Response to interpellation 2025/26:479 on the follow-up report on minority policy
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns the follow-up of the minority policy. M considers the transfer of responsibility to MUCF to be an important measure to strengthen the compliance of national minorities' rights and improve expertise 1 2. M argues that the government is implementing its policy because they believe in it 3 and that the measures have contributed to the goals despite challenges regarding participation 4. S argues that the government has halved the support to the national organizations and that a cut of 83 percent is devastating 5 6. S criticizes the transfer to MUCF as 22 organizations opposed it 6 7. S considers that anti-Gypsyism is not prioritized sufficiently 7.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Kulturministern Parisa Liljestrand (M)
Mr. Speaker! Mirja Räihä has asked me whether I will implement any of the proposals in the authority's follow-up report.
On March 30, the Agency for Youth and Civil Society, MUCF, and the Sami Parliament submitted the report National Minorities and Minority Languages – The Development of Minority Policy 2025. MUCF took over the responsibility for national minority policy from the County Administrative Board of Stockholm on January 1 this year. The main purpose of the transfer of activities within minority policy to MUCF is precisely to ensure and strengthen the compliance with the rights of the national minorities.
The government has during the mandate period made several interventions within minority policy. Among other things, the government has decided on a strategy to strengthen Jewish life and counter antisemitism and on several measures to reach the objectives within it. The government has also created long-term stability for the language center's activities by including the task of being responsible for the language center in the agency's instructions.
The measures within the framework of the national minority policy contribute to fulfilling the goal for the policy area. But there are still challenges, and it is also required that continued work is done so that the goal can be achieved. The report on the development of minority policy 2025 constitutes an important basis for the government's continued work. That being said, I cannot precede the government's upcoming work within the framework of the national minority policy.
Mirja Räihä (S)
Mr. Speaker! As the Minister said, the follow-up was moved from the County Administrative Board of Stockholm to MUCF at the turn of the year. Now the authority has submitted its first report, and it can be said calmly that the report contains a fair amount of sharp criticism of the minority policy. The authority therefore submits sharp proposals so that the minority policy can be improved.
My interpellation concerns a part of the report, namely the financial support to the national organizations. These organizations have, among other things, the task of monitoring minority policy, participating in consultations with administrative authorities, and drafting referral responses.
MUCF submits the following proposal: that the government decides to adjust the design of the ordinance on state grants for national minorities, that the government long-term establishes the state grant to national organizations or organizations of national interest according to the ordinance to at least 14 million kronor annually, that the state grant to Sami organizations is established to at least 3.5 million kronor annually and that the government decides on a process fund where individuals or organizations can apply for funds to cover court disputes.
Mr. Speaker! My question in the interpellation was whether the Minister for Culture will implement some of the proposals from the follow-up authority. In response, I receive a description of how much the government has done. The Minister mentions two things: the strategy for Jewish life in Sweden and permanent language centers. Both of these measures are very good, even if the future of the language centers is funded by other areas within minority policy. Among other things, the national organizations and the county administrative boards have had to pay for the party.
The current government has more than halved the support to the national minorities' national organizations, from 13 million previously to 6.4 million in 2026. For the Swedish-Finnish delegation, the support has decreased from 833,000 kronor in 2022 to 142,000 kronor in 2026, thus a cut of 83 percent during the mandate period. Grif, an organization for Roma, has had its grants halved and is also struggling to carry out its activities.
I can state that I am still left empty-handed. When the national organizations are clipped in this way, it becomes difficult to carry out minority policy according to the law. The state grants to the national organizations are a vanishingly small part of the state budget; the 833,000 kronor that the Swedish-Finnish delegation received previously are not even pocket money in the state budget. The state should be able to afford to maintain and benefit from the work the national organizations do.
What does the Minister for Culture intend to do to ensure that the law's intentions regarding influence are realized?
Kulturministern Parisa Liljestrand (M)
Mr. Speaker! Let me begin by clarifying. The Member mentioned a couple of the initiatives I listed in my answer, namely the initiatives on Jewish life and the fight against antisemitism. But I also mentioned the transfer of responsibility to MUCF, which is a large and important part of improving minority policy in terms of both form and follow-up. It is important that this is included, because we are now working so that an agency shall be given the opportunity to build up competence and take responsibility for this task in a significantly better way than the County Administrative Board of Stockholm has done.
There have been many views from minority organizations on how the task has been handled previously, and therefore I am certain that the move to MUCF is important in order to be able to work with minority policy in a more effective way, not least when it comes to the issue of consultation and participation, which is an incredibly important part of minority policy.
I am aware that there are challenges for the national minority organizations, for example when it comes to being able to participate in consultations. This is something that often comes up when they speak with me and the government. It can also be about the resources not being sufficient.
I cannot say here and now what the government intends to do with the report we received at the end of March. It may have consequences for the upcoming budget, but I cannot anticipate that process.
Mr. Speaker! I also did not perceive that the interpellation is about me counting up how many kronor and öre the government puts into the different pots for minority policy. I mentioned a couple of initiatives, but that is far from everything the government does. The government also puts money into other things within minority policy. But, as said, I did not perceive that this discussion was to be about that, but about how we in the best way should handle what was stated in the report and how we should ensure that our national minorities are given the opportunity for participation and influence in a really good way. Here I want to again emphasize the transfer of operations to MUCF, which I believe is a large and important part of this.
I know that there has been criticism that the consultations and discussions were not followed in a good way ahead of this move. But the government has been keen to meet and consider the criticism as far as is possible, and we made the clarifications that needed to be made. We agreed in the discussions regarding the competence supply to MUCF and the importance of there being a long-term perspective in the work.
I can still think that there is a point in highlighting that it is not always the case that crowns and öre, that is, money, to organizations and the government's work to promote minorities' participation and influence need to hang together. They do it sometimes, and I am aware of that. But it is not always so. It is also about reviewing the overall systems and ensuring that there is a long-term perspective in the cooperation we build up and that this cooperation works in the absolute best way for both the minority organizations and the government.
Mirja Räihä (S)
Mr. Speaker! I probably need to continue to nag a bit about the support for the national organizations. When the cut is as large as 83 percent for a national organization, it will affect what the Minister expressed is so important, namely consultation and cooperation. It may not be enough to be able to maintain the organizations at all. The Swedish-Finns' delegation was formed in 2000, in close dialogue with the government at the time, to advocate for the Swedish-Finnish minority. It is, therefore, only one of the organizations.
A lot has happened during this parliamentary term, but not everything has been positive. Lennart Rohdin, whom I dare to assert is a true expert on minority issues, is very clear in his opinions regarding the conducted policy. He was an investigator for the previous government regarding minority policy. He argues that minority issues function because the national minorities themselves take a great responsibility. It is truly not always the state, the region, or the municipality that ensures the minority law is followed. It could be an association that has a nursing home and in that way takes responsibility for the municipality, or it could be a foundation that runs a school in order to be able to preserve the language.
When the government reduced the funds to the county administrative boards, it made it more difficult for them to support the municipalities, especially the administrative municipalities. This has been debated by the Minister for Culture and me previously. We have also debated the move to MUCF. At that time, it was not about whether I was for or against it, but about the minority organizations being overridden after the consultation. The indignation was great then. There were 22 organizations that gathered and said: "Do not do this now," and yet it was done anyway. That was what the interpellation was about.
I believe, however, that it will turn out well with MUCF. I have read both reports, partly on minority policy during 2025, partly on Roma inclusion, and I think they have done a very good job. The reports are very good, but the government needs to take advantage of them.
In my normal life, I have worked a lot with changes and relocations, and what I miss in the government's policy is a consequence analysis. What will be the consequences for the national organizations when you cut the funds by as much as 83 percent for just one of the organizations and when you halve the support to the Roma children's and youth organization Grif?
Where is the impact assessment? How will it affect the consultation opportunities? How will it affect the influence of minority groups? How will it affect the upholding of the minority law and what is stated in the preparatory works to the law, namely that it is important to give the groups influence over the issues concerning national minorities in Sweden?
I understand that the minister cannot have the budget debate with me here. These are just examples of the sharp proposals that MUCF submits to the government. I am quite satisfied with that, because it will obviously create pressure on the government to discuss these issues more thoroughly.
However, I miss a consequence analysis. I believe that an 83 percent reduction in support will be devastating for the organizations that are to have the strength to consult and have influence and that are to do this work and actually help the government with this.
Kulturministern Parisa Liljestrand (M)
Mr. Speaker! Strengthening the national minorities' opportunities for influence is a central part of the objective for the policy area. The Government holds annual consultations with the national minorities and also holds consultations regarding specific issues. One such example is MUCF's tasks within minority policy and when MUCF took over that activity.
Just as I said earlier, Mr. Speaker, I am aware that there may be challenges for the national minority organizations when it comes to participating in consultations and that resources do not always suffice to the extent that the organizations would wish in order to be able to do their work and make their voices heard.
As is known, I cannot anticipate the government's work with the budget bill, and therefore I will need to return to the issue of money. We therefore cannot have that discussion now.
Mr. Speaker! If I may, I would like for a short moment to raise a slightly different perspective that is important here. The member said that 22 organizations gathered and said that the responsibility should not be moved to MUCF and that one should have listened to that, but I am not so sure that I agree with the member on that. The member herself said that she believes the move to MUCF will be very good.
It is precisely this, Mr. Speaker, that is the difference between this and the previous government – the difference between us in the Moderaterna and the Socialdemokraterna: We Moderates dare to make decisions even if criticism is directed at them and even if everyone might not agree that it will be perfect. We dare to make the decisions anyway, because we dare to believe in what we do.
The difference between the Moderates and the Social Democrats is that we in the Moderates implement our policy because we believe in it, while the Social Democrats implement their policy if someone else says that what they are doing is good enough. Otherwise, they wait, Mr. Speaker. The result of that policy and that government, we see in Sweden today. It is the mess that our government has had to clean up, in area after area and in department after department.
It is about minority policy. It is about crime policy. It is about the police force. It is about people's right to safety. It is about people's responsibility. It is about people's right to keep more of what they work for. It should pay to be a decent citizen in Sweden today.
We Moderates believe in what we do, and that is why we carry it out, even if it is criticized sometimes. In exactly the same way, I believe in what we are now doing within minority policy. I believe that it will turn out well in the long run.
Mirja Räihä (S)
Mr. Speaker! It was truly a tirade about Social Democratic policy, but I would have wished that we talked about the government's policy.
Consultation annually is very good, but what I hear from the groups is that it is a lot of one-way communication. A government representative comes and tells something, and then the consultation is over.
When it comes to MUCF, it might turn out well. At the same time, there were 22 organizations that said: "Don't do this now," but the government did it anyway.
There are also specific areas. I had an interpellation debate with the Minister for Education where we debated that the government had thrown an investigation on minority languages in schools in the trash without having any consultation on it at all. One can certainly say that what the government does is not always so good for minority groups.
It is still the case that the Swedish-Finnish delegation, during the four years that have passed since the government took office, has received a reduction from 883,000 to 140,000 kronor per year. This means that the organization will have a very difficult time surviving. Grif, which has had its grants halved, will also have a very difficult time surviving. They have really difficult issues to grapple with. It concerns the anti-Gypsyism that exists in society, which perhaps is not as prioritized as all other things for this government right now.
I have no other questions for the Minister for Culture. I understand that we are not talking about money, and that was perhaps not the intention. I took the sums as examples from the authority. But I really want to send along that, ahead of the budget work, the funds going to the national organizations should be reviewed. They need to be able to monitor that the minority policy is working. No one else does that, except of course the Agency for Youth and Civil Society Issues. One needs to have the minority organizations on board.
Kulturministern Parisa Liljestrand (M)
Mr. Speaker! The Government has taken a number of measures to strengthen the compliance with the rights of national minorities and also that which I perhaps see as most important right now, namely to create long-term perspective in the minority policy work.
The overall assessment that the government and I make is that the measures have contributed to the goal for the policy area, but that does not mean that everything is good. There are also continued challenges. There are obstacles in terms of participation and influence. Therefore, continued work is required, and the report that has now been submitted forms the basis for that work.
It is not at all the case that the report will end up in a desk drawer and then not be acted upon, but it is truly an important material for the government's continued work to strengthen minority policy in the long term. It can be about funds, but it can also be just as much about structures to build up a long-term perspective within this policy area. I look forward to being able to continue with that.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.