The Archive Inquiry

The plan counts the principle of public access to official records and freedom of communication as democracy's most important building blocks and requires that civil transparency and scrutiny are guaranteed. A prompt bill modernising archive legislation and ensuring that socially important information is preserved, even when produced by private providers in education and healthcare, follows from that commitment. The archive issue as such is not addressed in the plan.

• the principle of public access as a building blockdecisive»föreningsfriheten, yttrande- och tryckfriheten, offentlighetsprincipen« (party programme ↗)“freedom of association, freedom of expression and freedom of the press, the principle of public access to official records”
• civil transparency»Genom medborgerlig insyn, rättshjälp, offentlig debatt och granskning av rättstillämpningen garanteras allas likhet inför lagen.« (party programme ↗)“Through civil transparency, legal aid, public debate and scrutiny of the administration of justice, everyone's equality before the law is guaranteed.”
• collective responsibility for socially important activities»Det är hög tid att agera och ta tillbaka den samhällsviktiga verksamhet och infrastruktur som har privatiserats.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“It is high time to act and take back the socially important activities and infrastructure that have been privatised.”

The plan requires that the democratic process and public administration are built on openness and transparency, and explicitly extends the public principle to independent schools and to private health and care. That is exactly the counter-proposal's point that information of societal importance must be identified and preserved regardless of whether it has been produced by authorities or private providers. That a swift archive proposal is laid forward follows from these commitments.

• openness and transparencydecisive»Den demokratiska processen och samhällsförvaltningen måste bygga på offentlighet och insyn.« (party programme ↗)“The democratic process and public administration must be built on openness and transparency.”
• public principle in private care»Offentlighetsprincipen ska gälla även privat vård och omsorg.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“The public principle shall apply also to private health and care.”
• full transparency in all schools»Samhället ska ha full insyn i alla skolor genom offentlighetsprincipen.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Society shall have full transparency in all schools through the public principle.”
• readiness in heightened security situation»Arbetet att förstärka det civila försvaret och krisberedskapen måste fortsätta« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Work to strengthen civil defence and crisis readiness must continue”

The plan states that cultural heritage is our common heritage that shall be preserved and cared for for the future, which supports modernized archive legislation that ensures that socially important information is preserved. The election manifesto furthermore wants to increase appropriations for civil preparedness and civil defence, which lies close to the counter-proposal's argument about the security situation. The plan also emphasizes that democracy requires factual information and social audit, something that requires well-ordered and accessible archives. The plan does not mention the archive law as such however, so the conclusion is derived.

• cultural heritage shall be preserveddecisive»Kulturarvet är vårt gemensamma arv.« (party programme ↗)“Cultural heritage is our common heritage.”
• strengthened civil preparedness»satsa en större andel av försvarets pengar på det civila försvaret, och öka anslagen till krisberedskap.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“allocate a larger share of defence funds to civil defence, and increase appropriations for civil preparedness.”
• factual information for democracy»Ett demokratiskt samhälle kräver saklig information, aktiv samhällsgranskning och grävande« (party programme ↗)“A democratic society requires factual information, active social audit and investigative”

Worldstate weighed in: Heightened security situation and Swedish NATO membership — Strengthens the plan's civil preparedness commitment and supports that socially important information is identified and preserved.

The plan wants to make Sweden even more transparent and sees openness as a fundamental prerequisite for democracy, while civil defence and society's preparedness must be strengthened. A modernization of archive legislation that ensures that socially important information is preserved even with private providers serves both of these commitments. The plan does not, however, address the archive issue directly, so the support is weakly derived.

• increased transparencydecisive»Sverige ska bli ännu mer transparent.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Sweden shall become even more transparent.”
• openness as foundation for democracy»Öppenhet och transparens är grundförutsättningar för frihet, demokrati och för att förhindra korruption och övergrepp.« (party programme ↗)“Openness and transparency are fundamental prerequisites for freedom, democracy and for preventing corruption and abuse.”
• strengthen preparedness»Även det civila försvaret är livsviktigt. Vi måste rusta civilförsvaret och samhällets beredskap inför krig och kris.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Civil defence is also vital. We must strengthen civil defence and society's preparedness for war and crisis.”
• digitalization for democracy»Digitalisering på lika villkor, oavsett var man bor, är en förutsättning för demokrati och möjliggör decentralisering.« (party programme ↗)“Digitalization on equal terms, regardless of where you live, is a prerequisite for democracy and enables decentralization.”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The plan assigns the principle of public access fundamental significance for democratic governance and wants public documents to be made digitally accessible to a greater extent. It also requires that publicly funded activities be covered by the same rules regardless of whether they are operated in public or private hands, which is exactly the gap the counter-proposal points to for education and healthcare. A prompt bill based on the archives inquiry follows from these commitments.

• significance of the principle of public accessdecisive»Offentlighetsprincipen har en grundläggande betydelse för att förankra och fördjupa folkstyret« (party programme ↗)“The principle of public access has fundamental significance for anchoring and deepening democratic governance”
• digital accessibility»som till en rimlig kostnad kan göras digitalt tillgängliga också ska göras digitalt tillgängliga« (party programme ↗)“which at reasonable cost can be made digitally accessible shall also be made digitally accessible”
• same rules in private hands»Extra viktigt är detta i vård, skola, omsorg« (party programme ↗)“This is especially important in healthcare, education, and social care”
• preserve the shared memory»Kulturarvet – vårt gemensamma minne i form av historiska lämningar« (party programme ↗)“Cultural heritage – our shared memory in the form of historical remains”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The plan makes the principle of public access and access to public records central to democracy and places a stewardship responsibility for material cultural heritage. Total defence shall have preparedness for severe strains, which bears on the need to preserve information vital to society. To promptly bring forward a bill based on the archives investigation follows from this.

• access to public recordsdecisive»Offentlighetsprincipen, det vill säga tillgången till« (party programme ↗)“The principle of public access, that is access to”
• stewardship of cultural heritage»förvaltarskap omfattar det materiella kulturarv som« (party programme ↗)“stewardship encompasses the material cultural heritage that”
• preparedness in social crisis»delta i hanteringen av katastrofer och andra svåra påfrestningar i samhället« (party programme ↗)“participate in managing disasters and other severe strains on society”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The plan promises to ensure long-term planning for civil defence and to introduce an action plan against hybrid threats and cyberattacks, and the party programme makes good crisis preparedness a precondition for security. To quickly present a bill that modernises the archive system and ensures that information vital to society is preserved in today's security situation is in line with these commitments. However, the archive question as such is not addressed in the plan.

• long-term civil defence planningdecisive»Säkra en långsiktig planering för det civila försvaret« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Ensure long-term planning for civil defence”
• action plan against hybrid threats»Införa en handlingsplan med konkreta åtgärder mot hybridhot och cyberattacker« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Introduce an action plan with concrete measures against hybrid threats and cyberattacks”
• strong civil defence»Tryggheten i Sverige förutsätter också ett starkt civilförsvar« (party programme ↗)“Security in Sweden also presupposes a strong civil defence”
• protection of security-sensitive operations»Ge företag som är engagerade i säkerhetskänslig verksamhet bättre stöd från staten att kunna möta cyberattacker, spionage och stöldförsök från främmande makt« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Provide companies engaged in security-sensitive operations with better government support to meet cyberattacks, espionage, and theft attempts from foreign powers”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The counter-proposal wants to quickly legislate so that societally important information is identified and preserved in an intensified security situation. The plan requires society to analyze and plan for various types of major crises and that the state's core task of protecting the nation's historical heritage is maintained. The demand for increased transparency and accountability in the administration points in the same direction, whereas the plan does not address archive legislation at all.

• planning for major crisesdecisive»Analysera och planera för olika typer av stora kriser« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Analyze and plan for various types of major crises”
• protect the nation's historical heritage»upprätthållande samt värnandet av nationens historiska arv och kulturella särart.« (party programme ↗)“maintaining and protecting the nation's historical heritage and cultural distinctiveness.”
• increased transparency in administration»Tjänstemannaansvar ska införas och åtgärder ska genomföras för att öka transparensen och möjligheten att utkräva politiskt ansvarsutkrävande.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Civil servant responsibility should be introduced and measures should be taken to increase transparency and the possibility of demanding political accountability.”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.