Response to interpellation 2025/26:101 on processing times at the Swedish Board of Agriculture
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
1 KD considers that the management of support through the common agricultural policy must become more efficient and that the government prioritizes shortening processing times 1. KD argues that further simplifications are needed in upcoming reforms to achieve a higher level of goal fulfillment 1. KD considers it important to have a good dialogue with industry representatives and that the government actively drives the issue of simplifications in the negotiations after 2027 1 2. KD argues that the processing must be legally secure and that there is no extreme quick fix 3. KD considers that the government's position is that agricultural policy should lead to increased profitability and competitiveness 3. 3 KD considers that the new policy should be simpler to follow for the support recipients and simpler to implement and administer for the relevant authorities 3. KD looks forward to seeing the result of the negotiations that are currently ongoing 3.
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! Mikael Larsson has asked me if I consider the Swedish Board of Agriculture's processing times for the payment of Leader support to be reasonable and if I intend to take any initiatives to shorten the processing times. Mikael Larsson has also asked me if I intend to deepen the discussions with the Leader organization in order to be able to share in their experiences of the Swedish Board of Agriculture's processing.
Let me first state that I share the view that the management of support financed through the common agricultural policy must become more efficient, particularly regarding the processing of project and investment support. I also share the view that Leader is a project support that can contribute to local development in the Swedish countryside. Reducing processing times and implementing actual simplifications for the support recipients is an issue that the government prioritizes highly. To enable this, the government has given the Swedish Board of Agriculture a mandate and, as Mikael Larsson himself mentions, also taken the initiative that the Swedish Board of Agriculture's administrative grant has been strengthened.
I always strive to have a good dialogue with industry representatives and stakeholders in the work with the common agricultural policy. When my State Secretary Daniel Liljeberg visited the national Leader meeting in Gotland in October, he spoke with representatives for Leader locally and nationally. We intend to continue the talks with Leader on this and other issues.
The government's overall position is that the regulatory burden within agricultural policy should be reduced, and I believe that further simplifications are needed in the upcoming reform of the common agricultural policy if the policy is to become simpler and achieve a higher level of goal fulfillment.
My hope is that the changes that have been made will lead to actual simplifications and shorter processing times.
Mikael Larsson (C)
Mr. Speaker! I would first like to thank Minister for Rural Affairs Peter Kullgren for the answer.
I want to use this interpellation debate precisely to highlight this important issue. It is about reducing processing times at the Swedish Board of Agriculture, especially regarding the support for Leader organizations and, in the long run, that which is to become projects throughout our country.
I myself have a background of having been involved in Leader. I have been chairman of the local Leader area in Sjuhärad, where I come from.
Leader is fundamentally a very good system where the public sector, the private sector, and the voluntary movement work together to build and strengthen our rural areas all around Sweden. This is also done from the entire EU perspective.
One can look at it from a historical perspective. Just this issue with processing times linked to Leaderstöd may have been a problem both during the current programming period and during programming periods back in time. I believe that many good projects have been carried out, but it could also be that some projects have been missed because of this. I am sure that the State Secretary is completely on board with this. When it is people who are to engage voluntarily, just long processing times and much bureaucracy can make it so that they might take a step back when we perhaps actually want them to take two steps forward to get out as much money as possible to strengthen our countryside all around in the whole of Sweden.
The investment that the government has made, which I refer to in my question and which the Minister for Rural Affairs refers to in his answer, and which concerns increased administrative grants to the agency, is of course good in that it strengthens the agency so that it can manage to shorten processing times.
This is in itself very good, and it is clear that we can ultimately allocate even more money to the Swedish Board of Agriculture. But if the processing times still cannot be reduced and if the bureaucracy does not decrease, it is in no way a matter of throwing the money into the lake.
It is this that my question is about, based on the contact I have had with Leader organizations around the country and also specific projects where money has been sought via Leader and where they are now perhaps waiting to receive a decision.
The Minister for Rural Affairs refers to the fact that the administrative grant has been strengthened. In that case, I have a follow-up question, Mr. Speaker. This will be followed up, I think, in upcoming budget bills and perhaps in annual reports from the respective agencies. Let us say that from the government's and the Minister for Rural Affairs' side, it is noted that processing times do not become shorter even though this supplement has been provided. What initiative will the government and the Minister take to actually reduce processing times and to ensure that as many funds as possible can be released to projects in our Swedish countryside?
Landsbygdsministern Peter Kullgren (KD)
Mr. Speaker! It is difficult not to go into details and technicalities when it comes to the question of the processing of just EU support. But it is precisely the importance of being thorough with the details in the processing that also makes it take time.
The lead method involves project support. And it is primarily in the processing of project and investment support that there are problems with the long processing times, because the regulatory framework is significantly more extensive.
The Swedish Board of Agriculture has, during the past year, worked on streamlining the processing in accordance with the assignments the government has given it. Measures have been taken. The Swedish Board of Agriculture now assists the Leader offices in supplementing and adjusting applications as needed. A new support unit for processing has also been started. It has not been on site for very long, but since the middle of August.
The authority has kept us informed about the outcome on an ongoing basis. It has been positive so far, and it has been a better result than what Jordbruksverket itself had forecasted.
But if you throw money at a problem and it turns out that it is not being solved, it is clear that I will not just watch it. Then we have to make sure to find other ways to move forward.
It is also a new programming period within the national agricultural policy that is under negotiation. A Swedish position – I know that we broadly in the Swedish Riksdag share the view on this, and this applies in particular to the Christian Democrats and the Centre Party – is that we must make it simpler. The money we send in and that comes back must, naturally, work in the most effective way. We want increased flexibility when it comes to both agricultural subsidies and other subsidies. Above all, we want to be able to steer more according to our own judgment.
It is about having control, but not a control that restricts. It should be a control that is effective without being obstructive to what one wants to achieve within the entire efforts for the common agricultural policy.
Mikael Larsson (C)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Minister for Rural Affairs Kullgren, for the answer!
I share the picture. I believe many of us agree that this is a fantastic system where the public sector, the business community, and the voluntary sector can collaborate. It is also about the EU budget, EU legislation, and perhaps about what we are to report back to Brussels. It then becomes many cooks in the same soup. That is perhaps what is a challenge in just this with Leader, but at the same time, it is in some way an opportunity moving forward.
I actually agree with what the Minister for Rural Affairs is getting at. It is about some form of control from the outside to ensure that the money we invest in the countryside actually goes to the countryside, but it must, of course, not go into overdrive.
I have heard stories from various projects over the years. One has bought stamps and, in the final accounting, reported that one has used eight stamps, and the Swedish Board of Agriculture has wondered: Where are the other two stamps? In that case, it actually amounts to some form of exaggeration.
This is what actually becomes the consequence in some way. A fast and efficient processing also needs to result in some form of simpler reporting back. It must, of course, meet the requirements coming from the EU and Brussels, but we in Sweden should, of course, be able to put our own stamp on this.
I have also received something else regarding the long processing times. When it concerns several projects where one has received an approval and a positive decision from the local Leader offices, one may even have to consider taking out loans because one simply has not received the final notification from Jordbruksverket.
I believe it is extremely important that we also continue the good dialogue with the LUS association, which brings together Leadersverige, but of course also with others who work with this and who may be to receive the project funds available. It is important now as we are about to enter the next program period.
Sweden must, of course, continue to point out that the countryside is extremely important and that we want to see greater and more development throughout the country.
What I also really want to convey to the Minister for Rural Affairs in the interpellation debate concerns the differences that exist in Sweden's countryside, regardless of whether it is in northern Sweden or in southern Sweden. We must adapt Leader based on applications and processing times so that it fits the Leader method. It should not, so to speak, go into the state templates. It will become problematic moving forward if everything is to be adapted according to the state's template. I hope the Minister for Rural Affairs shares that view – that we need to look at this based on what type of activity is actually needed.
My next question to the Minister for Rural Affairs concerns the programming period we are currently in, but also the programming period we are about to enter. How does the Minister for Rural Affairs view this moving forward? It is about making it easier in the coming periods so that we do not once again end up in a programming period with long processing times, particularly within Jordbruksverket. It is about hopefully being able to streamline the work so that it becomes easier, with shorter processing times and perhaps a simpler reporting procedure, and that this also continues into the next programming period.
Landsbygdsministern Peter Kullgren (KD)
Mr. Speaker! A very important part of my assignment is dialogue with those who are affected at the periphery, in the middle of reality, not infrequently industry representatives such as Leader in this case. It is important to create anchoring and facilitate the implementation of an effective policy.
During the past year, we have, among other things, held three council meetings on the EU's common agricultural policy, to which representatives for Leader have also been invited, and we are planning for an additional one at the beginning of next year. Both my former and my current State Secretary have, as mentioned, participated in Leader's national meetings so that we can learn more about the work being done and understand the challenges and needs that the organization sees.
Case officers in the Government Offices who work with these issues have, of course, also established and have recurring contacts with representatives for Leader. It is from there that we derive our primary basis for knowledge to see the needs and how we can change things to make them better.
The Government considers it to be of high priority and absolutely necessary that Sweden has a purposeful and efficient administration of the common agricultural policy, an administration that meets the requirements set for the management of EU funds and that contributes to fulfilling the political goals at the national level and EU level.
In addition to shortening processing times, one objective for the government has been that the financial corrections should be reduced to be at the level of the most prominent countries in the EU. The administrative burden shall also be reduced for support recipients, which can contribute to strengthened competitiveness for agriculture and also increase the legitimacy of the system. To streamline and at the same time reduce the risk of errors, we are actively driving the issue of simplifications in the negotiations on the common agricultural policy after 2027.
Mikael Larsson (C)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you to the Minister for the answer! I hope that once and for all we can really put our foot down and make it simpler according to the Leadermetoden and also that the processing times will come down!
Thanks to Leader, several projects around our, for example, community centers, local heritage societies and village communities have contributed to strengthening the rural areas, which has also caused many companies around to be strengthened and grow. Now we are talking about Leader, but of course the entire collective agricultural policy shall make it easier for agriculture. I share that view.
We have a rather large degree of autonomy, and what I primarily want to convey, and which I believe many will agree with, is that we must find a model that suits us in Sweden, of course based on both EU legislation and Swedish legislation – a model that suits projects for the countryside, that suits Leader, our association movement and the entrepreneurship in the countryside. It must not solely be the Swedish administrative model that governs, because then it unfortunately becomes bureaucratic and protracted. If departments, the responsible state agency and those who are affected sit down together, a solution to this will be found.
Landsbygdsministern Peter Kullgren (KD)
Mr. Speaker! I take the issue of processing times very seriously. The Government has also taken measures to address the problems through the assignments and increased administrative appropriations to the Swedish Board of Agriculture that I have reported. But no extreme quick fix exists. We have a regulatory framework at the base. The processing needs to be legally secure, and the new structures and methods being implemented must lead to a long-term sustainable change. I will closely follow that work. I also intend to continue the dialogue that we have with representatives for Leader and other industry organizations in the work with the common rural and agricultural policy.
Finally, I want to emphasize that the government's position is clear in the negotiations on agricultural policy after 2027: It shall lead to increased profitability, competitiveness, and simplification. The possibilities to adapt to national and regional conditions are important for the government in the work with the upcoming agricultural policy. Detailed rules shall be limited to what is necessary for the most effective implementation possible.
The new policy should simply be easier to follow for the recipients of support and easier to implement and administer for the relevant authorities. I look forward to seeing the result of the negotiations that are currently ongoing.
I would like to express my thanks to Mikael Larsson for the commitment regarding issues concerning rural development and our Swedish countryside in general. Thank you for a good interpellation!
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.