lack of initiatives for more flexible protection hunting, something that is now in place, which has led to the horrors that Patrik Björck speaks of. It is about killed domestic animals, killed hunting dogs, and farmers who do not dare to expand their food production for fear of the wolf.
The lack of initiative and the fact that the wolf population was allowed to increase by 150 individuals in Sweden is the legacy that I am now trying to clean up in a proper way.
Not many believed that it would be possible to change the Habitats Directive or the Bern Convention. Now it looks as if we will get this through with broad support from other European countries and with broad support in the Bern Convention.
We cannot change the reference value towards the EU whenever we want. I do not possess that power, and the members know that, of course. On the other hand, the previous government had the opportunity to change the reference value in 2019, but they chose not to do so. The next opportunity to do so is in 2025, and we in the government have already signaled what we will do. We will submit a reference value of 170 individuals.
Patrik Björck (S)
Mr. Speaker! I hope then that I can get a clear statement in the Minister for Rural Affairs' concluding remarks regarding the question I asked. The question was: Will the Minister for Rural Affairs fulfill his promise to the voters to more than halve the wolf population? Can I get a clear answer to that question? Then we would be in very good agreement, and it is always pleasant when one can be in agreement here in the chamber.
Then the Minister for Rural Affairs must at least approach the figures on the allocation of license hunting that existed during the time when the Social Democratic government was responsible for the wolf policy. It is simple to answer: Will the Minister for Rural Affairs fulfill his election promise? Can I get a yes or no on that question?
If I get a yes, we are very much in agreement. Then we might have other debates, but we will be able to avoid having this type of debate in the chamber. Then no one would be happier than I. There are many other important rural issues to discuss, but it would be nice to be able to clear away just this particular issue.
Landsbygdsministern Peter Kullgren (KD)
Mr. Speaker! All the measures that I mentioned in my opening statement are measures to achieve the goal of a reduced wolf population. 170 individuals is a little over a halving of the wolf population from the position we have now. But I do not intend to stand here and answer yes or no to the question, and I believe the member understands that.
I have reported every step we have taken and will take to have a wolf population aiming for 170 individuals. That corresponds well and truly to a halving of the wolf population.
But I do not personally control all parts of this. I cannot say that the authorities should make decisions according to my whim, because then I would be governing by decree in a way that would likely lead to the member reporting me to the Committee on the Constitution. I shall not offer that pleasure to the member.
When the regulatory framework is in place, the Habitats Directive is amended and we have had a new reference value approved, we have every opportunity to increase the hunting and reduce the wolf population significantly. Sweden's countryside and Sweden's farmers really need that.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.