Protect Swedish hunting and wildlife management

The plan binds the party to viable populations of naturally occurring species such as wolf, wolverine and lynx, and to long-term environmental considerations being overriding other legitimate interests. The programme also explicitly opens for binding minimum levels across borders in the environmental field. To move wildlife management decisions from common regulation to local level therefore goes against the plan's substantive commitments, even though the plan is otherwise EU-critical.

• viable predator populationsdecisive»Vidare ska vi arbeta för att få livskraftiga stammar av de naturligt förekommande djurarterna såsom till exempel varg, järv och lo.« (party programme ↗)“Furthermore, we shall work to achieve viable populations of naturally occurring animal species such as, for example, wolf, wolverine and lynx.”
• environmental considerations overriding»de långsiktiga miljöhänsynen måste vara överordnade i den meningen att ett globalt ekologiskt sammanbrott aldrig kan vara ett pris värt att betala.« (party programme ↗)“long-term environmental considerations must be overriding in the sense that global ecological collapse can never be a price worth paying.”
• binding minimum levels in environmental field»kan Vänsterpartiet till exempel vara positivt till bindande miniminivåer på dessa områden.« (party programme ↗)“the Left Party can, for example, be positive to binding minimum levels in these areas.”
• limit to decentralization»Det ligger ett värde i att beslut fattas så nära medborgarna som möjligt, men en alltför långtgående decentralisering av den politiska makten undergräver möjligheterna att föra en sammanhållen politik för rättvisa och jämlikhet.« (party programme ↗)“There is value in decisions being made as close to citizens as possible, but an excessive decentralization of political power undermines the possibilities of pursuing a coherent policy for justice and equality.”

The plan lacks a hunting policy, but the party programme's EU line is that the subsidiarity principle should be followed and decisions should be made as close to citizens as possible, and that the EU should be a cooperation between nation states. From this, the counter-proposal's demand that wildlife management is decided nationally and regionally rather than governed by the EU is supported. At the same time, the programme binds Sweden to protecting biological diversity, which sets a limit to how far decentralisation can go.

• the subsidiarity principledecisive»besluten ska fattas så nära medborgarna som möjligt.« (party programme ↗)“decisions should be made as close to citizens as possible.”
• EU as interstate cooperation»nationalstater och avvisar idéerna om att förvandla EU till en federal stat.« (party programme ↗)“nation states and rejects ideas of transforming the EU into a federal state.”
• protection of biological diversity»biologiska mångfalden måste skyddas.« (party programme ↗)“biological diversity must be protected.”

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 move decisions on wildlife management from EU to local and regional level. The plan's decisive commitment is the opposite: protection of endangered species and natural environments has global significance and needs supranational decisions, and in hunting natural conservation interests should take precedence with viable populations of large carnivores as the goal. The plan's decentralism pulls in the other direction but weighs less in species protection matters.

• supranational species protectiondecisive»Skydd av hotade arter och naturmiljöer är av global betydelse och behöver därför överstatliga beslut.« (party programme ↗)“Protection of endangered species and natural environments is of global significance and therefore requires supranational decisions.”
• nature conservation before hunting interests»Det är viktigt att det ekologiska perspektivet sätts i fokus vid jakt och att naturvårdsintressen får företräde.« (party programme ↗)“It is important that the ecological perspective is put in focus in hunting and that natural conservation interests take precedence.”
• viable populations of large carnivores»Sverige ska hysa långsiktigt livskraftiga stammar av de fyra stora rovdjuren: varg, lo, björn och järv.« (party programme ↗)“Sweden shall host long-term viable populations of the four large carnivores: wolf, lynx, bear and wolverine.”
• decentralised decision-making»Miljöpartiet är ett decentralistiskt parti. Beslut ska fattas så nära de människor som berörs som möjligt.« (party programme ↗)“The Green Party is a decentralist party. Decisions should be made as close as possible to the people affected.”

The election manifesto establishes that power shall be decentralized and decisions made close to those affected, and the party programme wants the EU to do fewer things and that wildlife be managed actively with strong property rights. Moving the influence over hunting and wildlife management closer to regions instead of being controlled from the EU follows from these commitments. The plan does however not explicitly mention the level of hunting decisions.

• decentralize moredecisive»Decentralisera mera. Människor ska få bestämma mer själva, och politiska beslut ska fattas nära dem som berörs.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Decentralize more. People shall be able to decide more for themselves, and political decisions shall be made close to those affected.”
• active wildlife management»ska kombineras med en aktiv förvaltning av rovdjur och klövvilt« (party programme ↗)“shall be combined with active management of predators and hoofed game”
• narrower EU»EU måste bli smalare, men vassare, göra färre saker men göra dem bättre.« (party programme ↗)“The EU must become narrower, but sharper, do fewer things but do them better.”

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 EU cooperation the most important instrument in environmental work and wants to raise the union's ambitions, which speaks against moving decisions about wildlife management away from the EU. The plan also establishes that Sweden shall have viable populations of all five large predators, a goal that local determination in hunting matters can undermine. That the state shall cooperate well with landowners and local population qualifies but does not carry the requirement.

• EU drives environmental workdecisive»EU-samarbetet är vårt viktigaste instrument för att driva på miljöarbetet.« (party programme ↗)“EU cooperation is our most important instrument for driving environmental work.”
• viable predator populations»Sverige ska ha livskraftiga stammar av alla de fem stora rovdjuren: björn, järv, lo, varg och kungsörn.« (party programme ↗)“Sweden shall have viable populations of all five large predators: bear, wolverine, lynx, wolf and white-tailed eagle.”
• joint decisions where they are needed»Vår vision är ett federalt Europa som står starkt och enat i de frågor där samarbete behövs« (party programme ↗)“Our vision is a federal Europe that stands strong and united in matters where cooperation is needed”
• cooperation with local population»Staten ska sträva efter god samverkan med markägare och lokalbefolkning i naturvård« (party programme ↗)“The state shall strive for good cooperation with landowners and local population in nature conservation”

The plan requires that predator and wildlife policy be formulated in consultation with the affected rural population and is based on the subsidiarity principle's requirement for the right power in the right place. It also wants to limit the EU's tasks to prevent unwanted centralization, and the election manifesto sets its own national target for the wolf population. Moving influence over hunting and wildlife management closer to the affected regions thus follows directly from the plan.

• consultation with the rural populationdecisive»måste utformas i samråd med den berörda landsbygdsbefolkningen.« (party programme ↗)“must be formulated in consultation with the affected rural population.”
• subsidiarity in decision-making level»Rätt makt på rätt plats, det är den kristdemokratiska« (party programme ↗)“Right power in the right place, that is the Christian Democratic”
• nationally determined predator level»Den svenska vargstammen ska minskas till 170 individer.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“The Swedish wolf population shall be reduced to 170 individuals.”
• limit the EU's tasks»förhindra ovälkommen centralisering.« (party programme ↗)“prevent unwanted centralization.”

The stance rests on the quoted commitment in the party's own documents; the actual vote deviated. Click the quote to verify it in the document.

The plan stands guard over Swedish hunting against EU rules that harm hunters and sport shooters, wants to reduce the wolf population through increased hunting and establish its own wildlife authority. That decisions on wildlife management should be made locally rather than controlled by the EU follows from this together with the principle that decisions should be made at the lowest possible level, as close to citizens as possible.

• The EU should not control huntingdecisive»Det är viktigt att EU:s vapendirektiv inte genomförs i svensk lagstiftning så att du som är jägare, sportskytt eller vapensamlare drabbas negativt.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“It is important that the EU's weapons directive is not implemented in Swedish legislation so that you as a hunter, sport shooter or weapons collector are negatively affected.”
• decisions close to citizens»Beslut ska fattas på lägsta möjliga nivå, så nära medborgarna som möjligt.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Decisions should be made at the lowest possible level, as close to citizens as possible.”
• nationally determined wildlife management»Verka för att minska vargstammen i Sverige till 170 vargar – genom ökad jakt« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Work to reduce the wolf population in Sweden to 170 wolves – through increased hunting”
• Swedish wildlife management of its own»Inrätta en ny viltmyndighet« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Establish a new wildlife authority”

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 explicitly commits to reducing EU's influence over Swedish hunting and wildlife management and establishes that greater local influence should prevail over predator policy. The counter-proposal's requirement that wildlife management decisions be made locally rather than controlled by the EU thus coincides with the plan. The plan justifies this by the fact that the EU's rural and environmental policy is not adapted to Swedish conditions.

• less EU control of huntingdecisive»Minska EU:s inflytande över svensk jaktpolitiken« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Reduce the EU's influence over Swedish hunting policy”
• local influence over wildlife»Ett större lokalt inflytande bör råda över rovdjurspolitiken.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Greater local influence should prevail over predator policy.”
• Swedish conditions matter»EU:s landsbygds- och miljöpolitik är i många fall inte anpassad efter svenska förhållanden och tar för liten hänsyn till den som äger och brukar skog eller jagar.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“The EU's rural and environmental policy is in many cases not adapted to Swedish conditions and gives too little consideration to those who own and use forest or hunt.”
• wildlife management close to hunters»Ge tillbaka viltvårdsuppdraget till jägarorganisationerna« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Return the wildlife management task to hunting organizations”