Sweden's implementation of Agenda 2030
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
In the debate on the communication regarding Agenda 2030, V emphasizes the importance of following the government's work to achieve the agenda's goals 1. V argues that Sweden should step up and not give up on the objectives, as aid is being cut 1. V believes that a joint political committee, an action plan for agencies, and a feminist analysis are missing to reduce the gap between women and men 1. V advocates for legislation against corporate crime regarding human rights and policies against tax evasion 1. V believes that M has not followed up on its motion after taking office in the government 1.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Håkan Svenneling (V)
Sweden's implementation of Agenda 2030
Mr. Speaker! We are debating the report on Agenda 2030. This, Mr. Speaker, is something as important as a report that the Riksdag decided on when you sat in the Committee on Foreign Affairs, regarding the importance of being able to follow the work that the government is doing regarding Agenda 2030.
The work with Agenda 2030 is very overarching as it concerns both what happens here in Sweden and what happens globally. One could therefore have wished that there were 349 members of parliament registered for this debate instead of just one. But now it is unfortunately as it is, and I must debate Agenda 2030 here myself.
Agenda 2030 is precisely an agenda until 2030. That means we have eight years left before we are to reach the agenda's 17 goals, which are then divided into 169 sub-targets. But the agenda was actually decided already seven years ago, in 2015. We are therefore now in the middle of the period where we should be making enormous progress to reach the agenda's objectives.
There has absolutely been progress in some areas, but at the same time we can see that things are moving backward, especially on a global level. We have had a pandemic that has affected the world on an enormous scale. Russia has started a war against Ukraine in a completely unfounded way in an unforgivable manner in violation of international law. In the wake of both these things, we see inflation increasing, and through that, we get increased food and grocery prices all around the world.
This means that we are now at a point where the world's development is not getting better but is moving backwards. We are at a stage where we must defend the progress that humanity has made.
It is about increased economic inequality. It is about increased class differences that are visible in people's health. It is about equality between women and men that is standing and treading in the same place where it has stood for far too long. And above all, it is about climate and environmental goals that are not being met either here in Sweden or globally.
In this situation, Sweden as a country should step up and do more. We, as the new government, should not give up the objective of 1 percent of GNI in aid. You are cutting the Swedish aid in a way that we have not seen for a very long time.
The work with Agenda 2030 is today not sufficiently good in its management towards state authorities and when it comes to the support for municipalities around the country. The implementation is to take place in many places in Sweden, and it takes a great deal of time if everyone has to need to reinvent the wheel. Here, the state can fulfill an important function by spreading knowledge about Agenda 2030, so that also the smaller municipalities that are not as resource-strong as the large ones also get good conditions to do their part in the implementation of the agenda's goals.
We in Vänsterpartiet have previously pointed out that there should be a joint political committee. We have that for many other tasks. We have it, for example, regarding the Environmental Goals Commission, where the political parties work together on how to achieve the goals. But unfortunately, there has been no such approach from the previous government, and so far we have not seen any from the new government.
There is a national coordinator working, but it is somewhat unclear what the coordinator actually manages to achieve. There is also a lack of an action plan to move from the high ambitions and visions to concretely pointing out what Swedish authorities should do. And perhaps most importantly: there is a lack of a feminist analysis of how we should reduce the gap between women and men both in Sweden and globally. We know that the economic differences remain and are being cemented rather than reduced.
In order to get there, one must have a coherent policy that hangs together. One must have proposals and policies that put a stop to the tax evasion and capital flight that occurs globally all over the world, and this is actually the next item that the Riksdag will debate here in a short while. Even there, important decisions will be lacking regarding doing more than Sweden has done previously. It is a proposal that Kristdemokraterna and Vänsterpartiet have pushed forward together.
We also need legislation to raise the standard of corporate work regarding human rights globally. Today, global companies get away far too easily with dumping human rights and, in the long run, making money from it.
The coherent policy does not really exist today. The policy is too fragmented, and one does not quite manage to address the goal conflicts that exist. The most obvious question in this is the arms exports, which we have discussed many times in this chamber.
Politics is not sufficient, neither in Sweden nor globally. We have far too many political leaders who do not have the ambition to reach the agenda's goals by 2030, but that does not mean we should stand here and sulk. We must nevertheless continue to fight, and that is why it is important that we receive a report accounting for what has been done, so that we can continue to push forward.
In December 2020, this Riksdag decided that the goals in Agenda 2030 shall be fulfilled. We have a parliamentary mandate to achieve the goals in the agenda. It concerns economic, social and ecological goals and, above all, that which the agenda emphasizes: that no one shall be left behind.
The Moderates have submitted a motion in connection with the communication we are considering, but they have not followed up on their motion when they have entered government. This perhaps shows a bit of the ambivalence that the new government feels towards the work with Agenda 2030.
I hope that the new government sharpens up and takes action to actually achieve the agenda's goals and does not try to work against them. But, Mr. Speaker, in two years we will get the answer, because in the announcement that the Riksdag gave the government, it was also said that such a report with two-year intervals shall be placed on the Riksdag's table. I hope that there will be a larger debate then, and above all, I hope that there will be a higher tempo in politics to reach the agenda's goals.
With this, I move for approval of the reservation from Vänsterpartiet and Miljöpartiet, which is based on Vänsterpartiet's motion.
The deliberation was hereby concluded.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.