Equal Requirements for Goals and Guidelines for Providers of Municipal Activities

The plan wants welfare to be governed democratically with resources and trust instead of control and quality assurance apparatus, and explicitly states that the public sector should not be adapted to the forms of private business. Imposing the same target and guideline requirements that apply to private operators on municipalities and regions' own activities goes in the opposite direction and increases administration. The plan also protects municipal self-governance. The plan thus supports the counter-proposal's requirement for rejection.

• public sector not market-adapteddecisive»men bolagisering får inte användas för att anpassa den offentliga sektorn till det privata näringslivet eller förbereda privatiseringar.« (party programme ↗)“but incorporation should not be used to adapt the public sector to private business or prepare for privatizations.”
• resources before control bureaucracy»Det är resurser som främst behövs, inte formulär för kvalitetssäkring« (2022 manifesto ↗)“It is resources that are primarily needed, not forms for quality assurance”
• reduced administration and control»marknadslösningar har urholkat vår gemensamma välfärd samtidigt som en allt större del av våra skattemedel går till administration och kontroll« (2022 manifesto ↗)“market solutions have hollowed out our shared welfare while an ever-larger share of our tax revenues goes to administration and control”
• protected municipal self-governance»Den kommunala självstyrelsen, lokalt och regionalt, är en viktig del« (party programme ↗)“Municipal self-governance, local and regional, is an important part”

The party programme's requirement is that there shall be nationally established regulations for all tax-financed activities and that citizens shall be able to scrutinize and hold to account regardless of the form the activity takes. The counter-proposal wants to reject precisely such equality between municipal and private operators with reference to self-governance and administration. This goes against the plan's principle of the same requirements regardless of operating form, so the plan rejects the requirement.

• national regulations for tax-financed activitiesdecisive»För all verksamhet som drivs på uppdrag av det offentliga och finansieras med skattemedel« (party programme ↗)“For all activities conducted on behalf of the public and financed with tax funds”
• scrutiny regardless of operating form»Oavsett i vilken form skattefinansierad verksamhet drivs ska medborgarna ha möjlighet att« (party programme ↗)“Regardless of the form tax-financed activities are conducted, citizens shall have the opportunity to”
• equal conditions regardless of operating form»samt att de anställda har samma rättigheter och samma skydd oavsett driftsform.« (party programme ↗)“and that employees have the same rights and the same protection regardless of operating form.”
• full transparency in activities»Samhället ska ha full insyn i alla skolor genom offentlighetsprincipen.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Society shall have full transparency in all schools through the principle of public access.”

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 party programme demands that all publicly financed welfare regardless of provider maintains high quality, that quality is continuously monitored and that transparency applies regardless of operating model. To exempt the municipalities' own operations from the same requirements for goals and guidelines as private providers contradicts equal treatment. The plan's decentralist worldview supports municipal influence but does not outweigh the requirement for equivalent follow-up.

• equal quality requirements regardless of providerdecisive»All offentligfinansierad välfärd oavsett utförare ska hålla hög kvalitet.« (party programme ↗)“All publicly financed welfare regardless of provider shall maintain high quality.”
• continuous quality monitoring»Kvaliteten ska ständigt följas upp med olika slags verktyg.« (party programme ↗)“Quality shall be continuously monitored with various kinds of tools.”
• transparency regardless of operating model»Vi tar även ställning för brukarinflytande och insyn oavsett driftsform.« (party programme ↗)“We also take a stand for user influence and transparency regardless of operating model.”
• municipal self-governance»Miljöpartiet har en decentralistisk grundsyn som bland annat tar sig uttryck i att vi vill att regioner och kommuner ges ett ökat ansvar och inflytande över de politiska beslut som berör regionen och kommunen.« (party programme ↗)“The Green Party has a decentralist worldview which is expressed, among other things, in that we want regions and municipalities to be given increased responsibility and influence over political decisions affecting the region and municipality.”

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's principle for publicly funded activities is that they shall be equivalent and maintain the same high quality for all, and that governance shall be characterised by strict quality requirements regardless of who performs the task. The counter-proposal instead wants to reject that municipalities and regions are subject to the same requirements for goals and guidelines as private providers, thus to keep different requirements for different providers. The plan at the same time values municipal self-determination, which makes the conclusion uncertain.

• equivalence regardless of providerdecisive»Det som det offentliga finansierar ska vara likvärdigt för alla och med samma goda kvalitet till alla.« (party programme ↗)“What the public finances shall be equivalent for all and with the same high quality for all.”
• strict quality requirements»Styrningen av skolan ska kännetecknas av strikta kvalitetskrav och likvärdighet.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“The governance of schools shall be characterised by strict quality requirements and equivalence.”
• municipal self-government»Decentralisera mera. Människor ska få bestämma mer själva, och politiska beslut ska fattas nära dem som berörs.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Decentralise more. People should have more say in decisions, and political decisions should be made close to those affected.”

The party programme explicitly establishes that private and public providers shall operate on equal terms and be subject to the same quality requirements. The counter-proposal wishes to reject precisely that equality between municipal and private operation. The plan furthermore requires that publicly financed activities be subject to the same rules regardless of operating form and that supervision be based on nationally established quality standards.

• equal terms for providersdecisive»Privata och offentliga utförare ska verka på lika villkor« (party programme ↗)“Private and public providers shall operate on equal terms”
• same rules regardless of operating form»ska omfattas av samma regler om sekretess och meddelarskydd oavsett om den bedrivs i allmän« (party programme ↗)“shall be subject to the same rules on confidentiality and whistleblower protection regardless of whether it is conducted in public [or private form]”
• national quality standards»Tillsynen ska ske i statlig regi utifrån nationellt fastställda kvalitetsnormer.« (party programme ↗)“Supervision shall be conducted in state management on the basis of nationally established quality standards.”

The plan makes evaluation, cost tracking and quality control into a central political task and requires that activities in private operation are given the same conditions as activities in public operation. That municipalities and regions are subject to the same requirements for goals and guidelines as private operators follows from that equal treatment and does not deprive the municipality of any task. The plan's protection of municipal self-governance and the financing principle argues against, but applies to takeover of functions rather than uniform monitoring requirements. The counter-proposal's demand for rejection is therefore rejected.

• monitoring is politics' taskdecisive»Utvärdering, kostnadsuppföljning och kvalitetskontroll är därför viktiga politiska« (party programme ↗)“Evaluation, cost tracking and quality control are therefore important political”
• equal terms private and public operation»förutsättningar som tjänster producerade i offentlig regi.« (party programme ↗)“conditions as services produced in public operation.”
• strong municipal self-governance»Den kommunala självstyrelsen ska vara stark« (party programme ↗)“Municipal self-governance shall be strong”
• the financing principle for new demands»Finansieringsprincipen måste respekteras när staten ålägger kommunerna nya uppgifter.« (party programme ↗)“The financing principle must be respected when the state imposes new tasks on municipalities.”

The plan is based on the principle that tax-financed activities shall be monitored against clear requirements regardless of principal and that accountability shall be enforceable for all public exercise of power. Rejecting the demand that municipalities and regions shall be covered by the same goals and guidelines as private providers goes against that equality principle. The plan's protection of decentralization and reduced administration does pull in the opposite direction, but weighs lighter when it comes to monitoring of common funds.

• equivalent requirements regardless of principaldecisive»Staten har en avgörande uppgift att först och främst fastställa och följa upp tydliga kunskapskrav.« (party programme ↗)“The state has a crucial task first and foremost to set and monitor clear knowledge requirements.”
• responsibility for public exercise of power»• Skärpa tjänstemannaansvaret så att du som skattebetalare vet att med all offentlig maktutövning följer ett ansvar för de beslut som fattas« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Tighten civil service responsibility so that you as a taxpayer know that with all public exercise of power follows responsibility for the decisions that are made”
• combat public waste»Offentligt slöseri i alla former ska bekämpas.« (party programme ↗)“Public waste in all forms shall be combated.”
• decentralized decision-making»I en allt mer komplex värld är det decentraliserat beslutsfattande« (party programme ↗)“In an increasingly complex world decentralized decision-making”

The plan establishes that tax-financed private actors shall be equal to public actors and that national quality requirements shall apply regardless of mode of operation. The counter-proposal's requirement to reject equivalent requirements on goals and guidelines for municipalities and regions breaks with this equal treatment. The plan certainly values a minimum of bureaucracy, but the principle of equal treatment is the decisive one.

• private and public equaldecisive»vara jämställda offentliga aktörer.« (party programme ↗)“be equal to public actors.”
• national quality requirements»Nationella kvalitetskrav inom vård och omsorg måste finnas och får inte underskridas.« (party programme ↗)“National quality requirements in health and care must exist and must not be undercut.”
• equivalence in operations»Alla människor ska bemötas likvärdigt i regionernas verksamheter.« (party programme ↗)“All people shall be treated equivalently in the regions' operations.”
• monitoring of operations»Begära tydliga resultat för varje offentlig satsning« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Demand clear results for every public investment.”