The primacy of the constitution and the use of dynamic references in implementing the EU Media Freedom Act
What's at stake: The decision affects the balance between EU-level regulation of the media market and the constitutional protection for press and freedom of expression that already exists in Sweden, as well as how much ongoing influence the Riksdag retains over media legislation as the EU's rules change over time.
Case texts and AI reasoning are AI-translated from the Swedish originals; the Swedish text is authoritative.
What the vote decides
The question is whether it is sufficient for the legislation to refer dynamically to the EU Media Freedom Act, as it applies at any given time, without an explicit statutory statement that the Freedom of the Press Act and the Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression take precedence, or whether the law should instead explicitly establish the primacy of the constitution and use static references to safeguard national control over media legislation.
Yes Yes — the committee proposal
The committee notes that the purpose of the Media Freedom Act is to introduce common minimum standards and that the regulation does not prevent member states from having more detailed or stricter rules. A dynamic reference technique means that references relate to the EU legal act as it applies at any given time, but according to the committee this does not prevent the need for legislative changes from being examined even though national legislation normally does not need to change when the EU act changes. Swedish interests are also monitored on an ongoing basis in legislative processes at EU level. Against that background, the committee sees no reason to take any initiative in response to the motions calling for the constitution's primacy to be strengthened or for changes to the use of dynamic references, and the motions are rejected by the committee.
No No — the reservations
Reservation 1 (SD)
The reservation (SD) points out that Sweden has one of the world's strongest constitutional protections for press and freedom of expression through the Freedom of the Press Act and the Fundamental Law on Freedom of Expression, and that several consultation bodies have expressed concern that the government's proposal does not clearly guarantee the primacy of the constitution. The reservation holds that this must be explicitly established and that the government should ensure that the Media Freedom Act is not applied in a way that restricts the constitutional protection that already exists. By using a dynamic reference technique, every future change at EU level automatically becomes applicable Swedish law, according to the reservation, which undermines national self-determination and risks giving the EU direct power over Swedish media. The reservation holds that it is the Riksdag that should decide on Swedish legislation and therefore calls for the government's proposal on dynamic references to be rejected.
Summarised from the committee report. Party labels in the summary come from the report, not from the vote.
V–
S–
MP–
C–
L–
KD–
M–
SD–
YesNoAbstainAbsent
What do the votes mean here?
Yes The committee proposal: rejecting the motions (keeping things as they are).
No Backing the counter-proposal: reservation 1 by SD.
Abstain The party marks a position of its own that is not one of the two final alternatives.
The plan's stance / Actual vote
AI
Vote
Confidence
Evidence
V
–
Yes 18/0/0/4
S
–
Yes 93/0/0/13
MP
–
Yes 15/0/0/3
C
–
Yes 21/0/0/3
L
–
Yes 13/0/0/3
KD
–
Yes 16/0/0/3
M
–
Yes 60/0/0/8
SDown reservation
–
No 0/63/0/9
Committee proposal
The Riksdag rejects motion
2025/26:213 by Michael Rubbestad et al. (SD) propositions 1 and 2.
Original (Swedish)
Riksdagen avslår motion
2025/26:213 av Michael Rubbestad m.fl. (SD) yrkandena 1 och 2.
Riksdag decision: The Riksdag approved the government's proposal to bring together provisions that complement the EU Media Freedom Regulation in a new law.
The proposal means among other things that
The Media Authority will have supervisory responsibility and, among other things, monitor rules, manage a new database of media ownership and assess media concentrations.
media service providers shall have an obligation to provide information to the Media Authority, such as the provider's legal name and contact information.
The purpose of the Media Freedom Regulation is among other things to promote media pluralism, protect journalists and ensure that media companies can operate independently, without political or economic influence.
The proposal also includes an amendment to the new law. The amendment is because certain provisions of the law are to enter into force at a later date.
The new law enters into force on 1 January 2026 and certain amendments to the law enter into force on 8 May 2027.
Counter-proposals
The counter-proposal wants to ensure that the EU's media freedom regulation does not restrict the protection for press and expression freedom provided in the Swedish press freedom and free speech basic laws. (SD) — Reservation 1