'The Government is often told to redo its EU policy homework'

It is the Committee on European Union Affairs that determines Sweden’s negotiation position in the European Council. How does this process usually work?

– The Government represents Sweden in the EU, but the policies it pursues in the EU Council of Ministers must have the support of the Parliamentary Committee on European Union Affairs. Virtually every Friday, government representatives, usually the responsible minister, come before the committee to receive Parliament’s mandate prior to the following week’s Council of Ministers meetings. There are numerous examples of times when a majority of the committee has rejected the Government’s proposed Swedish policy and has instead formulated a new one. That then becomes Swedish policy on, for example, energy policy, labour market and welfare issues.

Forest issues have over the last year been highly topical, for instance in connection with the green taxonomy. What have been the Moderate Party’s most important starting points?

– Our starting point has been that Swedish forestry must be classified as sustainable. Several of the criteria set out in the green taxonomy are important for the EU’s transition. However, in their current form, they risk negatively impacting Swedish forestry. Last year, we demanded that the Government convey this in its work and say no to the first EU Taxonomy Climate Delegated Act. Work is currently underway on the second delegated act, which, for instance, will apply to biodiversity. Even here the criteria must be framed so that Swedish forestry, which is essentially sustainable, is also classified as such.

Also the working conditions for platform work have recently been on the agenda. How is the process going?

– The labour market is rapidly changing due to, among other things, digitalisation. In recent years, we have seen the EU put forward a number of proposals that threaten the Swedish model. We have nothing against member states learning from each other, but we do not believe it should take place through binding legislation. Parliament has considered the matter in what is known as a subsidiarity test and found that the proposal runs contrary to the principle of subsidiarity. The Commission, together with the French Presidency of the EU, is now working on putting forward a proposal that may be negotiated during the Swedish Presidency, which begins on 1 January 2023.

Jessika Roswall was interviewed by Mattias Keresztesi, Senior Consultant and Associate Partner at New Republic. ‘Three Quick Questions…’ is a series of interviews conducted by New Republic.