Response to interpellation 2024/25:250 on the government's rural policy
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 a clear focus on rural areas and is working to improve conditions throughout the country 1. KD emphasizes that municipalities have increased their capacity through previous state grants and that the government has proposed permanent reinforcements of general state grants 1. KD highlights that the government is investing in healthcare in rural areas, has proposed the abolition of the aviation tax, and has adjusted the reduction obligation to benefit rural residents 1 2. KD argues that state service is important and that the service centers will remain 3. KD considers that the project for business development has fulfilled its purpose 3. KD proposes an electric car premium, a state grant to civil society organizations, increased co-financing in agricultural policy, a simplified regulatory burden for farmers, as well as tax changes 2. KD conducts a review of the overall rural policy 4.
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! Linus Sköld has asked me how I intend to act so that the countryside can grow and develop.
The government's goal is that all of Sweden shall function. The conditions for living, residing, and working in the entire country need to be improved. The government has a clear focus on the countryside, and we are working purposefully to improve the conditions for all those who live, reside, and work in Sweden's rural areas.
That changes are occurring in how the policy for our rural areas is designed does not mean that the government is relinquishing its focus on improving the conditions for living, residing, and operating in the entire country.
Linus Sköld mentions in the interpellation the special time-limited state grant that has been awarded for a period of seven years to 39 municipalities in the inland of Norrland and certain municipalities in Dalarna and Värmland that have special challenges regarding the business climate and industry. This initiative is now concluding according to the plan. With the help of the time-limited state grant, the municipalities have increased their long-term capacity to develop the business climate in cooperation with the industry. The municipalities have also improved their cooperation with other municipalities and actors within the framework of regional development work. This was also the purpose of the state grant.
Regarding Statens servicecenter, which Linus Sköld also mentions in the interpellation, the government, within the framework of the work on the budget bill, has made a collective assessment of what opportunities Statens servicecenter has to streamline its operations with service offices - this based on, among other things, what the Swedish National Audit Office pointed out in its review of the operations, what the development has been regarding the number of visits, and how the appropriation level has changed over time.
Linus Sköld also mentions public transport in rural areas and in sparsely populated areas. The responsibility for regional public transport is distributed among the regions and the municipalities. The responsibility also concerns transport across several counties that meets the need for work commuting and other everyday travel. The municipal right of taxation gives municipalities and regions an extensive responsibility to finance and prioritize their operations, including regional public transport and its financing. At the same time, the state takes an overall responsibility to create conditions for municipalities and regions, for example through the municipal economic equalization system and general state grants.
Despite the fact that the state budgets for 2023 and 2024 needed to be restrained in order to combat inflation, the government during these years has proposed reinforcements of the general state grants to the municipal sector amounting to a total of 16 billion kronor. The reinforcements have been permanent and thus continue to strengthen the municipal sector's finances in 2025 and onwards.
For all of Sweden to function, a good welfare state, state presence, and access to both public and private services throughout the country is important. As part of this, the government has, among other things, set a goal for the Police Authority to increase its local presence across the country. We have also during 2023 and 2024 invested 300 million kronor to strengthen care in rural areas - an investment that continues during 2025 if the Riksdag stands behind the government's budget proposal. The government has also granted Norra sjukvårdsregionförbundet funds for the years 2023-2024 for the ongoing project Coordinated development for good and close care from a rural perspective.
In the budget bill for 2025, the government has also proposed an incentive for compensation to municipalities with wind power establishments where there are wind turbines. The compensation corresponds at the national level primarily to the property tax for wind power installations and will largely be paid out to rural municipalities.
The government has also proposed a new reduction obligation where increased blending levels are combined with changed tax levels to counteract an increase in the price of fuels. Taken together, this is something that benefits residents in our rural areas compared to residents in metropolitan regions because a higher proportion of residents in our rural areas own a passenger car and have poorer access to public transport.
In conclusion, I would like to mention that the government has appointed an inquiry to review future regional development policy and rural policy. Experiences from previous initiatives will be taken into account in the inquiry. A final report is to be submitted by June 1, 2026, at the latest.
Linus Sköld (S)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Minister for Rural Affairs, for the opportunity to have this debate on how all of Sweden can live, grow and develop, as I put it, or "function," as the Minister for Rural Affairs puts it! It shows a somewhat different level of ambition.
Icke Förty, the Minister for Rural Affairs, wrote in Norrbottens-Kuriren on October 12, 2021, the following: "The heartland shall not be left to decay. Not if we Christian Democrats get to decide. We see the Swedish heartland. And we will fight for it. So that all of Sweden can function."
I think we are now going to do a small exposé of how things are going now that the Minister for Rural Affairs gets to be involved in the decision-making. I can reveal the summary right from the start: It is not going so well.
We can start with the fact that in the budget for next year, there is a cut of 20 million in regional culture. To that comes efficiency requirements linked to the fact that there is also inflation in the culture sector. The reduction of access to culture regionally across the whole country will therefore be dramatic with this government's budget.
We can continue with the cooperation agreements between Trafikverket and the regional public transport authorities, which I see in the response that Kullgren has not understood that I am referring to, are underfunded by Trafikverket so that the regional public transport authorities must stop running where it is sparse. This applies to buses, and it applies to trains, especially in northern Sweden, but even in some other rural areas around the country, there is a lack of money to maintain accessibility.
We can move on to the business offices. That project is finished. When the Christian Democrats are in charge, business development in rural areas is no longer needed.
When it comes to adult education, ABF warned during the week that all three employees at the office in my home municipality Älvsbyn would be laid off. When the government punishes adult education, study associations in large cities will have to scale down, and in rural areas, they will have to close down. That is what will happen.
Folkbildningen is infrastructure for both education and culture throughout the entire country. ABF has existed in all of the country's municipalities until this government got to have a say. Now they will have to close offices in several rural municipalities.
We can continue with the service offices. The service offices will receive 50 million kronor less next year so that something can be streamlined that is intended to maintain access to the state's services throughout the country. But if something is to exist throughout the country, it cannot, by definition, be efficient. That is why they exist! The year after, they will receive 100 million less, and the year after that, 150 million less.
We can continue with the privatization of Arbetsförmedlingen. How many private service providers are there who are interested in operating in rural areas?
So we have the sale of Bilprovningen. Instead of ensuring that Bilprovningen receives a public mission that could deliver access to inspections throughout the entire country, the government is selling Bilprovningen for 1.2 billion. What are you going to do with the money? Probably not conduct policy for the countryside and rural areas.
When it comes to the 16 billion that Kullgren boasts that municipalities and regions have received, every single region in the entire country is in crisis. The municipal sector is running with large, large deficits, and that is because we have had galloping inflation during this time. This morning I heard that Region Norrbotten has received 250 million less in grants from the state from 2022 to 2024.
What will happen with the heartland now, Kullgren? How is it going?
Landsbygdsministern Peter Kullgren (KD)
Mr. Speaker! It is central and important with state service and presence throughout the country. At the same time, it is important that every tax crown is used wisely and that state-funded activities are constantly subject to reassessment and prioritization.
Regarding Statens servicecenter, the government in November 2024 has tasked Statens servicecenter with presenting a plan for a new organization of the service office network, where authorities shall plan for the provision of state services in all so-called functional analysis regions in the long term. A first partial report shall be submitted on 31 January 2025. The assignment shall be final reported on 1 October 2026.
My colleague Minister for Civil Affairs Erik Slottner was here in this chamber earlier this autumn and underlined then that the service centers will also continue to be important and that the service centers will exist all over Sweden going forward, even with the proposed savings on Statens servicecenter. This announcement still applies.
The government's starting point for infrastructure policy is that all of Sweden shall function. Transport and travel are necessary for the entire society to function and develop. It is therefore important with good accessibility between the country's different parts.
When it comes to the transport agreements, my colleague Infrastructure Minister Andreas Carlson was earlier here in the chamber, and he emphasized that it is Trafikverket that has the mandate to enter into and be responsible for the state's agreements regarding interregional public transport that is transport-politically justified. Carlson also reminded that next year there are just over 1 billion kronor, approximately 50 million more than this year, for the procured transport in the state's budget. Trafikverket has now also announced that the transport agreements that the authority has signed for 2024 will also be signed for 2025.
Regarding the initiative on business development across the municipalities, I think it is best met with a counter-question: Why was the temporary project not made permanent if it was intended as an ongoing activity and not as a project?
The Social Democratic government did not do that. This project was set up, and as I mentioned, I see that it has been successful in several areas. The purpose of the project after these years could, however, be seen as fulfilled, because it was about getting the conditions to build up a better structure, which has also been done.
The question therefore becomes how long time-limited projects shall continue to be time-limited. Or do the Social Democrats intend to do something else with this project?
Linus Sköld (S)
Mr. Speaker! This was an exposé that aims at the fact that it is others' responsibility.
I began by reading the quote from Norrbottens-Kuriren where Kullgren writes "if we Christian Democrats get to decide." When he then gets to decide and I ask questions about what happens with the various magnitudes that are important for the whole society to function, he says that it is someone else's responsibility. It is the colleagues' responsibility or the authorities' responsibility. It could even be the Social Democrats' responsibility that Kullgren defunds the business offices. One does not know. It could be so.
I find it provoking that the Minister for Rural Affairs stands here and has no visions for how the entire country should function. Älvsbyn, where I live, has 8,000 inhabitants on the border of Norrbotten's interior. There, ABF is closing its office. Was that what Kullgren intended when he cut one-third of the study associations' activities? The reduction of regional culture will worsen the regional access to theater, visual arts, and that which makes life rich. This applies to the whole country.
The underfunding of the cooperation agreements, that is, the cut to public transport which creates accessibility throughout the country, is the government's responsibility. It is the government that budgets and not Trafikverket.
This continues area by area. Most of my points are not even addressed by Kullgren in his response. Health care, school, and elderly care are underfunded, and those who will have to cover the underfunding of public transport and culture are the regions. Did Kullgren note that I said that Region Norrbotten has received reduced support from the state by 250 million during his time in office? How is Region Norrbotten supposed to be able to cover the fact that the state is underfunding state-funded activities?
One cannot boast about investments in general state grants and other things that the Minister for Rural Affairs thinks the government supports with regarding the regions' responsibility for transport. That is simply not true! The regions receive less money when Kullgren is in charge and therefore cannot compensate for Kullgren and his colleagues' shortcomings when it comes to maintaining accessibility for public transport throughout the country.
I will summarize it once more: One gets worse access to culture and education, a worse business climate, worse access to state services, worse access to inspection, and worse access to healthcare, school, and care when Kullgren is responsible.
What does Kullgren think is happening for the heartland? The only hopeful thing in Kullgren's answer is the inquiry into the regional development policy that he refers to. It is to deliver its proposals on June 1, 2026. By then, I hope that Kullgren will soon be released from the responsibility for rural policy in this country, because then there are only a few months left until the election.
During this mandate period, I can say that the heart of the matter has been left to lie fallow.
Landsbygdsministern Peter Kullgren (KD)
Mr. Speaker! What the interpellator has asked me is how the government is acting so that the countryside can grow and develop. In my initial answer, I spoke about a number of measures that the government is now implementing to strengthen our rural areas, and I now intend to continue by telling about some others.
I would like to take the opportunity to mention that in the budget bill for 2025, the government has submitted a proposal to abolish the aviation tax, something that improves the possibility of maintaining smaller airports and the flight routes that are so important for businesses and residents across the country. The state grant for operating support to non-state airports around the country has also been doubled from 2024.
To counteract higher costs for being able to transport oneself by car, the government has, as mentioned, made adjustments in the reduction obligation. The price of diesel is today approximately 10 kronor lower per liter than when diesel was at its most expensive.
We also propose in the budget bill that an electric car premium be introduced. It shall be targeted at groups in need of support, for example in rural areas. The support amounts to a total of 800 million kronor annually, of which 75 percent is financed by the EU's Social Climate Fund, provided that the Commission gives its approval.
Civil society organizations also naturally have great importance for the development in rural areas. To strengthen the organizations, a state grant to civil society organizations of 25 million per year during 2025 is proposed.
Agricultural policy is another area that is extremely important for a living countryside and rural area. Here, for the first time in a long while, we are increasing the co-financing in the common agricultural policy. It will be just over three-quarters of a billion kronor more for the Swedish farmers during the period.
We focus a lot on achieving a simpler everyday life for our important farmers in the countryside by having commissioned a long series of investigations and taken initiatives to simplify the regulatory burden. And we will soon have a new updated food strategy in place, which for the countryside is immensely central because a large part of the business in rural areas is based on the fact that we have a strong, robust food production.
I also believe that we make tax changes important for the freedom to keep more money to invest and develop oneself, even in the countryside. I believe it is very central to have a business focus, which this government also has.
Linus Sköld (S)
Mr. Speaker! I think it almost becomes a bit mocking when Kullgren stands here and speaks warmly about the importance of civil society. It will be 25 million extra to civil society in the countryside, he says. Yes, but it will be 500 million less for folk education and 20 million less for culture.
With Kullgren at the helm, the rural areas will become quieter and poorer places to live in. It is incredibly clear. I have given the most concrete example in both of my previous speeches, and I say it again: ABF is laying off all staff on-site in my home municipality. What is the intended effect? How does it benefit civil society?
I want to summarize this debate by saying that Kullgren is shrugging off the responsibility for his own policy area. He says that it is his colleagues' responsibility, that it is the authorities' responsibility, and that it is the Social Democrats' responsibility that he pursues a policy that creates poorer conditions for culture in the countryside, for the business sector in the countryside, for folk education in the countryside, for access to state services throughout the country, for vehicle inspection in the countryside, for healthcare, school, and elderly care throughout the country.
Landsbygdsministern Peter Kullgren (KD)
Mr. Speaker! The conditions and opportunities in the various rural areas differ. Therefore, I believe that a breadth of measures across many policy areas is needed. Therefore, we are now conducting a review of the overall rural policy and will present proposals that shall strengthen the rural areas' conditions.
I will highlight something that comes forward quite clearly when talking to actors, not infrequently in the countryside. It is the need for a change of perspective away from the more urban norm with the view of cities as something one invests in and rural areas as something one gives grants to.
Sweden's rural areas are strong and vital and absolutely crucial for our welfare. Therefore, it is important to continue providing real conditions for our rural areas, and there our collective focus is that the conditions for living, residing and working in the entire country shall be strengthened.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.