Response to interpellation 2025/26:580 on small municipalities' conditions in the development of civil defense
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
M argues that the government has taken measures with new legislation and over 5 billion SEK in supplementary funding to strengthen the municipalities' preparedness 1 2. M emphasizes that municipalities are obliged to plan for evacuation and accommodation 3 and that the current funding provides the conditions for higher robustness 2 4. M argues that financial compensation in extraordinary events should be handled ad hoc 2 3 4 and that smaller municipalities should be utilized if they lack large infrastructure 4. S argues that small municipalities need concrete assurances that they are not left alone with economic consequences 5 6 and requests clarity regarding the distribution of responsibility 6 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.
Minister för civilt försvar Carl-Oskar Bohlin (M)
Madam Speaker! Hanna Westerén has asked me how I and the government intend to ensure that municipalities, especially small and resource-limited ones, can bear the additional costs during high alert and sheltering missions, and what measures are planned so that compensation can be paid out quickly in the event of acute incidents.
Hanna Westerén has further asked me if I and the government intend to review how the residence principle shall be applied during extensive population displacements so that individual receiving municipalities do not incur a disproportionate financial responsibility, what measures I and the government are taking to provide the municipalities with multi-year and predictable financial frameworks for investments in civil defense, and how it is ensured that even small municipalities can build up capacity in line with the national requirements.
Hanna Westerén has finally asked when I and the government intend to produce a clear national model for housing missions that clarifies the distribution of responsibility, dimensioning, and financing, as well as how that model will be adapted to municipalities with very different capacities.
The municipalities have a crucial role in ensuring that society's functionality can be secured during high alert and, in the extreme, war. During this government's mandate period, the state's subsidies to municipalities linked to preparedness and civil defense have been progressively strengthened, and several legislative proposals have been submitted.
In the referral to the Council on Legislation regarding the basic preparedness of municipalities and regions for crisis and war, which was decided on 2 July 2026, a new law is proposed which, among other things, entails stricter requirements for municipalities to take preparedness measures. In the budget bill for 2026 (prop. 2025/26:1, bet. 2025/26:FöU1, rskr. 2025/26:111), the Government has allocated approximately 5.4 billion kronor for the period 2026–2029 so that the municipalities can meet the proposed increase in ambition.
During 2026, the Government has also made other significant investments to strengthen the municipalities' preparedness. Through the Civil Preparedness Authority, MCF, 400 million kronor are distributed to the municipalities for investments in equipment needed to strengthen the supply preparedness. An additional 490 million kronor are distributed to municipalities that MCF and the Armed Forces assess to be of special importance for the total defense. In addition, MCF has been allocated 500 million kronor to procure equipment that can be used by municipalities and regions to strengthen the supply preparedness.
In view of the very difficult conditions that prevail during high alert and, ultimately, war, it is of the utmost importance that there is clear planning and distribution of responsibility for evacuation and subsequent accommodation. According to new provisions in the Act (2006:546) on evacuation and accommodation etc. during high alert, which entered into force on 1 June 2026, a municipality shall plan for and execute decisions on evacuation or accommodation during high alert, on the basis of a planning direction that the county administrative board shall prepare.
As a result of a mandate that the government gave MCF and the county administrative boards during 2024, there is now a national plan regarding which protective measures are needed for a strong protection of the civilian population. The issue is prioritized in the authorities' ongoing work, with the goal that the entire country will eventually be covered by a plan for evacuation and accommodation during high alert.
Regarding the financing of measures that, among other things, the municipalities need to take to strengthen the protection of the civilian population, the government has allocated approximately 1.2 billion kronor for the years 2026–2028. The funds cover investments in shelters, evacuation, and accommodation and shall be distributed according to need between municipalities, county administrative boards, and the Civil Defence Agency.
Hanna Westerén (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you for the answer, Carl-Oskar Bohlin!
In this matter, at least on paper, there is agreement that the municipalities are absolutely crucial for civil defense. The municipalities are the first line. It is at home in the municipality that one as a citizen knocks when there is a fire or when it matters.
The question is also not whether the municipalities should take responsibility. They must. The question is what conditions they are given, not least the very smallest, to do so.
In Carl-Oskar Bohlin's response, I note several initiatives, several appropriations, and several positive planning processes. That is absolutely excellent. However, I partly lack an answer to the question that many Swedish municipal politicians are asking today: When the state makes a decision that means a municipality shall receive a large number of people for an indefinite period, arrange accommodation, ensure care services, and maintain socially important activities, who bears – in concrete terms – the financial risk?
Madam Speaker! For a large municipality, such a commitment can be difficult. For a very small municipality, it can be completely revolutionary.
We are talking about municipalities that already in their everyday lives struggle with competence supply and large, difficult investments in water and sewage systems, schools, and elderly care. We are talking about small municipalities where a few million kronor can make an incredibly big difference in the economy.
Then I mean that it is not enough to know that there are national grants, a structure and a superstructure. One must also have concrete assurances from the state's side that the municipality will not be left alone with the consequences.
Madam Speaker! That is why I want to return to the so-called residence principle. It works in so many contexts in Sweden, but in the case of extensive population movements, it can mean that economic consequences are concentrated in a few recipient municipalities. Therefore, I wonder if the government has analyzed the risk. If the government has done so, is the government prepared to ensure that the municipalities that take a large national responsibility also receive cost coverage for the costs that arise?
Minister för civilt försvar Carl-Oskar Bohlin (M)
Madam Speaker! I note that it must constitute some kind of record to receive seven questions simultaneously in a single interpellation. I hope that we can address all of them to the best of our ability.
As I said in my answer, just as in many other areas for civil defense, a long series of measures have been taken in the field. There is new legislation in place regarding the protection of the civilian population. Increased requirements are being placed on municipalities and regions, which will come into force at the turn of the year 2026/27 – if everything goes as planned. And as I mentioned, there is additional funding over the coming years of over 5 billion kronor. This naturally provides the conditions for small and large municipalities to live up to the higher requirements.
Regarding the extraordinary event that Sweden finds itself in a state of high alert or, in the worst case, in war and is affected by large population movements, the question of economic compensation to different parts of the country must be handled ad hoc in such a situation, just as we handle other major peacetime disasters ad hoc. We did that with the pandemic, that is, we submitted extra supplementary budgets to compensate different parts of society. We have done that in the case of large oil spills, where we have compensated affected municipalities. And we have done it in the case of large forest fires.
What is important to have in place in advance is the structure and a system to be able to handle those types of large-scale population movements. It is important to emphasize that large-scale evacuation and accommodation is an absolute last resort. This simultaneously means that society in the parts that are evacuated ceases to function to some extent. If people are not present in the local and regional geography, that part of society ceases to function. It is an absolute last resort solution.
Then, naturally, Sweden could become subject to population flows from our neighboring countries in the event that hostilities were to break out in our geographical vicinity. In that case, we need to manage them. The economic dimension of that issue must, naturally, be managed when that situation arises. It is only then that it is manageable.
What we are working on is to finance the preparatory measures, finance the structure and finance a higher basic robustness in both municipalities and regions so that we have the conditions to handle, in the worst case, an existential threat to our society.
Hanna Westerén (S)
Madam Speaker! I thank Carl-Oskar Bohlin for the answer.
I am asking many questions because these are issues that I am passionate about and which I, in turn, receive many questions about, not least from Sweden's smallest municipalities. They are concerned and worried. The municipalities are worried because of the responsibility towards their own population, and they are worried because they obviously want to stand up in Sweden's total defense.
I have the greatest respect for the fact that Carl-Oskar Bohlin refers to planning, legislation, and various economic investments. A lot is happening in the civil defense area, which is absolutely excellent. The Swedish Civil Defence Authority is doing an enormous amount of work.
When I meet representatives from SKR or from Sweden's smallest municipalities, neither they nor I request more planning documents or more structures. It is perfectly fine that they are in place, but it is the question of responsibility that is decisive. It is the answer to that question that the smallest municipalities request. When I meet municipal representatives of all stripes, it is about the question of responsibility, about feeling security that the state and the individual municipality do the work together, that there is a mutual respect and a shared responsibility.
Speaking of the pandemic: We know that Swedish municipalities and regions took on an enormous responsibility during the pandemic, and the state stood on the other side and held their hands. We did the work together.
I am confident that Swedish municipalities and regions do everything they can in the event of crisis and war. They must receive a message that the state is taking its responsibility. It will not be about local decisions or needs, but it will be about our common total defense needs. Thus, they become a national responsibility. Nevertheless, the costs arise in individual municipalities. It is the individual municipal representatives who make the trade-offs, that is, daring to invest in our common security in parallel with investing in municipal operations.
I do not think it has to do with my talent, but I do not fully understand how I or municipal representatives should interpret the pledge regarding ad hoc decisions. I believe that question must be elaborated by Carl-Oskar Bohlin. A small municipality that is about to receive a large accommodation, with high costs as a result, due to a national decision must have a bit more to hold onto than a so-called ad hoc decision. It is a clarification that many Swedish municipalities are requesting right now.
Minister för civilt försvar Carl-Oskar Bohlin (M)
Madam Speaker! The interpellor requests a clearer distribution of responsibility. It is good that it is in place from June 1, 2026, in the new legislation. A municipality becomes obliged to plan for and execute decisions on evacuation or accommodation during high alert, based on a planning direction that the County Administrative Board prepares. MCF and the County Administrative Boards were already given the assignment in 2024 to work with the preparatory planning, and that assignment continues.
I said that the situation must be resolved when it eventually occurs. It is about looking at the conditions for special economic compensation. That is how we tend to handle extraordinary events that affect the whole or parts of our country. The closest comparison is major peacetime crisis events, for example the pandemic or the forest fires in 2014 and 2018. At those times, special compensations were carried out for affected municipalities or for affected operations in the country. So, naturally, the question of compensation in such a hypothetical situation must be handled.
What is important to clarify in advance is who is responsible for doing what. This is done in the new legislation that has been in place since 1 June 2026 and through the work carried out by the Authority for Civil Defence and by the County Administrative Boards.
Hanna Westerén (S)
Madam Speaker! I thought I would quote parts of the answer. Carl-Oskar Bohlin said the following: ”According to new provisions in the Act (2006:546) on evacuation and accommodation etc. during high alert, which entered into force on 1 June 2026, a municipality shall plan for and execute decisions on evacuation or accommodation during high alert, on the basis of a planning direction that the County Administrative Board shall prepare.”
I perceived it as that Carl-Oskar Bohlin considered that it was the message that the municipalities need. I do not share that view, Madam Speaker. I believe that Swedish municipalities need more than that message.
I go back to what I said earlier regarding the comparison between a small and a large municipality. In the event of crisis and war or extraordinary events, a large municipality manages a lot, but for a small municipality, it can become upheaval and critical.
I believe that Swedish municipalities are ready to do everything they can. They have done so before, and they will do so again. But the Swedish total defense is built on the reciprocity that we are talking about here today. I feel at times that it flickers and that Carl-Oskar Bohlin agrees with me. But then I experience that we fall back again to that the municipalities have received what they need, that they have received the structure they need.
I do, however, experience very clearly that Swedish municipalities in some respects are hesitating regarding their preparedness mandate, because they are uncertain when it comes to the cost burden. Therefore, I want to once again give Carl-Oskar Bohlin the chance to be a bit clearer towards those municipalities that may be hesitating. Can they feel secure that they will not be left alone with the costs when they perform tasks that are ultimately total defense investments?
Minister för civilt försvar Carl-Oskar Bohlin (M)
Madam Speaker! I perceive that there are two issues being mixed up a bit here. The first concerns the preparatory work to strengthen robustness and redundancy in the activities for which one is responsible, ultimately in order to be able to meet the requirements of war, that is to say, a higher dimensioning basis than that which prevailed during the peacetime crisis preparedness that has historically characterized Swedish work over the last 20–25 years.
To meet that set of requirements, we, as I mentioned, are increasing the funding to the municipalities in this area by just over 5 billion during the coming years. Part of the increased requirements is to plan to be able to handle both evacuation and accommodation, naturally based on the conditions one has.
It goes without saying that smaller municipalities have fewer possibilities to accommodate, unless they are large tourism municipalities that for other reasons have large infrastructure to receive large numbers of people. In such an event, we shall try to utilize that.
The second question is how the municipalities are to be compensated in the event that we actually have large-scale evacuation and accommodation, that is to say, that Sweden finds itself at war. My answer there is that the economic part of that question must be handled then and there. What we are doing now is creating an infrastructure to be able to prepare, to raise the general level of robustness so that we have the chance and the possibility to meet the increased demands if Sweden should at any time end up in that situation.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.