Response to interpellation 2025/26:412 on accessibility for persons with disabilities
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns accessibility for persons with disabilities and the responsibility for accessibility in public environments. KD argues that the policy is based on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 1 and that the municipalities have an independent responsibility for winter road maintenance 1 2. KD emphasizes that the state has implemented measures on the state road network 1 and that it is difficult to retake the maintenance work under public administration as it becomes more expensive 3. V argues that persons with disabilities become isolated during snowfall 4 and that the state and municipalities prioritize roads for cars over sidewalks 4. V believes that the municipalities have strained budgets 4 and that clearer leadership is needed 5. V argues that it is a difficult question how infrastructure and financing should be organized with the shared responsibility 6. V appreciates the dialogue with Trafikverket and the municipalities 6 and argues that it is important that the municipalities take their responsibility given their circumstances 6. KD argues that infrastructure policy affects everyday life, total defense capability, and the competitiveness of the business sector 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.
Infrastruktur- och bostadsministern Andreas Carlson (KD)
Madam Speaker! Nadja Awad has asked me how I intend to ensure that basic operation and maintenance of public environments, such as winter road maintenance of sidewalks, cycle paths, and bus stops, do not create obstacles for persons with disabilities.
Sweden's disability policy is based on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Government's policy aims to create a more equal society where people's different backgrounds or circumstances shall not determine the possibility of participation in society. According to the transport policy goals, the design, function and use of the transport system shall contribute to providing everyone with basic accessibility of good quality and usability as well as contribute to development power throughout the country.
When it comes to the responsibility for winter road maintenance, this is linked to the other responsibilities for the road network. This means that the state, through Trafikverket, is responsible for winter road maintenance on the state road network, while the municipalities are responsible for winter road maintenance on roads where the municipality is the primary authority.
The municipalities have an independent and far-reaching responsibility to ensure accessibility, safety, and availability in public environments during winter, not least for persons with disabilities, the elderly, and other groups who are particularly dependent on well-functioning footpaths and cycle paths. Lack of implementation of snow removal and ice control in these environments risks leading to limited opportunities for participation and access to community services.
Within the state's area of responsibility, the government has implemented measures to improve winter road maintenance. Trafikverket has, on behalf of the government, developed an action plan and implemented several measures, including clarifying responsibilities, mandates, and forms of cooperation between relevant actors at different levels.
I agree that it is also important that the municipalities take their share of the responsibility for winter road maintenance, in order to ensure good accessibility for everyone even during the winter months.
Nadja Awad (V)
Madam Speaker! Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and his ministers never need to worry about being locked in their homes. But people with disabilities are locked and imprisoned in their homes every time winter is here.
Every winter, the same story repeats. The snow falls, and suddenly Sweden turns into a closed institution for tens of thousands of inhabitants.
Sonja, 88 years old, became a prisoner in her own home for over ten days. She was forced to cancel important doctor's appointments and had almost run out of food. Despite the risk of slipping and injuring herself seriously, she went out anyway. She needed to buy food.
For Torsten, who is wheelchair-bound and has ALS, the winter weather becomes a serious obstacle. He says: Some days I simply have to refrain from going out; I don't get out at all. It is sad and stressful. I want to go out. I have children to pick up from school and food to shop for.
Dan Andersson, chairman of the Swedish Association of the Visually Impaired in Värmland County, describes how winter drastically changes the situation for people with visual impairments. At that time, he avoids going out, as there is a risk of getting lost or injuring himself. If he must leave the home, he first calls his friends to hear how the roads are maintained.
Helping your fellow human beings is number one. That is what you really should do, says Andreas Liljas, 17 years old. He was out for 40 hours in a week to shovel snow. It is very fine.
But in the end, it is the responsibility of politics to ensure that accessibility is not optional and cannot be dependent on the weather, because it affects people's material and social living conditions.
The state and municipalities prioritize roads for cars. But every winter, the sidewalks are icy, crossings are not plowed, and ramps, bus stops, and parking for people with disabilities are blocked by snow. In those instances, certain residents are rendered invisible.
The result is that people with disabilities are excluded from work, care, and everyday life. They are forced to live a life of lack of freedom, isolation, and poverty. We cannot accept that, or injuries and risk to life.
Madam Speaker! The government needs to strengthen the zero vision through an increased focus on unprotected road users. We cannot just sit and watch how unprotected road users are overrepresented in the accident statistics year after year.
Madam Speaker! It would still have been fun if Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson could personally go out and shovel all the roads with his little tractor, as he did in Stockholm. But he cannot.
The municipalities are left with a strained budget where the state grants have been eroded over time and where the sharply increasing costs for energy and fuels affect the costs for heating, street lighting, transport, and snow removal.
Those factors are a large part of the explanation for why snow removal and ice control in these environments have not functioned, together with the fragmentation that the procurement of snow removal has led to.
For example, in larger cities, there is a large number of agreements where there are problems with the transition or the border between different areas. This makes it difficult to carry out an efficient snow removal on the total. It also makes it very difficult to get an overview.
I thank the Minister for the opening response. I also wonder: What does the Minister think about the fact that the general government grants need to follow the price development, the cost development, and the population development generally, so that the municipalities can afford to clear snow and combat ice in time? What does the Minister think about the fragmentation that outsourced snow removal has led to?
Infrastruktur- och bostadsministern Andreas Carlson (KD)
Madam Speaker! Thank you very much for the questions and the commitment!
This is an important issue. I believe we agree that it needs to get better. I was in no way satisfied with the situation that we saw this past winter.
It is important now, even when the sun is shining and we are heading towards summer, that these issues are high on the agenda. It is now that one can influence what the next winter will be like in the municipalities across Sweden.
The government has increased the state grants to the municipalities. We have also implemented tax cuts on fuel, which of course affects this sector.
When it comes to procured contracts, I believe there is much to learn from what the state has done just during the last few years. The Government has given Trafikverket very clear assignments to strengthen its procurement competence and operational capacity and to cooperate more closely with the maintenance contractors who have the contracts to look at how the contracts are designed and when snow removal resources are deployed, so that one does not wait until it is sufficiently bad, so to speak, but can work proactively with de-icing and snow removal.
We saw during the past winter that it has improved on the state road network. Without knowing all the details in the individual cases, I believe that all the problems that Nadja Awad raised here have to do with the municipal network. There, there needs to be clearer leadership. It is not possible to continue as it was this past winter. It was appallingly poorly managed here in left-wing-led Stockholm. The responsible traffic commissioner stated that he had been on a study trip but could not remember if he had been in the southern suburbs or in Berlin.
A clear political leadership is needed that takes responsibility not only when the snow has fallen but already now in the summer, when one can influence the direction for next winter. Therefore, I am glad that Nadja Awad is raising this. I believe we agree that it needs to get better. This is, however, ultimately a municipal responsibility, and it is a matter of taking that responsibility – otherwise, one must submit proposals to change the order in Sweden.
Now we have shown that we are improving winter road maintenance on the state road network step by step. However, what affects people in their everyday lives is often the municipal road network. One might not be able to get out. It might be difficult, or impossible, to move freely if one is in a wheelchair, if one has a stroller, or if one is elderly and worried about slipping.
This must get better. I expect the municipalities to learn from the situation that prevailed last winter so that we do not end up there again next winter.
Nadja Awad (V)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister for another interesting answer. I can agree with him regarding many different aspects.
It is interesting for me to learn more about infrastructure issues. I usually deal with welfare issues on a daily basis, but as I am the spokesperson for disability policy and the spokesperson for elderly policy, I encounter a group that is isolated in lack of freedom in different parts of everyday life. I have previously had debates with the minister about, for example, the transport service for people with disabilities.
I think this particular debate is very interesting. When we talk about procurement, much is about the municipal responsibility, as the Minister says. I know that there are municipalities, both those with right-wing rule and those with left-wing rule, who think that one needs to take back snow removal under municipal management or in some way establish rules for the different procurements. When deficiencies have been discovered or when it has overlapped very poorly, the municipality has set up rules.
Just this year, the winter was exceptional; it snowed more than it has in a very long time. We notice that people with disabilities and elderly people are hit very hard by this. I want to learn about these issues. I can agree that clearer leadership is needed. This applies regardless of who is governing in the different municipalities, because it snows in all municipalities and regions, regardless of whether it is red-green or blue parties that are in power.
I think it is interesting to discuss what the state can do so that the approach in these issues becomes more equal across municipal boundaries. What dialogues can the minister initiate with municipal representatives? When it comes to elderly care, this government often refers to the municipal responsibility. It is obviously an important part, but one can still initiate dialogues with municipalities about how we can create equal conditions. Are some municipalities hit harder by the price and cost developments? Do more resources need to be added? Are legislative changes required? Do agencies need to receive different or expanded areas of responsibility?
This is an attempt on my part to learn about these issues. I want to ask the Minister for Infrastructure what dialogues can be initiated from the government's side with municipal representatives to ensure that snow removal and ice control become more equitable across the country.
Infrastruktur- och bostadsministern Andreas Carlson (KD)
Mr. Speaker! I thank Nadja Awad for the question and for the commitment in the question.
This is important; here we agree. I would like to tell more about how we have worked with Trafikverket and about the dialogue we have had with Trafikverket and the maintenance contractors during the mandate period. We have also tasked Trafikverket with developing an action plan to achieve better winter road maintenance on the state road network. There, it is also about becoming a better client and about being able to follow up.
My perception is that in practice it is very difficult to reclaim much of the maintenance work in the public sector. Different assessments also show that the maintenance work becomes more expensive. Now we are in a situation where we need to maintain more. We allocate 350 billion to road maintenance in the historically large national budget for infrastructure. We also allocate just over 200 billion for railway maintenance. We need all good forces that can develop new methods to maintain as effectively as possible. This also applies to winter road maintenance.
There are new ways to monitor this and work more closely with the actors who have received contracts or won tenders. One example is that Trafikverket has now moved from 3,000 measurements of the road condition per season to 300 million measurements by using vehicle data. We monitor the condition of the roads by signing contracts and using connected vehicles. The maintenance contractors have signed the same agreements so that they can make better assessments and be out earlier so that problems do not arise on the road network. The maintenance is to be proactive and remedy obstacles before they occur. This concerns the state road network, as that is where the state has the responsibility.
I invited to a meeting with representatives from the major maintenance contractors and Trafikverket to discuss work methods, coordination, and the design of contracts so that they become accurate and lead to a situation where we do not end up with poorly maintained roads in the winter. This is also a way to show leadership. The minister ultimately responsible, i.e., I, do not just point to Trafikverket through a mandate but also invite them to a meeting when Trafikverket is working on that mandate in order to follow up on it. This is an important issue.
I welcome and expect even clearer leadership at the municipal level. It must not be the case that people shift the blame or do not even remember where they stood.
Nadja Awad asked what dialogues can be had. I welcome that question and see a need for even more dialogue with the municipal sector, both to learn from each other and to emphasize the responsibility that one has. If you have the municipal responsibility when the sun is shining, you also have it when the snow is falling, and then you must take it and be prepared.
I can emphasize that dialogue is important, but above all, it is important with action so that one takes the responsibility one has.
Nadja Awad (V)
Mr. Speaker! First and foremost, I would like to thank you for the debate, which has been very educational for me.
I can only bring up the different cases, as I did in my first speech. My mother, for example, recently retired and has been operated on for arthrosis in both knees. She got much better after the operations, but when it snows and the roads are icy, it is still difficult for her to get out to go shopping.
This is a question of how we ensure a society where no one should feel that weather and road conditions prevent them from shopping, taking a walk, or picking up the children from school. I therefore raise this more from an interpersonal aspect.
It is also a very difficult question how to organize the infrastructure and the financing with the shared responsibility between the state and the municipalities. I therefore appreciate that the Minister seems to think it is important to have continued dialogue with Trafikverket, which is responsible for the state road network, but also with the municipalities. Everyone has a responsibility to ensure that it is possible to move around in society, regardless of what functional ability one has.
There is absolutely important work ahead to ensure that the municipalities take their responsibility, but it is also about what conditions they have to take such a responsibility. I therefore see that we will have reason to follow up on this.
Infrastruktur- och bostadsministern Andreas Carlson (KD)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you for this debate! What Nadja Awad established when she refers to the fact that she usually works with welfare issues illustrates that infrastructure policy is not just an area in itself but also affects people's everyday lives, our total defense capability, and the business sector's competitiveness. It affects to the highest degree how it is possible to live an active life and participate in society, something that this debate has underscored.
I want to thank you for the commitment. This is important, and that is also why the government is now investing in upgrading the infrastructure. That which lies with the municipalities, namely the municipal road network, of course needs the municipalities to take responsibility for, and there it has been all too poor; one does not need to do any further evaluation to be able to state that. We saw that this past winter. Therefore, this debate is important to have even now as we are heading into the summer, for it is now that one could have an influence.
I would like to thank Nadja Awad for raising the issue here today. I hope that many around Sweden who are responsible for municipal road and winter road maintenance have also listened to this debate and are now considering how to act so that it will be better next winter.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.