Response to interpellations 2024/25:346 and 349 on state presence throughout the country
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
M believes that the relocation of Folke Bernadotteakademin and Sidas operations to Stockholm is a result of a collective assessment to create a more purposeful and cost-effective state administration 1. M argues that the decisions are necessary to protect taxpayers' money 1, that the government is cleaning up in aid policy 2 and that money should be used effectively in the field instead of in partially empty premises 2. M argues for an efficient agency management where as little as possible goes to fixed costs 3 and that savings on fixed costs can be used for children's hospitals and vaccine syringes 3 4. S argues that the government lacks the will to promote state presence outside Stockholm 5. S argues that the move to Stockholm is not cost-effective 6 and that the centralization damages trust in public administration 6. S believes that the government's decision to shut down state service offices and operations are catastrophic mistakes 6 and that the government is systematically dismantling state presence and local service, which affects the countryside 7. S criticizes the government for not listening to the agencies' own proposals and for cutting back within aid while conflicts increase 8. S emphasizes that competence exists throughout the country and demands respect for state employees 9. S wants the minister to take back statements about labor market measures and show respect for those who serve the state in Västnorrland 9. S argues that the government shows little interest in state service and presence throughout the country, which is evident by closing service offices in Ånge and not providing concrete information on compensation for lost jobs in Kramfors and Härnösand 10. S emphasizes that state presence is important for cohesion and that they want an active policy for this 10. S also argues that the government uses aid efforts as an argument to shut down operations and demands answers on how much money is actually saved on the closures 11.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Speakers (14)
Statsrådet Benjamin Dousa (M)
Mr. Speaker! Peter Hedberg has asked me which factors the government took into consideration when the decision was made regarding the decommissioning of the headquarters for the Folke Bernadotte Academy in Kramfors and Sida's operations in Härnösand. He has also asked whether the government considered alternative solutions that could maintain the operations in their current form while simultaneously taking into account any economic or organizational requirements.
Peder Björk has asked three questions to the Minister for Civil Affairs.
Firstly: How does the government justify the decisions to move state activities from Kramfors and Härnösand to Stockholm, and how do the decisions harmonize with the government's responsibility to create trust and cohesion throughout the country?
Secondly: How does the Council of State and the Government view the importance of state activities contributing to state presence and service throughout the entire country?
For the third: Does the Minister and the Government intend to take any specific measures to compensate for the lost state jobs in the affected municipalities?
The interpellation has been handed over to me.
The decision to relocate the seat of the Folke Bernadotte Academy from Sandö to Stockholm, as well as to phase out Sida's training center in Härnösand and move prioritized parts of the operations to the headquarters in Rissne, is the result of a collective assessment of these activities. The decisions are part of the government's reforming of Swedish aid and the strive towards a more purposeful and cost-effective public administration. We must continuously review Swedish aid in relation to changes in the world around us, changed Swedish priorities, and the budget situation.
The course activities of Folke Bernadotteakademien at Sandö have decreased significantly, and the authority no longer has the same need for the training and overnight accommodation facilities located there. Consequently, the authority's location at Sandö has come into a different light, as access to training areas and course premises was previously one of the primary advantages of having offices there.
Sida submitted on 30 September 2023 an account in which the authority reviewed and analyzed possibilities for streamlining the authority's educational activities. The Government has taken this account into consideration.
In the report, Sida presented two alternatives. The Government has considered both alternatives and chosen to proceed with the one that involves the decommissioning of the agency's training center in Härnösand, as Sida assessed that continued operations would require the agency to make reprioritizations that are not expedient from a result and cost-effectiveness perspective.
Sida has also carried out a rapid transition to digital methods since the pandemic in 2020. This includes the educational activities in Härnösand. Many trainings and courses are now conducted digitally, which entails a reduced need for physical training premises even for Sida.
The Government considers that a developed state presence and service throughout the country is important. At the same time, it is important that the authorities conduct their activities in an efficient manner, regardless of where in the country they are located. It can be stated that the Armed Forces' organization is being expanded throughout the country, including in Sollefteå and in Härnösand. Furthermore, the Prison and Probation Service is growing across all of Sweden with more locations at detention centers and prisons, including in Västernorrlands län, which means more state jobs. The Police Authority is also growing and shall be present throughout the country. In the long run, this means more employed police officers and that the Police Authority shall primarily grow locally.
Within the framework of a mission to MSB regarding preparatory measures to introduce civil service after mobilization, the authority shall report consequences for, among other things, the facility at Sandö and to what extent the activity can be expanded at existing locations.
The Government's collective assessment is that it is expedient and cost-effective to relocate the seat of the Folke Bernadotte Academy from Sandö to Stockholm and to phase out Sida's training center in Härnösand. We must safeguard the taxpayers' money.
These two decisions will mean that more money can go to those most in need in Gaza, that more money can go to children's hospitals in Lviv, and that less money will be stuck here at home in Sweden in fixed costs for premises that are used to all too small an extent.
Peder Björk (S)
Mr. Speaker! "Empty vessels make the most noise" is a proverb that I think describes the Minister's answer to my interpellation in a good way. I also think it summarizes the SD government's policy regarding state presence and service throughout the country.
It becomes all the more clearly evident when one compares it with how previous Social Democratic governments have acted politically in precisely this area. In several government statements, Social Democratic prime ministers have raised this issue, and they have since also ensured that it is implemented in practice.
During the 2014–2018 mandate period, there were 21 government decisions regarding relocations. This meant that 900 man-years were moved in a relocation primarily from Stockholm to the rest of the country. Together with other expansion of state activities and services around the country, this created 2,000 jobs.
Even during the previous parliamentary term, Mr. Speaker, the Social Democratic government continued with this active and offensive policy in the area, among other things by relocating 70 state jobs to Härnösand. Among those jobs were the positions at Sida, which this government has now decided to move from Härnösand to Stockholm.
With, among other things, the closure of the headquarters for the Folke Bernadotte Academy in Kramfors and the relocation of jobs at Sida from Härnösand, I think it becomes clear that the current SD government has no will or any ideas regarding policy in this area other than, of course, to centralize as much as possible to Stockholm.
Mr. Speaker! The question remains after I have taken note of the interpellation answer. Is there any ambition? Is there any will or any plan from the SD government? What is the intention when it comes to the relocation and new location of state activities and state jobs?
Does this SD government intend to take any initiative whatsoever to actively work for the relocation of state activities in order to ensure state service and state presence throughout the entire country?
Peter Hedberg (S)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer and note that it is essentially the same answer that the Minister previously gave during a media appearance. This means that it is still just as unclear for me what basis the government has for these decisions.
The Minister of State speaks about the streamlining of aid, but the closure of Sida in Härnösand and the Folke Bernadotte Academy, FBA, in Kramfors follows the government's clear line of dismantling important state services and jobs outside of Stockholm step by step. I note that the Prison and Probation Service, the Police Authority, and the Armed Forces are mentioned, and that is obviously positive. But I do not understand why that in itself should justify the phasing out of other state jobs within other sectors. For example, the State Service Center in Ånge provides both jobs and services of a completely different character, and Sida and FBA conduct efficient operations and additionally contribute to a more diversified labor market in my home county.
Mr. Speaker! It is also important to remember that the government is now not just phasing out a part of an agency, as in the case of Sida in Härnösand. When it comes to the Folke Bernadotte Academy, one chooses to phase out the headquarters itself in Kramfors and centralize it to Stockholm. That is, if anything, a clear statement. When it concerned the State Service Center and the reduction of the budget by 150 million over three years, the government chose to wash its hands and say that it had no responsibility for the direct consequences. But the government has itself chosen to specifically point out the operations in Härnösand and Kramfors and say that these two shall be removed, and then one also has a direct responsibility.
I hear the Minister say that money should not be tied up in premises that are not utilized, and we can agree on that. But why does the Minister not mention that there was another way to go, not least regarding Folke Bernadotteakademin? Several agencies have said that they think Folke Bernadotteakademin could be an actor that gathers field security trainings and performs this service for other agencies. It would streamline the state administration, something the government so clearly wants to do. If one had done so, Folke Bernadotteakademin would have been the natural choice, the premises would have been better utilized, and the government would also have shown that it believes in an operation that exists outside of Stockholm.
I return to the wording regarding the streamlining of aid. Children's hospitals in Gaza and operations in Lviv are mentioned. But in the aftermath of the decisions regarding Sida and FBA, I noted that the Minister noted in local media in my home country could not answer whether it concerns savings of 5, 10, or more million for the state. Has the Minister now found out how many million kronor the state saves on these closures? It is the least one can demand that the government should be able to answer when they have made the decisions themselves.
Linnéa Wickman (S)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister for being here today to debate these important issues, as the interpellations concern both the question of the state's presence outside of Stockholm and the question of Sweden's long-standing work with aid and building sustainable peace, something that we truly see a need for in these days when the rules-based world order is not only being challenged by authoritarian forces but is beginning to be seriously dismantled.
The government now chooses, with reference to cost-efficiency, to shut down both Folke Bernadotteakademins headquarters in Kramfors and Sidas educational activities in Härnösand and move these to Stockholm, for apparently it is automatically inefficient if activities are not located in the capital area.
Mr. Speaker! In May last year, I visited the Folke Bernadotte Academy, FBA, on Sandö together with parliamentary colleagues from Västernorrland. Besides Sandö being a special and scenic place where war, conflict, and misery can feel far away, it is a place that carries an important history when it comes to Sweden's work with training people for international missions and development cooperation in order to support countries affected by conflict.
When I visited FBA, one had been tasked by the government to describe in a situation report the use of the premises for educational activities and how the use could be increased or streamlined. A proposal that was put forward was the one that Peter Hedberg just described, i.e., that the government could task relevant state agencies to use FBA's premises by giving FBA the responsibility to provide security training for personnel from other agencies who are to serve abroad. It would be a way to increase the utilization rate of the premises and use the state's resources more effectively. It is possible to see large coordination gains with the proposal that FBA submitted to the government.
Mr. Speaker! What FBA has not proposed, however, is that the headquarters in Kramfors should be shut down and moved to Östermalm in Stockholm. On the contrary, many reasonable arguments have been put forward for why the operations in Kramfors should instead be developed. This concerns both competence supply and local costs there compared to in Stockholm's city center. It is also noteworthy that prior to the closure of FBA in Kramfors, neither a dialogue has been held with the authority, a public debate held, nor a consequence analysis conducted – at least not one that we or the employees have been allowed to see.
I wonder if Minister Dousa and the government at all considered the proposal from FBA to use the state's resources more smartly for various agencies' security training. It is not entirely logical that the government wants to merge and cut down on agencies in the name of cost-effectiveness but does not act so that agencies should use the training premises and the competence that already exists at FBA.
The government is trying to give the impression that the cuts at Sida in Härnösand and FBA in Kramfors mean that more resources can be allocated to international aid and peace efforts, but that is not true. The truth instead is that the government, with its removal of the one percent goal for aid and with its economic policy, which with precision benefits the country's high-income earners, succeeds in betraying both the world's vulnerable and Västernorrland.
Ardalan Shekarabi (S)
Mr. Speaker! Sweden does not begin in Södermalm and end in Östermalm in Stockholm. Sweden is a large country, and Stockholm would be nothing without Västernorrland and without the strength that exists in the entire society. A minister with responsibility for trade issues should know how dependent the nation of Sweden is on what happens in Västernorrland.
Mr. Speaker! When I was Minister and responsible for state administration, it became clear to me that one of the mistakes made in recent decades was the centralization of public activities to Stockholm. The image is given that a move of activities from Östergötland, Västernorrland, or Skåne to Stockholm is an efficiency gain. But I have until now never seen a report or evaluation showing that a move of activity to Stockholm would be cost-effective – and yet I spent six years of my life on administrative policy. But the norm is that activity becomes efficient if it is moved to Stockholm and inefficient if it remains out in the country.
This norm has governed Swedish public administration since the 90s, and it has damaged our country and the trust in public administration and in the state. This trust is the most important thing we have in our society. Sweden's greatest asset is the high degree of trust between people and between people and public institutions. If we allow this trust to be damaged, which I mean the government does and is responsible for, we lose the finest thing about Sweden.
Mr. Speaker! For eight years, we made decisions to move operations from Stockholm to other parts of the country, not out of charity but because we wanted to take part of all of Sweden's competence and strength. For eight years, we made decisions to start state service offices all over the country because we realized it was a mistake when the state abandoned municipality after municipality and that we needed to raise the Swedish flag again with a state service presence throughout the country. But now the government is making a decision to close these service offices. It is a mistake. It is a mistake, Mr. Speaker.
It is possible that the government thinks it is efficient and good to concentrate activities, but in that case, I would like to see the knowledge base, the evaluation, and the research that shows that centralization in our country since the 90s has been beneficial. I promise, Mr. Speaker, that if I am presented with such a basis, I will spread it in my channels, for I have truly requested it for many years but never received anything.
Mr. Speaker! One makes mistakes sometimes as a minister. One makes mistakes as a government. I can admit that I myself have been involved in and made decisions that I do not think turned out so well. But when one is a minister and bears the responsibility, one must have the courage to admit when things do not turn out well. Two decisions that the minister has been involved in and made – to shut down the operations and to shut down the service centers around our country – are catastrophic decisions.
I humbly urge, without party-political interests, the government to acknowledge these mistakes and to redo and do right.
Statsrådet Benjamin Dousa (M)
Mr. Speaker! We have known for some time that the Social Democrats do not use tax money in a responsible manner. The Social Democrats' own view on tax money differs significantly from the government's. It is fundamentally other people's money that we are responsible for. It is not the politics' money or a secret money tree that Sida, FBA or the government can go and fetch money from.
We need to clean up the aid policy after decades of Social Democratic mismanagement. The government is now carrying out the largest reorganization of Swedish aid policy since the 70s. More money is to go to mine clearance, children's hospitals, and gas turbines in Ukraine and in other places around the world. In a situation where the humanitarian needs are currently enormous, with a war in our neighborhood and a record number of conflicts, the Social Democrats want to take money from these aid projects to finance partially empty premises here in Sweden.
I can tell the Social Democrats that Sida and FBA are not labor market projects, but they are important agencies that work with conducting large parts of Sweden's aid work around the world. FBA contributes to solving and managing conflicts in complex environments. Sida has partially similar projects and is currently contributing in a very tangible way to stabilizing the world and making it marginally better in a very restless global environment.
We know that much of the educational activity within Sida has been shifted to digital tools, and it is fantastic that we can use innovation to educate employees and others. Why then should millions of kronor in tax money be spent on partially empty premises instead of going out into the field – to Ukraine, to Syria, to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to Sudan, and to all other places around the world that truly need the Swedish support?
This government will have control over what tax money is used for and what aid money goes to. We will ensure that as much as possible of our tax funds actually reach the field. The Swedish people expect that the money in the aid budget shall be used in the field, and there, Ukraine is our single most important foreign policy priority. We will always hold tax money firmly.
With this said, we think, just like the Social Democrats, that it is important that there is a state presence throughout the country, but the whole thing must be conducted in an efficient way, where we know that it actually does good and where there are points to having a presence all around the world. Believe me, we make those types of assessments even when it comes to Stockholm.
There is no inherent purpose in things being located in Stockholm, but it would have been significantly more problematic to move approximately 90 percent of FBA's operations from what will become the new headquarters. It is located in direct connection to the Swedish Defence University, which FBA says is important and of great benefit to the operations. Moving the entire operation to Kramfors is not a feasible path.
Peder Björk (S)
Mr. Speaker! The Minister and his colleagues in the government can stand here in the rostrum and in other contexts as much as they want and say that they safeguard state presence and service throughout the country, but it does not help to stand here and say it when they in practical policy and practical action do exactly the opposite.
In area after area, the state service and presence across the entire country is being dismantled. Then, pseudo-arguments are invented to make this possible. One hides behind words like efficiency and safeguarding tax money. But safeguarding tax money, Mr. Speaker, is about ensuring that all citizens in Sweden have a right to state presence and, above all, a local state service, so that it is possible to live, exist, and operate in the entire country. This applies not only to individual citizens but also to companies all over the country, which the SD-government emphasizes in other contexts that it safeguards so very much.
No, Mr. Speaker, this is not about safeguarding tax money or Swedish aid, but this is a systematic and deliberate policy to dismantle the Swedish way of providing state services throughout the entire country. We see it in area after area, and one example is the Folke Bernadotte Academy and Sida in Härnösand.
Another example is that they are now dismantling the local physical service in the form of service offices. They are cutting the number of service offices around the country by 25 percent. This, Mr. Speaker, hits particularly hard those who live in the countryside.
For us Social Democrats, it is obvious that the state should be present throughout the country. That is why Social Democratic governments during previous terms worked hard and systematically to expand services and relocate and re-locate state activities throughout the country.
Mr. Speaker! The SD government has no will or ambition to work with the relocation and new location of state activities throughout the country. In that case, I think it would be much more honest of the government to say that instead of hiding behind other arguments.
Efficiency is being raised. Then I wonder if it is paramount over everything else, as is claimed when it comes to presence and service from state agencies throughout the country, and if the government truly perceives that there is some kind of inverse relationship between state presence and service throughout the country and efficiency. In fact, it is completely wrong, as report after report in the area has shown that efficiency is at least as good after a relocation.
This could explain why the Minister chose not to answer at all one of the three questions I asked in my interpellation, namely whether the SD government intends to take any specific measures to compensate for the lost state jobs in Kramfors and Härnösand, which we are discussing here today.
Peter Hedberg (S)
Mr. Speaker! I would first like to object to the description that we Social Democrats would see the services at Folke Bernadotte Academy in Kramfors and Sida in Härnösand as labor market projects. Sida and FBA have a very long tradition of activity in our county, and we are very proud that we have such qualified services that contribute to our labor market.
Just as Peder Björk did not receive an answer to one of his questions, I did not receive an answer to my question. How much money is saved on this? Nothing came out of the Minister's mouth regarding that in his post.
Instead, he spoke about how the Social Democrats do not use tax revenue effectively. I find that quite interesting, because when I visited FBA's office on Sandö a couple of weeks after the government had made its decision on closure, I was met by craftsmen standing with screwdrivers and completing the last parts of a renovation in these properties for 2.6 million kronor – while at the same time the government made the decision on closure with reference to efficiency. How efficient does the minister think it becomes for the state?
The Minister speaks about saving money, but it is actually about the opposite. The Government has, over the head of the authority, swung the sledgehammer and said: We intend to decide how you shall prioritize your allocated funds.
Based on what the Minister said regarding labor market projects: At FBA on Sandö, people with key competencies for the agency are working. Has the Minister considered that? Is the Minister aware of that?
The Minister speaks about how it is so incredibly good that one can now co-efficient with the Swedish Defence University and the premises that FBA has here in Stockholm. But according to the information I have, there is no room for FBA to be accommodated further at the Swedish Defence University in Stockholm. There is no more space, which leads me, in any case, to the logical conclusion that then one needs to rent new premises in Stockholm.
I know that the Minister is an economist. Therefore, I assume that the Minister should have taken this into consideration. But I do not know, Mr. Speaker, because I still have not received an answer as to which underlying documents have actually formed the basis for these decisions. What facts have been taken into account? What figures have been taken into account? Or has one simply gone with what my colleagues have pointed out earlier – that expediency is always the same as centralizing to Stockholm? That appears to be the case here. In my world, local rents are not cheaper in Stockholm than in Kramfors, especially not when expanded local areas are required.
From the more general picture of service and presence throughout the country, I can state that there is quite a lot in Västernorrland that requires the government's attention. Our region has noted that the Minister for Health and Social Affairs has shown some interest. She has received an invitation to discuss the healthcare crisis. The Minister for Infrastructure has received an invitation to discuss the great needs for infrastructure investments that our county has. And Minister Dousa has received an invitation from Region Västernorrland, from the County Administrative Board, and from the municipalities of Härnösand and Kramfors to discuss the consequences of the decisions that the Minister has been involved in making.
Therefore, my question to the Minister is whether he is willing to visit Västernorrland to discuss these consequences and engage in a dialogue, and whether he, as Ardalan Shekarabi pointed out, is ultimately willing to consider if it might be possible to change this decision.
Linnéa Wickman (S)
Mr. Speaker! In this debate, several of us have pointed out that when it comes to the Folke Bernadotte Academy, there are clear alternatives to the closure that is now being carried out, alternatives that the authority itself has proposed to the government. It becomes very clear that it is not that the government cannot, but rather that it is a matter of the government not wanting to.
Again: I would like to get an answer to the question I asked, which is why the government has not listened to its own agency's proposal on how the premises at Sandö could be used more and used more smartly and how the state's resources could be used more effectively.
Just as my party colleagues have described here in the debate, a clear part of the government's policy is that the state shall actively withdraw. We see it in the closures of state service offices that are underway. In my home county of Gävleborg, it concerns the offices in Bollnäs and in Sandviken.
We also see extensive cuts within aid. When it comes to conflict prevention work, it is a significant change. Sida's appropriation for global peace efforts has been halved. We know that the action plan for the implementation of the agenda for women, peace and security has been thinned out, and we know that the female mediation network for peace has been shut down. At the same time, the number of armed conflicts is at a record high level.
In that situation, I think it is remarkable that the responsible minister gives the impression here in the chamber that it is the Folke Bernadotte Academy on Sandö that bears the blame for this, and not the economic priorities that this government makes when it comes to lowering taxes for the very richest and cutting back significantly within Swedish aid.
Mr. Speaker! There is no one who is against an efficient public administration. But the Minister must actually answer why the government is not listening to its own agency's proposal.
Ardalan Shekarabi (S)
Mr. Speaker! I really hope that the Minister will use his remaining time to take back what he said about labor market measures.
We humans are equipped with reason, with the ability to base our decisions and statements on knowledge and with respect for people. The people who work under the authority of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Västernorrland have enormous competence and experience in the work they perform, significantly more experience than the Minister and I have in this area. I urge the Minister to show respect for those people and show respect for the Swedish public administration.
We do not need to be inspired by Elon Musk and Donald Trump in our view of administration. We live in Sweden, a country with an extremely proud history of good administration, of efficiency in administration, and of trust between people and the state administration.
We must not have a development where ministers call state employees' efforts labor market measures simply because they happen to be outside the city limits of Stockholm. Not all competence in this country is concentrated in central Stockholm. I say that with all respect for Stockholm; there is an enormous amount of competence here. But there are also very many competent people in the state administration all around our country who are making fantastic contributions, and they deserve respect – from us in the Riksdag, from the government, and from the ministers.
I would like to most humbly urge the Minister to withdraw the statement regarding labor market measures and show respect for the people who serve our country and the Swedish state every day in Västernorrland County.
Statsrådet Benjamin Dousa (M)
Mr. Speaker! This debate began with the Social Democrats claiming that I use pseudo-arguments when we debate these types of issues.
I would not say that a children's hospital in Lviv, vaccine injections in the DRC, or children's books in Gaza are some kind of side debate. This is real, to the highest degree, and I encourage everyone to focus on what aid is fundamentally about: having effective authority management where as little as possible goes to fixed costs and as much as possible can go out into the field. It should also be a core Social Democratic issue. One can ask which hospitals the Social Democrats do not want to be involved in financing in order to instead finance empty premises in Kramfors. I think that is the question one should ask.
I do not mean that the employees at FBA and Sida do not perform very important work. They do, not only for the local municipality but for the world at large. Many of them have also done so for tens of years and worked year in and year out to make the world a better place. That is not what I am saying.
I know that Ardalan Shekarabi is not referring to that either, but this becomes a kind of political debate. My point is that the Social Democrats generally use the state administration as labor market projects and not based on what provides the greatest benefit for the Swedish tax money.
Fundamentally, we must also remember that it is the private sector that finances the public sector. When it comes to lower taxes on labor, lower taxes on fuels, regulatory simplifications for the construction sector, and the largest infrastructure budget, the Social Democrats have voted against much of this. They also continue to be opposed, while we know that it is precisely this type of policy that can make the private sector – the companies – also grow in Västernorrland.
The Armed Forces, the Police, and the Prison and Probation Service are growing across the entire country, including in Västernorrland. The Viskan prison in Ånge is to be reopened in 2025. It is important that there is a state presence throughout the country, but that state presence must be a result of it being as efficient as possible. MSB is currently, as we stand here and debate, looking at increasing operations at existing locations. That naturally also includes Kramfors.
For me, children's hospitals in Lviv, vaccine syringes in the DRC, and children's books in Gaza are not side missions. It is my core mission to ensure that as much of the Swedish support as possible can go out into the field and not get stuck in empty premises here at home in Sweden.
Peder Björk (S)
Mr. Speaker! I am truly concerned about how little interest the SD government shows for state service and presence throughout the entire country. This is shown both in the government's actions and in this debate.
Speaking of Ånge, it is good that new prison places are being opened there, but it is also in Ånge that this government is closing one of the state service offices.
This lack of interest and reluctance regarding these issues is also shown by the responsible minister, Civil Minister Erik Slottner, having handed over the questions in my interpellation to the minister who is newest in the government and who in no way has this in his portfolio.
I also note, Mr. Speaker, that the Minister also provides no concrete information as to whether any compensation will be provided for the jobs that are now being lost in Kramfors and Härnösand. And based on the Minister's reasoning, efficiency seems to be paramount above everything else. That makes me concerned.
Relocation and relocation of state agencies contribute to both regional development and efficiency in the long term. State service and presence are important for trust and cohesion in this country and for the possibility to work and live in all of Sweden.
It makes us Social Democrats very convinced that one must have an active policy for state service and presence. Unlike the SD government, we Social Democrats have the will and the ambition.
Peter Hedberg (S)
Mr. Speaker! I note that it was very difficult to get an answer on how much money is saved on these closures in Härnösand and Kramfors. It seems almost impossible to get the Minister to answer that. Instead, he continues to put a lot of important emergency and relief measures against these operations.
We have never called them side projects. What we have turned against is that the Minister and the government have used those types of interventions as arguments to shut down the operations in Kramfors and Härnösand. Now I have heard that it is vaccine needles, it is cots, it is food for those most in need, and it is mine clearance and children's hospitals. It is very important.
I wonder about one thing. The costs for Folke Bernadotteakademins premises in Kramfors amount to approximately 3.9 million kronor annually. FBA's premises here in Stockholm have approximately the same area and cost almost 9 million kronor. As I touched upon in my previous post, this decision inevitably means that the government will need to take responsibility for the fact that FBA needs to expand its premises.
I would like to ask the Minister: How many more vaccine doses and cot beds and how much more food will there be for those most in need when Minister Dousa centralizes the Folke Bernadotte Academy's headquarters to Stockholm? Can the Minister please answer that?
Statsrådet Benjamin Dousa (M)
Mr. Speaker! It is I who am the responsible minister. This lies entirely within my portfolio. It is I who have prepared the matter, and it is I who, together with the government, have also made decisions on exactly these matters.
When I – very many years ago, it has unfortunately become now – joined the Moderate Youth League, it was because I was obsessed with taking responsibility for the taxpayers' money. It is fundamentally not politics' money, the Social Democrats' money, or the Moderates' money. We are placed here to take responsibility for the nursing assistants', bus drivers', and taxi drivers' money – those who every day earn the money in and out.
I know that it is not that commitment, perhaps not even that perspective, that exists in the Social Democrats. It is a feeling that perhaps it is your own money, which you fundamentally are allowed to do exactly what you want with. There is an important ideological difference here between right and left, between the government and the opposition, and between the Moderates and the Social Democrats. The same commitment that I had when I became a member of the Moderate Youth League, I still have today: to safeguard the taxpayers' money and ensure that it is used in as effective a way as possible. In the aid portfolio, this obviously means that more money should go out into the field and less money should be used for fixed costs here at home. Above all, it concerns empty premises.
I have explained this several times. This will result in savings in the millions. These are funds that can now be used for children's hospitals, vaccine syringes, and other important aid work, primarily within Sida's and FBA's operations.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.