Response to interpellation 2025/26:477 on PostNord's closures in rural municipalities
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 acted responsibly by changing the delivery times to adapt the operations to reduced mail volumes 1. KD believes that it is up to the companies and their boards to make decisions regarding their operations and that politics should not micro-regulate this 1. KD emphasizes that Postnord must follow the postal act, that PTS exercises supervision 2 3 and that the company fulfills the law's requirements for mail delivery reasonably well today 4. KD argues that it is important to follow up on the countryside despite challenges with depopulation 4. SD argues that closures in inland municipalities hit the sparsely populated areas hard and negatively affect the preparedness 5 6.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Civilministern Erik Slottner (KD)
Madam Speaker! Sara Gille has asked me how I and the government intend to ensure access to basic postal services in Sweden's rural and inland municipalities and whether I have engaged in a dialogue with Postnord regarding the consequences of the closures in Dorotea, Åsele, and Sorsele. Furthermore, Sara Gille has asked me whether I consider Postnord's social mission sufficient to ensure state service throughout the country, including in rural areas, and whether I have analyzed what consequences reduced physical postal service has for preparedness, total defense, and regional development in inland municipalities.
According to the Postal Act (2010:1045), there shall be a society-wide postal service, that is, a postal service that exists throughout the country, which is of good quality and which means that all users can receive postal items and can, at reasonable prices, hand over such items for transport. By postal items, addressed items weighing at most 20 kg and which are handed over in the final form in which they are to be transported by a provider of postal services are meant. This means that the society-wide postal service refers to both letters and parcels.
The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority, PTS, is the supervisory authority for the postal area and issues permits to conduct postal activities supported by the Postal Act. The permits may be combined with conditions requiring the permit holder to provide a universal postal service. PTS has designated Postnord to provide parts of the universal postal service, such as postal services for written messages weighing a maximum of 2 kg. Postnord shall also provide certain postal services for parcels weighing a maximum of 20 kg to certain vulnerable groups who, for example, are in digital exclusion or live far from a delivery point. PTS shall exercise supervision of Postnord's compliance with the permit conditions. It appears from the Postal Act that the licensing authority may issue the orders necessary to ensure that the Act and the permit conditions issued with support of the Act are followed.
How Postnord conducts its operations within the framework of the business purpose, which is based on the Riksdag's decision regarding the company's mandate, as well as how the company organizes the operations to meet the requirements in the permit conditions, is a matter for the company's board and management. This is regulated in the Companies Act (2005:551), which applies to both state-owned and privately owned companies. The location of mail delivery offices constitutes a part of the company's administration, organization, and ongoing operations and is therefore handled by the company's board and management.
The mail is a fundamental part of our society's functioning, not least in times of crisis and war. It appears from Postnord's current terms of operation that the company shall prepare risk analyses to take into account the total defense's needs for postal services during high alert. To further strengthen the conditions for postal operators to distribute mail in times of high alert or war, the government has decided on an amendment to the ordinance (2018:1300) on state support for operationally secure and robust postal services and electronic communications. The amendment makes it possible to finance measures aimed at increasing the operational security and robustness of postal services.
It is important that people have the opportunity to live and work in the entire country. At the same time, the society-wide postal service needs to be adapted to the conditions that exist in an increasingly digitized society. PTS has the government's mandate to monitor, analyze, and describe the development of the postal market. The government is prepared to take necessary measures to ensure a postal service of good quality in the entire country.
Sara Gille (SD)
Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer, but I can state that I have not received answers to all the questions I asked.
I asked whether the government has had a dialogue with Postnord regarding the closures in Dorotea, Åsele, and Sorsele, and whether the government has analyzed what exactly these changes mean for the preparedness and for our inland municipalities.
I wrote this interpellation in the spring with the fact in mind that Postnord had declared that they would close the post offices in these municipalities. In Dorotea, it has already been carried out, and the mail delivery takes place from Vilhelmina. Will this affect the mail delivery? Will there be delivery every day, or will it be every fourth or fifth day? We do not know that.
I still want us to think about this inland perspective. These are small municipalities in the inland of Norrland. This will hit those municipalities very hard.
I live alone in Dorotea. It is Sweden's smallest municipality. It is a municipality with just over 2,200 inhabitants in the entire municipality. These are jobs that are disappearing from small municipalities, and it has a very negative effect for them. The consequences when services move vary depending on where in the country you live. If you live nearby, there might be a new mail delivery around the corner. But if it is several, several miles away, yes, then it hits those people very hard.
This is a municipality that has just over 2,200 inhabitants. It is clear that it hits hard when additional job opportunities disappear. When jobs disappear, the municipality is affected. We in the inland municipalities struggle to get people to move to these municipalities and to get citizens to want to live there. It must become an attractive place, and people must want to live, work and live in these municipalities. Then these jobs are needed.
I requested an investigation from RUT, the Riksdag's investigation service, regarding this matter with Postnord in the spring. I was informed that PTS had established what we already know, that some of these municipalities already have such a long distance to postal services that it complicates everyday life and work life for the people there, and that PTS shared their concern. It is therefore not just my concern or the concern of the other inland residents, but the authority itself also sees the problem.
My point is that we already know that there are very long distances to postal services and that it is a problem in some places. Therefore, I think one should be extra careful, very careful, with changes that risk reinforcing that problem.
Yes, we have the Postal Act to adhere to and must have postal services of good quality throughout the country, as the Minister himself says. But then it also must work in reality, not just on paper.
I understand that fewer letters require a change, and I know that it is Postnord's board and management that are responsible for the organization. I know all of that. But the government simultaneously has a responsibility to ensure that the postal service functions, so how far should this development go before the government considers that the postal service in rural areas actually risks deteriorating? People, as I said, should be able to live and work in the entire country – and have a good mail delivery.
Civilministern Erik Slottner (KD)
Madam Speaker! Just as Gille says here, we have a postal law today, and PTS is the supervisory authority. Postnord has the mandate to carry out what the law prescribes, and then PTS has supervisory activities over this work and mandate. If it is the case that Postnord does not follow what the law prescribes and what is regulated, yes, then there are possibilities to issue, for example, fines against this. That is how we have laid it out, so many of the questions that Sara Gille poses in this debate to me as the minister responsible for the postal law should be posed to Postnord's management. They must answer how they, with these changes, can uphold the legislation and the regulations that exist.
It is very difficult for me to answer some of the questions being asked. But with the changes we have now made to the distribution times, the idea is that the mail should be able to be delivered on two fixed days a week. Gille asked here if it can be mail delivery every day. It has been a long time since we had that, to be honest. But with the changes we have now made, we have created the conditions for Postnord to be able to deliver letters and shipments on two fixed days a week, which creates great predictability for residents all over the country.
I do not know whether this has been brought up in the ownership dialogue with the company, as it is not I who conducts it. It is the Minister for Finance who conducts the ownership dialogue with all companies and thus with Postnord. I am responsible for the postal law itself and the supervision, and PTS falls under my area of responsibility, but the ownership dialogue with Postnord is conducted by the Minister for Finance. I cannot say exactly what has been said there, but I assume that Postnord as a company fulfills the requirements in the legislation and regulations and has the operations necessary to fulfill those requirements and regulations.
I certainly have not seen the Sweden Democrats push for any changes in ownership directives or any more money so that these offices can remain open in budget negotiations with the government. But it is certainly fair game to push such issues in upcoming, I hope, budget negotiations during the next mandate period. We will see then, but I certainly have not seen the Sweden Democrats push any such issues or any such demands in the negotiations we have had in connection with the budget processes.
Sara Gille (SD)
Madam Speaker! I still have not received an answer to my question regarding whether the Minister has had a dialogue with Postnord. I still feel that I want to know that.
The Minister himself says that the postal service is a fundamental part of society. I completely agree that it is, especially in war and crisis and so on, so there we are in complete agreement. But precisely because of that, I think that this development raises very many questions.
We in Sweden are building up the total defense, and we are to become less vulnerable. But at the same time, postal activities are being concentrated at fewer locations. It results in longer stretches and greater distances. According to the RUT investigation that I requested, it becomes more difficult, and PTS shares this concern.
Physical mail is still needed within healthcare and elderly care, public administration, crime fighting, defense and so on. Digitalization does not solve everything. That is how it is. When society is in a crisis, the mail must be able to reach out.
What actually happens when the systems are subjected to disruptions, when there are various disruptions on roads and railways and so on? That is what I would like to know. The government itself has pointed out these risks. And when we talk about preparedness, it is about the society functioning when everything does not work as usual, so it must be robust systems that are actually sustainable.
As said: Dorotea's mail delivery now originates from Vilhelmina. That is quite a distance from Dorotea. I moved to Dorotea in 2018. At that time, we had a bank branch in Dorotea. It was moved to Vilhelmina. Now the post office is being moved to Vilhelmina. A small municipality like Dorotea, which is already struggling to retain every single inhabitant, will have to continue to struggle and struggle against the wind. It is terribly frustrating and very difficult for such a municipality.
Politics simply must follow up on what is happening. Postnord says that this is not supposed to affect the mail delivery. They have themselves issued and said this in the media. I find it very difficult to understand that. When there are long distances, if something happens on the way and so on – it is clear that it affects the mail delivery.
I would very much like to know what is required for the minister to step in and ensure that there is good quality. The minister says that the government has readiness, so what is it that is required for the government to actually act? When is the limit reached, quite simply?
Does the government consider readiness in its thoughts when following this development, if one follows the development in rural areas? I am simply asking what responsibility the government takes for the whole when local presence decreases.
Civilministern Erik Slottner (KD)
Madam Speaker! Sara Gille asked me when the government will act, and the government will act if the legislation is not upheld. If Postnord cannot conduct an operation that ensures the requirements of the laws and other regulations are upheld or met, the government must act in some way.
We could see such a risk, and that is why we are now changing the delivery times. We could see, in fact, that Postnord would have great difficulty maintaining its operations if today's delivery times were to continue. That is why we have now changed the delivery times.
By 2030, mail volumes are estimated to have decreased by – listen now – 90 percent compared to 2000 – 90 percent! It goes without saying that with such a development, it is not possible to maintain exactly the same operations and just push on as if nothing has happened. We need to adjust the suit and adapt the operations to a new reality, and this is what we have now done.
With these changed delivery times, we are now also providing greater predictability for mail recipients. We are giving Postnord the opportunity to conduct its operations, and we have been able to take into account the preparedness sectors that Sara Gille mentioned in her speech regarding pharmaceuticals and the needs of the total defense. All of this has been a process that has taken a long time, as there have been very many interests and actors to take into account. We have, however, done that, and we have now received a final product that everyone is sufficiently satisfied with to be able to move forward with in any case.
We have also given a special mandate to PTS to consider the needs of total defense and, moving forward, to analyze how we can maintain a robust and secure mail delivery even in times of crisis, heightened threat, or even war. I therefore believe that we have handled this issue in a very responsible manner.
Regarding the question that Sara Gille feels she is not getting an answer to, namely whether I have had an ownership dialogue, the answer is no. That was what I answered. The ownership dialogue is conducted by the Minister for Finance, because she is the one who has the companies. I, therefore, conduct no ownership dialogues with any state-owned company.
I have visited Dorotea during one of my many visits to municipalities in the country and am aware of the challenges that this fine municipality in the interior of Västerbotten faces. The municipality naturally suffers from a population decline and, unfortunately, also to some extent from a decline in activities over time.
I also certainly do not want the Sweden Democrats to have politics decide exactly where Postnord should have its offices and its operations. This is something that is up to the companies and their boards to make decisions on themselves. I also believe that the best arrangement regarding the companies' operations is that they make this type of decision. I think it would be unfortunate if politics detailed-regulated the companies' operations in that way. I do not believe either, and have never heard, that the Sweden Democrats want to change that arrangement.
Sara Gille therefore becomes a bit guilty, I think. What do the Sweden Democrats want in this issue? This is, in some way between the lines, an indirect attack against the government, even though one has sat at the negotiating tables and in the budget negotiations and then did not push this issue. I must actually say that it becomes a bit of double-tongued from Sara Gille here.
Sara Gille (SD)
Madam Speaker! Everything that is being done is absolutely good, I do not argue against that – and no, we do not want to decide where the offices should be. That is not what I am talking about, it is more about a concern.
This is not solely about Postnord, but it is more a concern that there will be long distances and that small rural municipalities that are already struggling with population decline will face headwinds all the time. That is what the whole thing is about, so no, we do not want to decide where these post offices should be. That is not what we are going to step in and do. The question is more how this should work so that it does not affect the inland residents, quite simply.
Good service is needed everywhere, but it cannot be identical service in, for example, Stockholm and the inland municipalities. I understand that; it would be unreasonable. I fully understand this, but when there are long distances, one must still expect that it will be more difficult.
Every job means a lot for a small municipality. We are, as said, fighting against the wind to try to get people to stay. I believe it was an additional 200–300 people who lived in the municipality when I moved there. It has therefore decreased very quickly in recent years, and the government must see these consequences. It is simply not enough to say that requirements and so on are met when it is only on paper. We must see that it is actually so in everyday life.
I want the government to actually follow up on Postnord's changes and what these mean for the inland municipalities. How does it affect these very small, small municipalities? I wish the minister could take this with them.
Civilministern Erik Slottner (KD)
Madam Speaker! I thank Sara Gille for this debate. I will absolutely take this with me.
We generally follow the countryside and Sweden when it comes to localization, workplaces, and the labor market across all of Sweden. Just as has been said here, it is a challenge that in much of the inland of Norrbotten and Västerbotten, there has over time been a depopulation that has been dramatic. This has naturally affected both working life and job opportunities in these municipalities.
When it comes to Dorotea specifically, I can say that Statens servicecenter has announced that they will open an operation, so there are some ups and downs when it comes to both closures and new establishments.
I still want to maintain that for me, with responsibility for the Postal Act regarding responsibility for the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority, is that Postnord is the company that is to deliver mail to Swedish households. They have requirements on them that are regulated both in legislation and in other types of regulations. It is this they must fulfill, and it is this I primarily look at: Does Postnord conduct an operation that in turn fulfills the law's requirements for mail delivery? That is my important question as Civil Minister, and we can see that this is happening reasonably well today, but that it becomes an ever-increasing challenge as mail volumes decrease and continue to decrease in the future.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.