Professional transport and taxi

Sten Bergheden (M)

Professional transport and taxi

Madam Speaker! Today we shall debate the report on Professional Transport and Taxi.

We can begin by stating that we have finally changed governments, and already this government and the Tidö parties have started the work of removing illegal commercial traffic and strengthening the competitiveness for the Swedish trucking industry and commercial traffic.

All the previous announcements that we in the opposition pushed forward to the Riksdag for a decision, those announcements that the previous government refused to implement, tried to finish off or hide in some bureaucratic drawer, we are now continuing to work on, and the government will return with proposals and solutions that will then come to the Riksdag for a decision.

I want to mention some of all the issues that we are working on. We want to strengthen the competitiveness of the Swedish trucking industry, ensure that vehicles are clamped until fines and errors are rectified, develop safe rest and parking areas, review fuel costs, lower the reduction obligation, establish a functioning control activity on our roads, grant exemptions for certain vehicle transports, and achieve a principal liability that actually works and is respected.

In the referral, a number of different motions are addressed. Most are answered by stating that the work is already underway in the Government Offices. Therefore, we do not need to give the government new instructions, but can instead await the work and subsequently implement it here in the Swedish Parliament.

I am nevertheless very pleased with the great commitment that exists in the Transport Committee to ensure that professional transport functions and that operations are conducted in a legal manner, where illegal activities are combated with force.

Madam Speaker! The parties in the committee have also initiated work to further strengthen legal professional transport in Sweden. I look forward to several more steps in this joint work, and I believe that more parties can stand behind these proposals. Finally, things are starting to move, but it has been eight lost years with the Social Democrats for the Swedish trucking industry and legal professional transport.

Madam Speaker! The cheating with illegal haulage and transport on our roads must be stopped. The Alliance government put forward a number of proposals to combat this. Unfortunately, the Social Democratic government after 2014 has not implemented these proposals but has instead tried to hide the problems in the nearest filing cabinet.

Sweden needs to have more police and more traffic police who are skilled and trained and have the ability, the power and the support to combat illegal commercial transport. It actually cannot be right that foreign trucking companies that disregard laws and regulations can continue to compete out the legal trucking operations.

Madam Speaker! Sweden needs to ensure that it gets a specialized traffic police officer who has the knowledge and resources to actually manage to remove the illegal competition from our roads. The Social Democrats have had eight years to solve this, but unfortunately, this has not yet been implemented. Now, in opposition, the Social Democrats want a professional traffic inspection to be introduced in the long run. Why, then, has nothing happened during these eight years?

A professional traffic inspection is also not enough to solve the problems that exist on our roads. Here we intend to go significantly further to put a stop to the illegal competition. The police need to have a clear unit for this and a clear mandate to solve the problem with the illegal competition on our roads. Germany has a unit called BAG that works with this. That method of work needs to be studied carefully in the ongoing work to establish a clear professional traffic police in Sweden.

Madam Speaker! We want to tighten the laws regarding impounding. Of course, the truck should be impounded until the fines are paid and the errors are rectified. The Social Democrats apparently think that a temporary impounding of 36 hours is sufficient. We, however, want to impound for real, not just temporarily stop the illegal transport.

The monitoring of transports must be carried out with both GPS and better controls in our border crossings. A much better control is also needed out on our roads and rest areas. Today, foreign trucking companies often settle at the country's rest areas while waiting for transports, which is obviously not acceptable. That this can continue is simply because resources for controls are lacking and the risk of being caught is minimal. This must, of course, be addressed.

Madam Speaker! Instead of building unprofitable high-speed trains, we will invest in increased maintenance of our roads and rest areas. Truck traffic is necessary in Sweden, and it is no coincidence that we have two of the world's largest truck manufacturers in Sweden. If all of Sweden is to live and our companies are to be able to grow and create jobs, it requires functioning roads that are accessible year-round. Therefore, we say no to expensive and unprofitable high-speed trains and yes to functioning roads throughout Sweden.

That the EU and Sweden have clear laws is good, but if there are deficiencies in how the surveillance functions, it doesn't matter how many good laws we have in the country. If laws are to be complied with, the controls on the roads must also function. The police's tasks must be prioritized so that the police are actually used to fight crime. The Social Democratic government obviously thought it was better for the country's police resources to be used to, for example, measure grain size at the country's shooting ranges rather than to monitor illegal transports. This is what we want to change, Madam Speaker. The police's tasks must be purified and concentrated on hunting criminals. Then one cannot spend valuable police resources on controlling the country's shooting ranges.

Legal truck traffic constitutes the lifeblood in Sweden for trade and for the country's companies, while illegal traffic constitutes a lifeblood for the country's crime and criminality. This must be stopped.

Sweden needs a traffic police that has both the resources and the capacity to combat the crimes within the illegal transports. Today, foreign trucking companies can drive into the country with illegal goods such as drugs and smuggled goods, thereafter carry out illegal transports within the country - where they, among other things, use stolen diesel - and then conclude the journey by taking stolen goods out of the country.

This must be stopped with the new government. Laws are good, but ensuring they are followed is even better.

Better cooperation between the authorities is also needed, which truly ensures that criminals can be stopped and also prosecuted. A clear commissioning responsibility that is complied with and followed up is also needed.

Madam Speaker! We also want to strengthen competitiveness with better roads, clearer rules, less bureaucracy, and lower fuel prices. We will return to this in upcoming budgets, because it is not reasonable that Sweden's fuel requirements should be so high that Swedish trucking companies are competed out, while foreign trucking companies can drive on poorer fuel and, moreover, with lower taxes. Sweden must powerfully lower the reduction obligation and thereby increase the competitiveness for legal transport.

The referral deals with many motions, and of course, we Moderates could stand behind many of the "that" clauses and give the government new instructions. The government has, however, already begun work on most of the motion proposals, and therefore we do not need to give the government new instructions. Of course, we will monitor this closely and ensure that the government actually delivers. But since we have a close dialogue with the government and know that the work is already underway, we therefore refrain from requesting approval for the motions and giving new instructions.

Madam Speaker! We four Tidö parties are having a good discussion with the department and the responsible ministers about what needs to be delivered now, and that work will continue until the situation for the country's trucking, taxi business, and professional transport is resolved. Instead of doing as the S-government did, namely putting the announcements in a bureaucratic box and hiding the questions, we intend to put the questions on the table and actually ensure that they are resolved.

Madam Speaker! Sweden now has a new government and four parties that want to ensure that progress is made in these matters. With this, I move for the approval of the committee's proposal in the report and the rejection of the reservations.

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Ulrika Heie (C)

Madam Speaker! Member Bergheden and I have worked together for many years, ever since the time of the alliance government, and I know that the commitment is very great in these issues.

I took the opportunity yesterday to listen to the member's speech on these issues from last year. At that time, there was a list of everything one urged the Social Democratic government to do in the three months it had left. Now, six months have passed with the new Tidö government, as the member calls it. My question must then be about why more concrete propositions have not arrived. Was it because one chose not to agree and negotiate these issues among the Tidö parties at Tidö Castle? Despite everything, investigations have been carried out, which has been highlighted, which have been referred, and where it is said that perhaps only a few adjustments will be made. Why were those adjustments so difficult to make that we still have not seen any specific propositions?

The member mentioned foreign illegal transports, clamping, and ensuring regulatory compliance themselves. In that case, it is a bit strange that the member highlights the Police Authority's important mission. Previously, the government has highlighted the importance of the police reporting back on how it meets inter-agency cooperation and prevents and combats crime on the road, but this has now been removed from the Police Authority's regulatory letter. In that case, I wonder: Are the missions being taken back only to return later? Why can't the work continue to be performed? I therefore have a number of questions: What initiatives have you taken? Why have you removed parts from the police's regulatory letter? In what way will you return in the near future so that it does not have to wait until the next budget and next year?

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Sten Bergheden (M)

Madam Speaker! It is interesting that the member has such great confidence in the government that she believes it can deliver in five months what the previous S-government failed to deliver in eight years. Furthermore, it was a government that the member Ulrika Heie supported in the government negotiations. It is a bit strange to attack the new government and say that it has not delivered when one has oneself sat as a supporting party for eight years and pushed these issues without ensuring that anything happened. It probably falls back a bit on the member herself.

I am completely confident that the new government has taken this fully seriously. Not all announcements were made three months before the election; we have been giving them for many years before the election. I know that the Centerpartiet has also been part of many of those announcements that the old government then failed to deliver on.

We have started the work to resolve these issues. Just as I said, we have a good dialogue with the department, and we have a good dialogue within the Tidö parties about how we are to take action and fix this part.

Madam Speaker! I also hope that the Center Party and Ulrika Heie can support a good deal of the proposals that will be submitted.

Thank you for the trust that we, in four or five months, will fix what has not been delivered in eight years. I believe we need to have another month to ourselves before proposals and ideas start rolling out moving forward.

The second question concerned the police. I agree that it is obvious that the police must account for what they are working on, but when it comes to the traffic police, a rethink must occur. We must ensure that we actually have a traffic police officer who is out on the road, who does not fuss with other things within the police but actually works with traffic issues.

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Ulrika Heie (C)

Madam Speaker! Thank you, Member, for partial answers to the questions I asked! I would, however, like to correct the historical description. It has been a Social Democratic government for eight years, but the Center Party supported the January Agreement during three of those eight years. That should probably be said for the sake of honesty.

My question was not whether I had great confidence or not, but it was based on the member's own assurances in the previous debate that these are things that are actually prepared. There are investigations, and in the report, it is said that one might come back with some small adjustment. Hence my question, because it is not only in the budget that we see that these issues need to be addressed, they need to be presented in sharp propositions to the Riksdag.

The member says that we have to wait for another month. But now the list of proposals is already laid out, and in that case, it is a matter of us having to wait more than a month, perhaps up to half a year. Then my question was: Which of the questions on the member's list with 20 different points to the previous government, and of the large number of questions the member raised in their speech, will come back to the Riksdag in the near future? This concerns questions that I know the member considers important and where it is said that one has a good dialogue with the other Tidö parties. But it is easy to get the impression that there is still a lot of talk and that one is unable to reach an agreement and deliver on this. Another month, that is – but when will the messages come, for example when it concerns clamping or illegal foreign transports? I think that there should probably be some timetable on the government's table that the members from the Riksdag could also have had access to.

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Sten Bergheden (M)

Madam Speaker! Thank you, Ulrika Heie, for the questions! I am fully aware that there is a timetable, and that work is quite gigantic now that we are working with these issues. We had perhaps hoped and believed that it was as the Social Democratic government said, that the different announcements were being prepared, as that was often what emerged in the debate.

The member stated here that they were involved in and supported that government for three years. Obviously, the member did not press for that government to deliver in three years what we now think we should deliver in five months. But of course, we are in a hurry. Parts of that may come when we land in the budget in a month. Other parts actually require the investigations that have not yet been carried out. The Social Democratic government said that things in the announcements were being prepared in the Government Offices, but it turned out that they had not done so.

Of course, we must now ensure that this is done thoroughly and in a way that we consider to be good. Because we have the ambition to solve it entirely and not hide the questions and just try to make it sound like we are doing something – like one is preparing something when it then turns out that one actually hasn't done it.

We are preparing the matter and working on all these issues, exactly as stated in the report, and we will return with both a timetable and other things. I also hope that Member Ulrika Heie and the Center Party will welcome many of the proposals that one might get through with this government, with the Tidö Agreement, which one actually did not get when one sat half-and-half with the Social Democratic government.

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Kadir Kasirga (S)

Madam Speaker! Sten Bergheden referred several times to the Tidö Agreement, but in the Tidö Agreement there is not a single word about infrastructure. There is not a single word about freight transport, fair conditions or collective agreements. Those issues are completely absent.

I oppose Sten Bergheden's historical description. It sounds as if the Social Democrats have done nothing during eight years. We have ensured that the mobility package has been put in place. We have not forgotten that the Moderaterna accused us of protectionism when we pushed the issue of the mobility package. It is very important for the professional drivers here in Sweden, especially for the truck drivers, so that there will be order and clarity. But the Moderaterna questioned us and accused us of protectionism.

What has happened during the 165 days that have passed since the Moderaterna and the other parties took office in the government? They have done certain things. Member Ulrika Heie has also pointed this out. The government has changed the regulatory letter to the Swedish Police Authority, where they had been tasked to report what they are doing to be able to curb the fraud. This task is removed.

Then my question to Sten Bergheden is: How does it help our truck drivers who are active in professional transport when you choose to remove this assignment from the Police Authority?

(Applause)

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Sten Bergheden (M)

Madam Speaker! I will begin with the question regarding the police. It is a bit strange that the member claims that we are removing tasks for the police in the regulatory letter. Yes, we are. And I can reveal to the member that we will remove even more tasks for the police in the future, tasks that you in the Social Democratic government have pushed forward. It is about the police having to check shooting ranges and engaging in license management. The police are currently sitting and checking ordinary hunters and shooters instead of being out on the road hunting criminals. Kadir Kasirga, you can therefore be sure that there will be more missions where we actually lift activities away from the police so that they can truly concentrate on criminal activity.

Since it is actually the case that I did not mention the Tidö Agreement a single time. I did, however, mention the Tidö parties. There is nothing about this in the Tidö Agreement. On the other hand, I said that the Tidö parties are cooperating on these issues now together with the ministry to actually solve this and ensure that we have a majority to implement these improvements and ensure that we get the illegal traffic off our roads.

It is a bit strange that the opposition, after eight years in government, is trying to blame the new government for the fact that nothing has happened since it took office five months ago, when one has actually been sitting on one's hands in the Government Offices for eight years. It might have been more decorous, Madam Speaker, if the member had accounted for why one has not done anything for eight years.

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Kadir Kasirga (S)

Madam Speaker! Now the truth is coming out, that these important issues are being opted out. They are not included in the Tidö Agreement. The Tidö parties cooperate on certain issues. But the rail traffic and infrastructure issues are not included in the Tidö Agreement. One hides away these issues, as the member expressed it when he accused the social democratic government.

When the Social Democrats come forward with a proposal on, for example, occupational inspection, the Sweden Democrats have a similar proposal. Then I wonder why you do not stand behind their proposal if you are coalition parties, and the Sweden Democrats are part of the government base. You should simply approve their motion.

(Applause)

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Sten Bergheden (M)

Madam Speaker! I think this is becoming a bit strange. The Social Democrats sat in power for eight years, and now that they are in opposition, they are presenting a proposal on professional inspection or the equivalent. The member does not have the opportunity to answer this, but it would have been more appropriate if the member had accounted for why the Socialdemokraterna have not presented any kind of direction on this during their eight years in power.

It has actually been required in announcements and in other ways that we should have a clearer police. Now we think this is too little. We see the problems out there, and we see how crime can move in and out of the country. Crime has increased in the country. Illegal transports of weapons, drugs, smuggled goods, and other things come in. This entire area has completely collapsed during the Social Democratic government's time. This is what we want to stop. Then we do not think that a small professional inspection is enough, Madam Speaker, but that we need to have a unit within the police that takes powerful measures in this part and which has a clear mandate, capacity, and full power to carry this out. You are welcome to compare this with a professional inspection, Kadir Kasirga. But we want to ensure that there are police out there who actually catch these people, prosecute them and put them in prison, and who ensure that the impounding of these trucks actually continues until these people have paid fees and fines and corrected their errors. It should not be in the way the Social Democrats wanted, that one stops these people's illegal activities for 36 hours and then lets them drive on.

Madam Speaker! We are working broadly within the Tidö parties to resolve this. And I can inform the member that there are very many questions that are not in the agreement but that we in these four parties are actively working together to solve. You will therefore have more reasons to stand up in the debate in the future.

(Applause)

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TREDJE VICE TALMANNEN

I want to remind the members that we do not address each other with "du" or "dig" in the debates, but that everyone speaks through the Speaker.

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Daniel Helldén (MP)

Madam Speaker! It is interesting to hear the member's speech here, but it is also astonishing. As recently as yesterday, we received the Climate Policy Council's report which shows that this government, as the first government in 20 years, actively ensures that our climate emissions increase.

In the IPCC report that came out ten days ago, it is said that this is a critical situation. And then Member of Parliament Sten Bergheden stands here and advocates for a lowered reduction obligation, lower fuel prices, and so on. But I am, as I said, not surprised.

However, I am a bit surprised that there is no idea of how the system could be changed in a smarter way than just lowering the prices, which increases emissions.

You spoke about the railway, Sten Bergheden. You said nothing about new main lines, but I say it. You do not want to build new main lines. Instead, you want to send the freight onto the roads. We need the heavy traffic on the roads, but we also need to reduce it and make it smarter.

I wonder if it is really the Moderaternas line that we should fill the roads with more heavy traffic and if we should meet that development head-on, that it is where everything lands.

You say that the old government, which we belonged to, has done nothing. But an investigation called Godstransporter på väg was released in 2022 and is currently on the government's desk. There are solutions there to many of the problems you point out. It would be interesting to know if anything will emerge in this area. Several of the problems you point out are solved in that investigation.

I apologize for saying you.

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Sten Bergheden (M)

Madam Speaker! It is true that we say no to high-speed trains. But we say yes to the fact that the sections that are needed in the country to serve our ports should actually be expanded. It is about the expansion of the Västra stambanan and other parts of the main lines that are marked as actually needing to be built, but not with high-speed train standards and not at these costs. We are therefore building railway, but we also see the enormous need for maintenance and expansion of certain road systems. We cannot turn a blind eye to that.

If we want to keep Swedish companies and other things here in the country, so that they can actually conduct trade and transport goods, we must have a road system that works. It is not possible to do as the old government did and constantly cut back on this part or do so little that such large debts are built up regarding maintenance on both railways and roads that one actually jeopardizes accessibility.

So here we are making a reprioritization. We say no to high-speed trains and the connection with the main lines, but on the other hand, yes to increased maintenance of railways and roads.

Regarding the second part, Madam Speaker, that is to say this matter with diesel: Yes, the environment does not get better from the foreign transports that come in and outcompete the Swedes, who have more expensive fuel prices. When they come in, they may bring with them 1,000 liters of their own diesel, which is of significantly poorer quality and lower taxed. They release all of this into the country when they drive around here. Our Swedish trucking companies, which follow a completely different legislation and have a completely different price at the pump, are eventually outcompeted by this. That problem must also be seen by Member Daniel Helldén in this context. This outcompetes the legal and more environmentally friendly transports in Sweden.

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Daniel Helldén (MP)

Madam Speaker! It is clear that it is a problem that foreign freight forwarders or drivers arrive here who drive with diesel that has a much lower price and that they burn it off here. One can hope that they also refuel here, so that they pay a little tax to us and think about the climate.

I would however say that this is a problem we can solve in another way, and in that regard, I think the investigation into freight transport by road is well on its way - if I may put it that way for the member. In the investigation, a distance-based system is proposed where one can simply differentiate the fees. Theoretically, we could lower the diesel prices and raise the fees in the distance-based system and thereby balance this.

What the government is doing - and what I think is most problematic - is however that it withdraws a number of measures that would have made it possible for us to meet the climate goals. It is clearly evident from the current government's budget and from the Climate Policy Council's report that the government is heading in the wrong direction. This is something that the member must be held accountable for simply because he represents the government here - and also stands up for this policy, which I find strange.

I do not think it is responsible at all of a government party to let carbon dioxide continue to be emitted. One ensures that even more carbon dioxide is emitted and has no powerful measures to address it. There are also no smart measures. Sometimes it is stated in the Tidö Agreement parties' document that one should have a smart and developed climate policy, but where is it?

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Sten Bergheden (M)

Madam Speaker! I can begin with the question that I did not have time to answer in my previous contribution, namely how we view the investigation that has been submitted.

There are parts in that investigation - I believe we have clarified this in the report - that can be used in the continued work, but there are also parts that we may not proceed with, where we actually solve things in a different way. We can, therefore, probably use some parts of that investigation when we work further, that can be the answer to that question.

Since it is the case that companies are free to establish themselves in any country. If we have bad roads and high fuel prices here, if we lack proper connections to our ports so that it is not possible to get out goods and other things and if one sees large restructurings, recession and other things - yes, then companies naturally look at whether they should stay in Sweden. It may be very environmentally friendly companies that are in Sweden and that produce products that are very environmentally friendly, but we risk that they move abroad and end up in a different legislation than the one we have in Sweden.

We want to keep the companies in Sweden. We want them to be able to continue working here. In that case, the requirement is often that they can have good connections to their companies, Madam Speaker, and therefore railway alone is not enough. Just as I said, trucks are one of the necessities for it to actually work in Sweden. One only has to look at the map; everyone understands that.

Madam Speaker! I also want to bring up the hope Daniel Helldén has that the foreign drivers would actually refuel with our expensive fuel when they can take their own, cheaper fuel – which in this situation is also of lower quality. It is perhaps a bit too optimistic, because that is not how their business idea looks.

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Ulrika Heie (C)

Madam Speaker! We are debating professional transport and taxi today. Why are we debating just those questions? Yes, we do so because the parties have submitted motions on them. This is a motion report, so it is not based on any proposal for new legislation.

There is a very exciting report where one can read a lot about what is happening in this area. The entire debate also highlights the different parts, and I would like to say that we actually show that there is a broad consensus in the committee regarding much of the problems that professional transport faces. It is about promoting the possibility of sustainable transport but obviously also about ensuring that rules are complied with and that controls function in a satisfactory way.

Madam Speaker! Infrastructure, mobility and skills supply are incredibly important parts for the whole of Sweden, alongside the climate transition commitment that we all must lift in all different contexts. It is about the possibility of transporting both people and goods not only across our entire country but also outside our borders.

In the report, a number of central issues are addressed, but one cannot say that it is comprehensive in the area. If it were, a great deal would be missing.

Madam Speaker! There must be order and tidiness on the roads. The Centre Party considers it important that professional transport on our Swedish roads respects and works with the values that are expressed, among other things, within Fair Transport 2.0, which Sveriges Åkeriföretag has highlighted in various ways. When one goes in and looks at Fair Transport 2.0, one sees all the Swedish companies that have joined this and that values linked to traffic safety, climate work, and fair working conditions are highlighted. It is a good basis to start from.

In an unhealthy competitive situation with dumped prices in a highly competitive market, there is otherwise a risk that both buyers and sellers of transport will compromise on safety, environmental considerations, and social responsibility. But both buyers and sellers of transport services must take responsibility for a safe, clean, and long-term sustainable transport industry. Knowledge is required to set the right requirements and see what distinguishes sustainable transport, and clear and realistic goals and routines are needed for both requirements and contractual terms as well as follow-up to ensure the fulfillment of the goals one wants to achieve.

Everyone in the committee is very familiar with cabotage transport and the major issues associated with them. There are rule systems that have been developed to increase efficiency in the transport system. The police have been given increased powers and tools to stop trucks and drivers - albeit insufficient, as has emerged in the debate.

Unfortunately, we can see in a RUT report that is only a couple of years old – it is the Riksdag's investigation service that has produced it – that our authorities are not managing to fulfill their obligations. There, one has to reflect on what the mandate looks like and what form of cooperation we can expect so that it makes a difference and so that it is done in a better way.

Centerpartiet has long called for safer commercial traffic. Therefore, we welcomed that the previous government appointed the investigation that would produce proposals for more efficient controls of commercial traffic and a unified organizational form for the control activities. It has also been mentioned in the debate by representatives of both the current and the previous government.

It is important that the current government promptly implements the parts that are seen as important among the measures the investigator proposed. The investigation was out for consultation until September 2021, and I can understand that there is some criticism that proposals have not been delivered since then. But the government parties' representatives have already come forward and said that they intend to return to this issue - perhaps with some adjustments - and we look forward to hearing the timeline that they will work according to.

I have already had an exchange of remarks with Sten Bergheden. However, the Minister's party, Kristdemokraterna, and Magnus Oscarsson also have an important role in answering what is happening and what timeline we can expect when it comes to seeing results.

Godstransporter på väg were mentioned in the previous exchange. The referral period was until October 1, 2022. I understand that not everything can happen in a few months, but we are now approaching half a year, which will then become a year. I hope that we do not need to stand here next year and wonder where this bill has gone.

The EU's mobility package has been important because it addresses the European Union and because transport is cross-border in various ways. We need to work to ensure there are fair conditions throughout Europe. When it comes to legislation, it is about making drivers liable to register when they have crossed national borders and so on, and this should be done as soon as possible. There will also be smarter tachographs that make this more automatic. It will be important to be able to follow up on in what way the legislation leads to increased compliance.

When the legislation was introduced, one could see behavioral changes and a desired effect of the legislation, if I have understood the whole thing correctly. But after a little over half a year, one can now see that it is reverting. It is believed that this is due to the fact that compliance with the rules is not being monitored.

It will therefore be incredibly important that the government parties return and do not just do as they did previously and put a pause on the police's work with the assignment in the regulatory letter. It is said that a new unit will be introduced, but until that new unit is in place, it would be appropriate if the work continued to be carried out strongly and if there was clarity from the political side. The regulatory letter is, after all, the way one has to steer their agencies.

There are a number of challenges for our trucking companies to have good competitiveness. One has previously touched upon fuel, and then one easily speaks about the reduction obligation. I would, however, also like to mention the problems that have emerged linked to biogas and the judgment that makes biogas so much more expensive. I truly hope that the government representatives take this seriously and get back to the trucking owners who have now invested in biogas trucks as soon as possible. They are located, for example, in Skaraborg and in Småland - now I am looking out into the chamber at the members who are representatives for different parts of Sweden!

It is important that everyone gets the opportunity to refuel in a climate-smart way by making biogas more cost-effective and ensuring that this can actually be solved. Therefore, we in the Center Party have raised this issue in several different committees. I do, however, truly see the need for the government to act regarding how it can be made more accessible.

There is another agency that must also be reviewed, and I hope that the government parties really do their part here. It is about Tullverket and the queues.

Sweden has, for example, the EU's external border against Norway. I believe many are contacted and know that the traffic situation at Svinesund is completely unsustainable, with kilometer after kilometer of stationary vehicles that do not have the possibility to work in a transport-efficient manner. It is even said from the customs authority's side that they are sorry that they have had to cancel the digitalization project. They also say that it would go a little faster if they just got one more printer. It is not quite worthy of Sweden 2023 that the authorities are not given the right conditions.

Madam Speaker! There were a number of different points that I wanted to highlight. I also move for approval of the Centerpartiet's reservation 4 regarding the regulation and control of the farming industry.

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Magnus Oscarsson (KD)

Madam Speaker! Today we are debating the Committee on Transport's report on Professional Transport and Taxi. I would like to begin by moving for the approval of the committee's proposal.

The transport industry is large in Sweden. We have approximately 10,000 trucking companies with about 225,000 employees. The turnover is approximately 160 billion kronor, so the trucking industry is very important for our country.

What do the roads, which mean so much for professional transport, look like around Sweden? We have many good roads that maintain a high standard, Madam Speaker, but unfortunately, very many of the country's roads are in really poor condition. Statistics that were recently presented show that the standard of the country's roads is far too low and that the investments in road maintenance that the previous government made were not large enough even to ensure today's low level. It turns out that more than one in ten state roads is in very poor condition. Large investments will be required so that the safety and efficiency on our roads do not become even worse.

That we have a road network of good standard enables safe and fast journeys. It is the foundation for keeping city and country together. That goods and people arrive is absolutely crucial for society's development. Unfortunately, the standard is far too low, and the investments in the state road network have been insufficient for far too long. The growth and development in Sweden depend on good accessibility so that goods can be transported in a competitive way.

Different calculations that have been made show that the maintenance debts on the country's roads are heading towards 50 billion kronor by 2030. There are many kilometers of roads that should have been repaired and received maintenance. Unfortunately, the previous government did not manage to do it, or it was not prioritized.

Madam Speaker! I am pleased that we now have a government that wants to take action to improve the country's roads. Our new government has understood this: Without drivable roads throughout the country, the talk of all of Sweden living will remain just words. Therefore, the new government is allocating 1 billion kronor to, among other things, pavement maintenance, bridge repairs, line marking, and wildlife fencing. This is only the beginning. This government is shifting gears and prioritizing. The roads must become better and safer if all of Sweden is to function.

Madam Speaker! We need to invest in the roads and prioritize them, but we also need to invest in our professional drivers. The right conditions must prevail to promote Swedish professional transport. We need to simplify the regulatory framework, ensure the competitiveness of Swedish trucking companies against foreign trucking companies, and tighten the punitive sanctions against environmental destruction from foreign trucks. Punitive sanctions against environmental destruction within the trucking industry need to be reviewed in order to create equal conditions for domestic and foreign trucking companies. One possibility could be that drivers are fined and clamped on the spot even when they violate environmental rules, speed rules, or working rules.

We must give the police better tools to combat organized crime, which is prevalent on our roads. We need to investigate the requirement for house searches during cargo inspections.

Madam Speaker! Clamping was introduced by the Alliance government in 2014. It means that the police can lock the wheels of a vehicle for 24 hours if its owner has not paid fees or fines. However, it has turned out that this is too few hours – it does not deter the dishonest transport companies. A better way would be to clamp vehicles until fines or fees are paid, i.e., for an unlimited period. Such a tightening should be reviewed, we believe.

It should be possible to be safe as a truck driver - even at night. Trafikverket should therefore be tasked with providing protected enclosed zones and secure parking areas for trucks overnight. The operation of these can be outsourced.

Madam Speaker! There is a shortage of trained professional drivers. One difficulty is that it is not possible to obtain truck and bus licenses with student loans. We believe that this should be changed. Driver's license loans from CSN should also be possible for professional training.

Madam Speaker! A very important issue is the high fuel costs. This is a major burden for both the trucking industry and the taxi industry. The reduction obligation will be lowered and thus also the fuel costs. It is a very important issue for strengthening competitiveness.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Kadir Kasirga (S)

Madam Speaker! Today we are considering the Committee on Transport's report number 6 on professional transport and the taxi industry.

When the Social Democratic-led government took office in 2014, it was the Wild West on the roads. Foreign companies were exploited and worked under slave-like conditions with lousy wages and inhumane working conditions. For Swedish truck drivers, the unfair competition meant pressure towards worsened wages and conditions.

That it looked like this was due to the fact that a neoliberal over-reliance on deregulation and a free market without requirements for social conditions had prevailed during the Moderate government 2006-2014.

Madam Speaker! Step by step, reform by reform, we saw the Social Democrats ensure the start of the process to take back control over the professional traffic, for safe conditions and for order and tidiness.

We introduced the highest sanction fee within the EU for foreign companies that cheated and carried out illegal transports in Sweden. The sanction fee was set at 60,000 kronor. We also introduced a sanction fee so that unserious companies that cheated would pay directly on site.

We expanded the police's ability to impound vehicles from companies that cheated the regulations. The impoundment could last for up to 36 hours.

We allocated earmarked resources to strengthen the police's control activities on the road. Police road checks have therefore increased, as stated in the report, by nearly 50 percent and reports of illegal domestic transport, cabotage, by nearly 500 percent.

We tightened the requirements on the transport buyers and introduced the principal's liability so that those who purchase illegal transports where drivers risk being exploited can be sentenced to imprisonment for up to one year.

We also introduced a new law with requirements that foreign drivers must be reported as posted workers from the first day they begin work in Sweden. It was crucial so that Swedish trade unions could demand Swedish wages and conditions for everyone who drives on the roads in Sweden.

Madam Speaker! Measures still need to be taken to get order and clarity on the roads. Therefore, we Social Democrats propose in reservation 1 that, in the long term, a professional transport inspection should be established with the responsibility to increase inspections within professional transport and thereby make it more difficult for unscrupulous companies to cheat and operate within the industry.

In reservation 19 we emphasize the importance of implementing the mobility package so that the labor market parties, based on the new posting rules, shall be able to conclude collective agreements with foreign transport companies. This would benefit both Swedish drivers and drivers from other countries.

Madam Speaker! For us Social Democrats, it is crucial that the parties and actors in the labor market are given real opportunities to set requirements for Swedish wages and conditions for everyone who operates professional transport in Sweden. Therefore, I move for the approval of reservation 1 and reservation 19 from the Social Democrats.

It has now been 165 days since the right-conservative government took office. This government has started with a bang by stopping the new main lines for the trains. They have stopped the decommissioning of Bromma Airport, which is also no longer profitable. Furthermore, they have scrapped the electric car bonus, which has contributed to a decrease in demand for electric cars. The latter also directly counteracts the necessary transition of the transport sector.

In the Tidö Agreement, which has been entered into between Sverigedemokraterna, Moderaterna, Kristdemokraterna and Liberalerna and which is the basis for this government, one does not find words such as infrastructure, professional transport, collective agreements or decent and fair conditions. It is remarkable.

Madam Speaker! Alarming signals are also coming from the trucking industry. Statistics from the credit reporting company UC show that bankruptcies within the industry during the first two months of this year increased by 76 percent compared to the same period last year. Rising prices, higher interest rates, and increased inflation mean that many transport companies are preparing for tougher times.

In times of crisis, the state - the government - must step forward and use the financial tools by making investments in, for example, housing construction, infrastructure and education. Unfortunately, this government has until now done the opposite and shown itself incapable of presenting reforms to stimulate the economy.

While the Swedish people are still waiting for action, this government has thrown nearly 7 billion kronor into the sea with its comical 14 öre reduction in the price of petrol and diesel. Furthermore, the government has lowered the tax by 13 billion kronor for the richest in Sweden.

Madam Speaker! In my meetings with industry actors, I often hear about the challenge of skills supply. There is a shortage of professional drivers, such as bus drivers, taxi drivers, and truck drivers. The transport industry itself assesses that it will need approximately 50,000 new drivers over the next ten years.

In times of recession, it is important to invest in education so that more people can take the jobs that emerge when the economy turns. But unfortunately, this government chooses instead to cut vocational training for adults by just over 1 billion kronor. In the situation that Sweden is in today, with recession and a major skills shortage, it is devastating not to invest in education for adults. In particular, one should know that the need exists and will continue to exist.

Madam Speaker! In addition to the professional transport and the agricultural industry, this report also addresses the taxi industry. The Social Democrats have previously tightened the controls and requirements on the taxi industry to secure the serious actors operating within the industry. For us, it has been important that healthy competition prevails. If one wants to operate a taxi business in Sweden, one must also follow the Swedish laws that govern the business.

Madam Speaker! We Social Democrats have implemented a number of reforms in this area, but we are not satisfied yet. In order for us to get decent conditions on the roads and within professional transport, the controls must continue to increase.

We Social Democrats will continue to fight to ensure fair conditions and order on our roads. It is about basic respect for Sweden's professional drivers.

(Applause)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Thomas Morell (SD)

Madam Speaker! I am the first to sign on to fair conditions for drivers and transport companies in Sweden. Since I entered the Riksdag in 2018, I have had numerous debates in these speaker's chairs so that we can achieve fair conditions. I have personally worked out in the field with the traffic police and conducted checks, and I largely follow what happens with my former colleagues on a daily basis. The development we see out on the roads is concerning.

It was a bit interesting to listen to the member's speech. He praised the Social Democrats and the previous government for the mobility package. That is very good; it is just that it was a Sverigedemokrat who submitted the proposal from the very beginning down in the EU Parliament. Then it has been worked on further. The former, now deceased MEP Jens Nilsson was one of those who were involved in working on this. A correct description of history is to be preferred.

Then it concerned the extra resources that the traffic police received. It was 100 million kronor. Of the 100 million that the police were allocated for cabotage controls, they have only been able to account for 2.6 million. That is a certain difference. The rest of the money disappeared into the system.

The responsibility of the ordering party was tightened, according to the previous government. It did not hold up in a legal review. We need to review that, so that it becomes better and significantly sharper. It is not enough with stricter laws if one does not simultaneously provide the regulatory authorities with resources. There, the previous government held back firmly. It went rather in the opposite direction.

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Kadir Kasirga (S)

Madam Speaker! I would like to thank Member Thomas Morell for his commitment to these issues. It truly pleases me that he, here in the speaker's chair, says that he is one of the first who is prepared to sign for fair conditions, for example, collective agreements.

This is important. We Social Democrats have always pushed that our professional drivers should have fair conditions on Sweden's roads. It has also been important for us that even foreign drivers who drive on the Swedish roads should have fair conditions. Therefore, the mobility package is very important. Now it is in place. Now it is up to the Tidö parties - the party of MP Thomas Morell is part of the government base - to ensure that the proposals that exist and the mobility package are implemented in full.

When it comes to the resources for the police, we have, I assure you, ensured that there are 400 more within the traffic police out on the roads.

I look forward to and will, together with my colleagues in the committee, follow what the Sweden Democrats will achieve together with the other Tidö parties regarding these issues.

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Thomas Morell (SD)

Madam Speaker! I thank the member for the answer.

During the three years ahead of us, I will push for this until we have reached the goal of getting decent conditions on the roads. I can guarantee that. I will not let it just pass by.

It must be possible to run transport companies in Sweden. Whether it is a foreign or a Swedish haulage company does not matter. They must be able to operate in a functioning market, and those employed at the haulage companies must, of course, have contractually agreed wages and contractually agreed conditions, so that they can live on the compensation they receive. This also presupposes that there is control out on the roads and that those who commit crimes are prosecuted.

There is, in fact, another dimension to it. The criminal networks have embedded themselves in the logistics system and are operating illegally in Sweden. This was stated by the county police in Västra Götaland as far back as eleven years ago. They create economic resources to then invest in other crimes, which we can read about in the newspapers pretty much every day. It concerns shootings, explosions, and everything else of that sort.

We must choke off the economic flow to the criminal networks. Their activities are also out on the roads. I had this debate with Tomas Eneroth several times. But nothing happened. We must have a control activity that picks up the actors who have no business being out there. We must get rid of those who ensure that the criminal networks' economic resources are strengthened. If we do not do that, we will not get to the criminals.

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Kadir Kasirga (S)

Madam Speaker! I cannot agree when the member claims that the previous government has done nothing. I have listed a number of reforms that the Social Democratic government implemented. These concern the sanction fees, the cabotage rules, and the mobility package. The tightened laws have also been an important tool in combating organized welfare crime.

I agree with Thomas Morell that criminal organizations should not drain our welfare and dump drivers' conditions so that they cannot support themselves. On that point, we are in agreement.

We therefore propose that the controls should be expanded and that the professional traffic inspection should be increased. I know that you have similar proposals. You propose that it should be organized under the Police Authority.

The committee will not be able to answer this. But this is a bit strange; the Sweden Democrats form the basis of the government and are the largest party in the government basis. Still, the Sweden Democrats' motion is rejected by the coalition parties in this chamber. It is remarkable.

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Sten Bergheden (M)

Madam Speaker! My question to the member concerns the fact that professional transport—taxis, trucks, and all those parts—is dependent on functioning roads. We also heard the member speak about how it is important to have functioning roads. It becomes a bit strange, because during your government's period, you cut so drastically on the maintenance of roads but also of railways and have caused an enormously large maintenance debt. In addition to that, you take an additional 33 billion from the maintenance of roads and railways and put it towards a high-speed train.

Madam Speaker! Does the member believe that our roads are so good today that one can remove even more maintenance funds to add an unprofitable high-speed train?

Madam Speaker! The second question concerns the fact that the member spoke about tax cuts. But the fact is that we lowered the tax by 7 billion. If I understand it correctly, the member believes that the farming industry, the countryside, and everyone else can pay an additional 7 billion in taxes and that it does not matter.

Regardless of whether the member speaks of 1 krona, 20 öre, or whatever it ends up being, in real money it is about how much we lower the taxes by and how much of their money we let people in the countryside and in the farming sector keep. Does the member believe that the fuel taxes in Sweden need to be raised further?

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TREDJE VICE TALMANNEN

We remind [you] of what the report is about.

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Kadir Kasirga (S)

Madam Speaker! Thank you for the questions, Sten Bergheden! These are important questions.

I can start with the 7 billion. The member of Parliament pits the countryside against the big city and wonders if it was right or wrong. I do not believe that those who live in the countryside cheered over the reduction of fuel prices by 10 or 14 öre. Those who benefited from that reduction were the city dwellers. That is a fact. It simply went wrong. Sometimes it is important to acknowledge one's mistakes and be self-critical.

The 7 billion would be needed now, when we are in this recession. And the 13 billion in reduced tax would be needed by the Swedish households now when we are in this recession.

But I hear that the Moderates, of course, have a different priority. It is regrettable that one does not see the great challenges that exist today in our society, particularly regarding the private finances of Swedish households. They prioritized lowering the fuel price by 10-14 öre, which cost the taxpayers 7 billion kronor.

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TREDJE VICE TALMANNEN

Before the final exchange of remarks, I would like to remind everyone that this is a motion report concerning professional transport and taxi.

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Sten Bergheden (M)

Madam Speaker! That is the case with professional transport that it depends on both fuel and roads to function. I want to inform the members that 1 krona in tax reduction on diesel corresponds to approximately 60,000 kronor for a truck. In that situation, to have higher taxes while simultaneously having competing professional transport from abroad, which has lower taxes and poorer diesel, is not a good development for Sweden. It is obvious that one will be outcompeted in the long run, and this should be known to everyone when it comes to competitiveness.

I would also like to point out that the Moderates have previously proposed that clamping should apply for 24 hours. The Social Democrats said during the 2014 election campaign that they would clamp for real, and extended the clamping time to 36 hours. We now want them to really clamp for real, that is, that the vehicle is clamped until the fine is paid or the defect is rectified, so that it is not possible to escape before then. My question is whether the member thinks that 36 hours is sufficient to curb these crimes, or if the member will support our proposal to actually extend this and ensure that they clamp for real?

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Kadir Kasirga (S)

Madam Speaker! The answer is that it is a legislative issue, and it must of course be reconsidered. Already in the current law, there is a possibility not to unlock a clamp if it is judged that the vehicle is a danger in traffic. There is therefore already room in the law.

My answer to the question is that we Social Democrats must see the proposal and also examine it before we can give a clear statement. But I can say that for us it is very important, which I also took up in my speech, that there is order and clarity on Swedish roads and fair conditions for all professional drivers, regardless of whether they are Swedish or foreign. We will, of course, look at and act based on the proposals regarding what is needed.

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Daniel Helldén (MP)

Madam Speaker! Professional transport and taxi are a central and important part of the transport sector. Professional transport on the road is needed. Taxi is needed. The majority parties want to shift transport from rail to road, which is problematic.

We have previously in this chamber heard the Minister for Infrastructure talk about the same thing – that there should be more transport on the roads. Railway maintenance funds have been removed and allocated to the roads. The roads should be maintained so that commercial traffic and, for that matter, also taxis can get through in a good way, but one must also take responsibility for where the transports are driven and how this is steered.

Ten days ago, the IPCC's synthesis report was released, where they explain the situation for the climate and state that in order to meet the 1.5-degree limit by 2030, enormous reductions in climate emissions must be made. They correspond to the reductions during the pandemic, but every year for seven years forward. In this context, professional transport is an important part to look at.

In connection with the presentation of the IPCC report, the lead author regarding climate adaptation measures said that if the 1.5-degree goal is not met, there will be irreversible damage to the ecosystem. This applies even if it were the case that, further ahead, one ensures that heavy transport emits less carbon dioxide. One could then already have reached the point where it no longer helps and one can never go back.

Yesterday, the Climate Policy Council's report was released. It states that for the first time in 20 years, a government's actions have caused emissions to increase. Emissions have gone up and down over the last 20 years, but here it is actual measures that have had a direct impact. It concerns primarily the transport sector, where this traffic exists.

The Chairman of the Climate Policy Council says that the Swedish government must now accelerate to reduce emissions - and that this applies to all governments in the world. We have less time, and it is important not to increase emissions in the near term. But it is precisely that - increasing emissions in the near term - that the government is working to do.

The Climate Policy Council is currently telling the government and the government's coalition partner SD "tighten up." I just quoted from a newspaper. At the same time, voices are being raised about removing the emission targets. You heard earlier how MP Sten Bergheden spoke about allocating resources to roads instead of the railway, and thereby having more freight on the road, which goes completely against all goals and the work that is needed. There is also talk about lowering the reduction obligation and the fuel tax for heavy vehicles, which will increase emissions in the short term and goes against everything that is said in this area.

One can say that the report on professional transport and taxi that we are handling today does not focus on climate and environmental issues to any significant extent. This is partly because, from the Miljöparti's side, we have not raised so many motions in this area – actually no motions. But climate and environmental issues and professional transport are connected, not least when it comes to how one solves the issue.

The major measure and the interesting matter that the government hopefully will proceed with is the investigation that was initiated under the previous government and which concerns freight transport by road. It is an investigation into a new environmental management system. That report has the fantastic ability to address much of what is in the Committee on Transport's report today. It is now on the government's table, and there one can see the interesting proposal to move to a distance-based tax system for commercial transport.

A distance-based tax system allows for differentiation in a completely different way than today. Today, there is a taxation on the fuels, the vehicles, and those who drive. But with a distance-based system, this investigation points out that one can reach the climate goals by climate-differentiating the tax and achieve an environment-steering effect by differentiating the tax depending on which Euro classes the vehicles have. It is also possible to steer it so that the distance-based tax becomes higher if one drives in metropolitan areas where the environmental effects are much greater than if one drives in the countryside. Nitrogen oxide emissions and particles do not have the same effect if one drives in a forest county, for example.

We will address the control of regulatory compliance for commercial transport through the reform. There has been talk about the cabotage system here in the speaker's chair. According to the system, one is not allowed to be a carrier for commercial transport in one country and then drive a lot in another country; instead, one may drive one transport there and then three trips within the country. Then one must leave the country, so that one does not conduct business in the wrong country.

This is tricky to access. Much has been said here about the fact that the police must receive more resources to hunt crime within the professional transport sector. With the distance-based tax system for heavy traffic, this can also be monitored in an effective way, and thus we address much of what is proposed in several of the motions being treated in the Riksdag today.

It is an exciting investigation. It also proposes a differentiation of the tax system with lower taxes for sparsely populated areas with long-distance transport. Through the investigation, we also get a distribution policy effect and address the difference between city and country. It is proposed, among other things, that Norrbotten, Jämtland, Västerbotten and a long row of other counties shall receive a different tax rate.

We can achieve the climate goals, the environmental goals and the transport policy goals, and we can reduce the transports and achieve better coordination, increased fill rate, route optimization and transport efficiency.

We will have to see what the government does. The investigation is on the government's desk. We have seen that a large number of reforms have been torn up. We have, for example, the distance-based travel deduction, which was hammered out and ready to go through and which concerned passenger transport. It was torn up. The question is whether the investigation is too good for this government so that they put that in the filing cabinet as well. I am afraid of that, but otherwise we can solve many of the problems that exist.

Before I finish, I want to say a few words about the taxi business. The industry was deregulated in 1990, which has created a number of problems that have been attempted to be addressed. It has not gone very well. I myself, as responsible for traffic in the capital, have tried to solve the problems, but it has not been easy.

In this context, I can be a bit self-critical and say that I should have submitted a motion regarding it, but I simply haven't had the time. We should have municipal traffic monitors who can oversee the taxi operations so that we can get it in order. It is too messy regarding both how one drives and where one parks. As a consumer, it is also completely hopeless to try to understand which taxi company it is when one takes a car on the street. It might not be an issue in smaller towns, but in Stockholm, it is a problem that needs to be addressed. I will return to these issues.

Finally, there is a motion proposing that taxis should be allowed to drive in the lanes for scheduled transport, that is, bus traffic. This is rejected by the committee, which is entirely correct. Today, the municipalities can indeed allow taxis into the bus lanes, which is done in many cities, in certain lanes. We know that the conditions are different, so taxis should not be allowed generally in bus lanes. Otherwise, we would have major problems in the cities that have a well-developed bus transport that more closely resembles a type of BRT transport that runs almost like a tramway.

With these words, I thank you for today.

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TREDJE VICE TALMANNEN

There was no motion, but I note that much of the contribution concerned matters other than the report. I hope that the exchange of remarks that has been requested will not concern matters that are not addressed in the report on hire cars and taxis.

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Helena Gellerman (L)

Madam Speaker! My reply concerns freight transport. I reacted when Member Daniel Helldén accused the government of shifting freight handling from rail to road. The Liberals have worked hard so that we can achieve better shifting from road to rail, and this is also supported by the trucking companies, together with the train companies. One of the reasons is that there is a major driver shortage and that a better working environment is desired for the drivers on longer distances.

I was therefore a bit surprised when the member accused the government of pushing for a shift from rail to road. I have never heard the Green Party pushing for us to get four tracks on the Göteborg-Alingsås stretch. It is perhaps the most important stretch for us to facilitate freight handling and a shift from road to rail, which is exactly what the transport companies want.

The Port of Gothenburg will be able to receive 80 percent more cargo in 2035, but where is it going to go? In the current situation, it is road traffic, i.e., trucks, that can handle it. Today, there is no decision that Göteborg-Alingsås shall receive two additional tracks. Therefore, I ask myself why Miljöpartiet did not push for Göteborg-Alingsås to be included in the national plan when they were in government.

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Daniel Helldén (MP)

Madam Speaker! When it comes to the question of freight by road versus rail, the Minister for Infrastructure has several times spoken about that we should have more transport by road, and he has explicitly spoken about freight transport. It is a part of this, and we have debated it before. We did, however, speak mostly about cars, which the Minister for Infrastructure thinks should increase in number.

Within the EU, there are clear and distinct messages and requirements for the member states that long-distance transport should not be on the road but should be shifted over to rail. In that regard, the Port of Gothenburg is an absolutely excellent opportunity. Another is to take the cargo by rail via Denmark from the continent, down to the continent or up through Sweden.

The current government has overturned the decision on new main lines, but we know that with the transport volumes that are needed, new main lines will be required for it to work. When it comes to freight traffic, this is absolutely crucial for us to meet part of the climate goals and for us to have a functioning society.

When it comes to freight by road versus rail and Alingsås-Göteborg, I think that one should build out there. We will see if the government makes that decision. It would be excellent, but I think that what is absolutely most central are new main lines that ensure we do not get more freight by road.

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Helena Gellerman (L)

Madam Speaker! I note that after the long speech I did not receive an answer to my question, namely why the Green Party, which has sat in government for seven of eight years with the Social Democrats, has not pushed the issue that we should get two new tracks between Göteborg and Alingsås. It is the single largest, in principle in all of Sweden, that causes us to avoid having incredible amounts of freight on the road instead of on the railway.

Green Cargo and the Port of Gothenburg point to that railway section. I do not understand how one is to manage an increase of 80 percent by 2035. How is it possible to get through Gothenburg via the Tingstad Tunnel and Marieholmsleden with 80 percent more freight? It does not work.

After interpellation after interpellation, and also in this debate, the Green Party claims to stand for us shifting freight from road to rail. I do not understand why the Green Party has not pushed this issue. High-speed trains might perhaps mean that some single extra train set could run per day. With this solution, we could achieve a substantial shift from road to rail, but that is not what the Green Party has pushed. I wonder why.

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Daniel Helldén (MP)

Madam Speaker! In many contexts, one must handle issues towards others, and then it may not always turn out as one wants. In this context, we have worked hard to get new main lines in place that will allow us to get much more freight traffic in Sweden. It is a long-term plan, and we must start that work.

Member of the Board Helena Gellerman is speaking about the Göteborg-Alingsås stretch. I think that track is needed and should be built, while at the same time we ensure that we get new main lines, so that we can get the transports off the roads. But then one must also manage the freight traffic on the roads in a smart way, so that we start to get that pressure to a greater extent than we do today. Therefore, we would need those measures to differentiate the distance-based road traffic taxes, such as those found in the investigation that is on the government's desk. These measures ensure that the best transports that need to go by truck can do so, and that the others are moved over to the railway. When we do this, but also build out the Göteborg-Alingsås stretch and build out new main lines in southern Sweden, we will get a good system. But I am afraid that this government mostly takes money away from the railway and puts it on roads instead of looking at the whole.

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Thomas Morell (SD)

Madam Speaker! I shall try to bring the debate back to what we are actually supposed to talk about, namely professional transport and taxi.

The Sweden Democrats stand by all their reservations. I move, in the first instance, for approval of reservation 2. In the event that it fails at the vote, I move for approval of the proposal in the report under point 1.

Madam Speaker! In this committee report, we address professional transport. Professional transport is an important part of our modern society and is an absolute prerequisite for Sweden to continue to be a welfare state. Without trucking companies, bus companies, and taxi companies with their employees, the country would simply shut down. Vital transports for agriculture, the forestry industry, and industry would stop. We would not have food in our bellies, clothes on our bodies, houses to live in, or even water from the municipal waterworks. Thousands of drivers ensure that people get to and from work every day, can visit their health center, and can visit relatives and friends.

With this introduction, I want to highlight the important role of professional transport in our modern society. Without the work efforts that companies and employees within the transport industry perform every day, important operations would come to a standstill within a few hours. Not even this debate could be carried out if the professional drivers had not done their work. The professional drivers have ensured that both goods and personnel are on site in this house so that we can carry out our debate today.

Madam Speaker! Unfortunately, serious business within the transport industry has been subjected to unhealthy competition and, in some cases, outright crime. This is how Teknikens Värld writes in an article earlier this year: "Over the last four, five years, the number of diesel thefts in Sweden has increased, and last year a new, hardly flattering record was set. Exactly how many diesel thefts were carried out during 2022 is not yet revealed by the statistics, but during the first eleven months of this year, over 4,400 diesel thefts from vehicle tanks - primarily trucks - were reported. That is just over two thousand more than during the entirety of 2021." The police suspect that it is international theft gangs acting when it concerns large volumes being stolen.

Madam Speaker! It has also been noted in the media that stolen goods worth approximately 2 billion kronor are being smuggled out of the country annually. In that case, we are only talking about the goods that are insured. The road is the criminals' most important tool. Here, previous governments and the police leadership have completely lost control over the development. The traffic police have significantly decreased in number over the recent years, and the retirements within the agency continue constantly.

We can state that the Swedish Police Authority has structural problems, not least after all the turns that have been in the media in recent years. We are not to debate the police's ability to perform their work today, but the deficiencies in the organization affect the possibility of curbing road crime.

Madam Speaker! It is remarkable that one allows the activity to decrease to the extent that has been the case during the last few years. Why is staffing and competence not ensured in such an important activity? It is completely incomprehensible. I can note that more and more parties here in the Riksdag are beginning to speak about a more efficient control of professional traffic, and that is good. More and more of us want to protect serious entrepreneurship within the transport industry and thereby secure the jobs that exist at the serious companies.

In order for us to succeed in combating the criminal gangs, the criminals' means of livelihood must be restricted. It is time for politics to clearly signal that one sees the connection between road-based crime and the strongly emerging crime in society. It is a necessity in order to combat the gangs.

Madam Speaker! Illegal traffic has effectively been able to nestle itself into our logistics flows. Consequently, the opportunity to smuggle in weapons, drugs, alcohol, people, and economically lucrative goods has increased. Combating illegal traffic also means significantly curtailing the criminals' opportunity to utilize the logistics system for their internal transport of smuggled goods as well as stolen goods. With effective controls, one literally throws grit into the machinery of the criminal networks.

The question is given: Why have governments over time had such difficulty seeing the connections and taking necessary measures? The previous government literally sat on its hands, even though the media, the industry, the police, and vehicle inspectors have repeatedly demonstrated how bad it is - why? Now it is time for the current government to show decisiveness. For the new and sharpened rules that the mobility package entails to have any effect at all, the oversight activity must be significantly reinforced.

The traffic police have been dismantled over many years, and today we have only a few units out on the roads. This has created a situation where illegal professional traffic has been able to grow unchecked. This, in turn, has brought with it other crime, which we can see in other parts of society.

Madam Speaker! The Sweden Democrats want to upgrade the road checks and ensure that well-educated officials monitor professional traffic. We want to place the control activities in a special unit subordinate to the Police Authority. The unit shall have its own management and its own budget. The unit shall not be linked to regular police activities but have its own given mission: to perform checks on the road.

The company controls of the Transport Agency shall also be moved to this unit. With the relocation of the company controls to the road control group, one obtains personnel with the right competence to perform the controls - this is to ensure a high-quality and efficient control where one moves away from pure statistical controls and focuses on finding those who systematically cheat and bypass the regulations. The Transport Agency has serious deficiencies in its supervisory activities, which the Swedish National Audit Office has pointed out in a report.

Madam Speaker! With an effective oversight operation underway with well-educated officials, Sweden can once again offer serious businesses within the transport industry fair conditions.

I want to conclude by saying a few words about tachographs. We have tachographs in order to be able to monitor the drivers' driving and rest times. It is about ensuring that they do not drive for too long, that they take their breaks on time and that they have their daily rest.

There is a vehicle category that is not actually covered by tachographs. But it has nevertheless been made mandatory for that vehicle group to have a tachograph to monitor professional traffic and not the leisure vehicles that is the issue here.

There are large motorhomes that weigh over 7.5 tons. According to the Transport Agency's interpretation, they suddenly fall under the requirement to have a tachograph.

That means that those who have a leisure vehicle of that size must have a tachograph that is inspected, and they must have a driving license and everything that it entails around that.

We think that is wrong. We have submitted a motion because we must have a national exemption for that tachograph. It creates problems for those who have that type of vehicle. They are not common, but they do exist nonetheless. Suddenly, we have a leisure vehicle that is covered by the regulations for commercial transport. It is unreasonable.

(Applause)

In this speech, Rashid Farivar, Patrik Jönsson and Jimmy Ståhl (all SD) concurred.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Helena Gellerman (L)

Madam Speaker! Today we shall debate professional transport and taxi. Good transport is a prerequisite for Sweden to function. This applies especially to our road transport. The trucking industry is of great importance for Swedish companies' freight handling and competitiveness. It provides very many job opportunities all over Sweden.

The Liberals have high ambitions to achieve a shift of freight to rail and maritime transport. But with the current need for freight transport, the trucking industry will for a long time to come account for the majority of freight transport in Sweden. The Liberals want to facilitate a healthy industry in Sweden and therefore safeguard fair competition conditions and, above all, that the regulations are complied with.

Goods transport is cross-border, and there is fierce competition within the transport industry. Therefore, the EU's directives and the regulations through the mobility package are important so that we have a regulatory framework that also applies to foreign companies and that supports serious haulage companies. We must strengthen the work against foreign and Swedish haulage companies that conduct illegal activities. Regulatory frameworks without follow-up are toothless.

Now that the police have been given increased powers, it must be matched with enough traffic police who can perform extended controls of heavy traffic. Otherwise, the cheating with, among other things, cabotage, driving and rest times, and drunk driving risks increasing.

We also need to check the vehicles to ensure they are roadworthy and contain the correct equipment. In addition to the purely traffic-related requirements, trucks are also used for criminal activities such as the transport of narcotics and stolen goods in and out of the country.

In addition to more traffic police who can increase the number of checks, the country needs more checkpoints. The need for technical equipment for them needs to be reviewed in order to facilitate the traffic police's everyday work.

The report from the Inquiry on more effective controls of road haulage contains many good proposals to counter crime within the transport sector.

We also need to increase cooperation between authorities and also between authorities in the countries within the EU to ensure that we get fair competition conditions on the Swedish roads.

The driver shortage is another major problem for the industry regarding both truck transport and taxi. A fundamental prerequisite is that the base for recruiting drivers does not decrease, where a driver's license for a passenger car is an entry point to a truck driver's license.

Unfortunately, we see a declining trend in how many people take a standard B-driving license. One of the problems there is that fewer and fewer are ready and pass the driving test when they take it. The Government has therefore tasked the Transport Agency to review exactly the driving license training for B-licenses.

It is also interesting to see that the trucking companies and the train companies have taken a joint initiative to get more freight onto the railway from the road precisely because there is a major problem with the driver shortage in Sweden.

I also want to highlight one of Sveriges Åkeriföretags good initiatives to solve the driver shortage. It is the TV series Svenska Truckers. It is a fantastic creative move to get more drivers into the truck industry. We can see that the applications to get a truck license and enter the trucking industry have multiplied since the series Svenska Truckers started.

Another area is that secure rest areas are a prerequisite for increasing road safety on our roads. A driver must be able to rely on being able to take a rest according to the driving and rest times that apply without being subjected to theft.

The rest areas must also not be able to be used as parking spaces for many days and thereby block the possibilities for professional drivers to find space. The EU has taken the initiative in the matter. The Government is now reviewing how it can in different ways increase the safety for both professional drivers and private car drivers at our rest areas.

The agriculture industry needs to cooperate with other actors in the transition to fossil-free transport. The margins are small, and cooperation between the different industry actors is important. It was a heavily weighted reason why the Liberals took the initiative for the Electrification Commission so that the expansion of the charging infrastructure in Sweden would truly facilitate the transition to electrification of the industry.

Sales of new passenger cars have increased rapidly; in 2022, electric cars accounted for approximately one-third of all cars sold. Electric trucks are more in the starting pits. A number of activities are currently being carried out to stimulate the transition.

The government has continued a premium for the purchase of electric trucks paired with a support for charging infrastructure. At the same time, the charging infrastructure along our roads and at rest areas needs to be expanded significantly. The charging stations also need to be adapted to the special conditions that apply to trucks and not just for the smaller passenger cars.

The light trucks become heavier when they are equipped for battery operation. This has added to the problem with the driver shortage. With a standard car driver's license, you can drive a vehicle weighing up to 3,500 kilos, but an electric light truck can weigh up to 4,250 kilos.

Therefore, the rules at the EU level need to be reviewed so that a person with a Bkörkort is also allowed to drive an electric light truck with a higher weight than today. If we are to manage the climate transition, we must adjust rules and regulations so that they do not hinder the transition. This must, however, always be done with regard to road safety.

With this, I move for approval of the committee's proposal.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)

Linda W Snecker (V)

Madam Speaker! Until a few weeks ago, I had never ridden Bolt or Uber, and I had never ordered food from Foodora. I followed with great pleasure the Timbro chairman's PR stunt when he cycled around and was to experience reality with a Foodora backpack on his back.

We all know that the conditions for companies operated via an app with as little human contact as possible are not good. We know that people are being exploited, both economically and with their bodies, so that you can avoid going out the door to get your food.

Platform companies such as Uber and Bolt are structured so that every driver must start their own transport company. They are forced into leasing cars from a specific car company, which makes huge profits. The drivers are forced to pay for congestion charges, traffic insurance, and mobile phones themselves. If a driver refuses a ride that does not feel right, feels too long, or does not feel economically justifiable, it results in a low rating in the app, and customers will not choose that driver's car. The workdays are around 12-13 hours long, and it is possible to turn off the app to earn the daily cash that Uber and Bolt require.

Madam Speaker! There is an enormous amount that needs to be done regarding these platform companies that operate via apps. We must regulate the number of taxi licenses. There is an oversupply, which leads to downward pressure on wages and to worsened working conditions.

We must get to the bottom of the fact that Uber and other companies do not pay tax, employer contributions, and social security contributions in Sweden. This is tax evasion and nothing else. The relationships between drivers, riders, dispatch centers, and contractors are very complex and difficult, and they must be investigated.

The driving and rest time rules for taxi drivers are deficient and lead to an increased number of accidents. Better controls must be implemented. We must ensure that Skatteverket steps in and controls the companies that organize drivers in this terrible way. We must also set requirements in procurements.

Madam Speaker! I thank you that we managed to include my contribution before the ministers' question period, and I move for approval of reservation 16.

The deliberation was hereby concluded.

(Decisions were made under § 9.)

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)