Election of the National Auditors
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerned the election of a new Auditor General after Helena Lindberg. S proposed unanimously that Christina Gellerbrant Hagberg should be elected to the position from September 16, 2024 1. S argued that the National Audit Office is one of Sweden's most important agencies, contributing to parliamentary accountability, democracy, and the development of state activities 1. S emphasized that the Auditor General holds one of the state's most important offices and requires independence and integrity 1. S pointed out that Christina Gellerbrant Hagberg has solid experience as Director General of Arbetsgivarverket, State Bailiff, and Director General of CSN 1. The Chamber approved the proposal and elected Christina Gellerbrant Hagberg 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.
Ida Karkiainen (S)
Mr. Speaker, members of the Riksdag and listeners! In my capacity as the chairman of the Committee on the Constitution, I hereby wish to present a proposal for a vote to the chamber.
The National Audit Office auditors are elected by the Riksdag for a term of seven years without the possibility of re-election. Helena Lindberg has been an auditor since March 2017, and thus it is time for a new auditor to take office. Before I go into the proposal itself, I want to say a few words about the National Audit Office and auditing in general. I realize that it is not a subject that perhaps everyone gets excited about, but it is an important subject.
Audit contributes to making operations better. Audit asks the critical follow-up questions: Did our decisions really lead to what was intended? Did we set realistic goals? What were the consequences? Are we getting the greatest possible benefit for our tax money? Here, the audit contributes extremely valuable knowledge.
But it is also about the values that we in Sweden want to characterize the public administration, the state administration, and ultimately also democracy: openness, the rule of law, trust, diligence, and integrity. The mere fact that we have an independent audit means that the risks of corruption are reduced. And corruption or undue influence is something that acutely threatens our society and damages trust in the public sphere. Sweden is in no way exempt from this, even though we belong to the countries that have the least corruption in the world.
The Swedish National Audit Office is thus one of Sweden's most important agencies and constitutes a significant part of the oversight power. It contributes to our ability to exercise parliamentary accountability. It also contributes to the development of state activities and democracy both in Sweden and in countries where we have development cooperation. We can feel proud that we have a National Audit Office that participates in strengthening, developing, and building up other countries' national audit offices.
To be a National Auditor thus means that one holds one of the state's most important offices. It should also be said that it is the National Auditor who independently decides what shall be audited, how the audit shall be conducted, and what the conclusions of the audit shall be. Independence and integrity are two words of significance in this context.
Mr. Speaker! Independence and integrity are something that has characterized the leadership of the Swedish National Audit Office during Helena Lindberg's time.
I would like, on behalf of the entire Parliament, to thank Helena Lindberg, who has creditably performed her office as Auditor General since March 2017. She has not only contributed to the development of the agency – she has also contributed to lifting the National Audit Office out of a difficult crisis and restoring confidence in the National Audit Office. She has also carried out a relocation of operations in addition to this.
One thing that Helena Lindberg has contributed to is increasing the Members of Parliament's interest in the National Audit Office's reports. I believe, not least, that it is about the close cooperation that the National Audit Office has developed towards the parliamentary committees, where representatives from the National Audit Office come and talk about the reports before the committees and thereby contribute to increased knowledge among the committee members.
Mr. Speaker! After solid work during the autumn and the beginning of this year, a unanimous Committee on the Constitution at the meeting on May 16 decided to propose that the Riksdag elects Christina Gellerbrant Hagberg as the new Auditor General. We have Christina with us in the gallery today. She is proposed to assume her office on September 16, 2024.
Christina Gellerbrant Hagberg has solid experience behind her. Christina Gellerbrant Hagberg has been the Director General of Arbetsgivarverket since April 2022. Before that, she was the State Bailiff and Director General of CSN.
She has also been at the Swedish Tax Agency, among other things as regional manager for Stockholm, Gävle, and Örebro. In 2022, she became chairperson of the board for Trygghetsstiftelsen and chairperson of the board for Kåpan pensioner, which manages the occupational pension for state employees. She has been a member of the board of Stockholm University since 2023. Christina Gellerbrant Hagberg is a lawyer.
Mr. Speaker! Society is changing, which places demands on the public administration to also change. Both the pandemic and Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine show that change sometimes must occur very quickly. Here, the Swedish National Audit Office contributes crucial knowledge on how we can learn from previous methods of work, governance, and initiatives that can be developed for the needs of the future.
The Swedish National Audit Office has just turned 20 years old. My hope is that together we will safeguard this important institution for many years to come.
The Committee on the Constitution therefore proposes unanimously that the Riksdag shall elect Christina Gellerbrant Hagberg to the National Audit Office.
The following communication had been received from the Committee on the Constitution:
The Committee on the Constitution has reported on the question of the election of a new Auditor General after Helena Lindberg.
The Committee on the Constitution proposes unanimously that, for the period from and including 16 September 2024 until a new election has been held during the seventh year thereafter, the current Director General Christina Gellerbrant Hagberg shall be appointed as Auditor General.
On behalf of the Committee on the Constitution
The Chamber approved the Committee on the Constitution's proposal and thus elected, for the period from September 16, 2024, until a new election is held during the seventh year thereafter, to
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.