Further measures for stronger population protection
What's at stake: How population protection is organised affects how well the civilian population can be protected and cared for during an armed attack or other crisis, and how resilient civil-society structures become. At issue is whether responsibility should be formalised in law or continue to be handled through the agencies' ongoing planning.
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, beyond the new law on shelters and protected spaces, a formal population-protection system should also be introduced with clear lines of responsibility, organisation and staffing, plus targeted support for civil society, or whether planning of where shelters and other measures are needed should continue to be led by the responsible agencies on a risk basis without new statutory rules.
Yes Yes — the committee proposal
The committee welcomes the government's bill on shelters and protected spaces and backs it. On the future location of shelters, the committee agrees with the government that it is difficult to determine in advance with certainty where they will be needed, and that such decisions must rest on analyses produced jointly by the relevant authorities. The committee notes that an overall plan with a geographic risk-based prioritisation has already been produced by the responsible agency together with the county administrative boards, and it therefore rejects the motions calling for further parliamentary statements on the matter.
No No — the reservations
Reservation 6 (S)
The reservation (S) calls for the concept of population protection, removed from Swedish law in 2006, to be reinstated together with a formal system of clear responsibilities, organisation and staffing corresponding to the former home-defence organisation. Shelters should be upgraded to increase their protective effect and the number of available places, and the government should examine how support for civil society's assembly premises can be strengthened, since a well-organised civil society and an informed population are central to the will to defend the country and to resilience against disinformation.
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 6 by S.
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 13/0/0/8
Sown reservation
–
No 0/92/0/14
MP
–
Yes 15/0/0/3
C
–
Yes 20/0/0/4
L
–
Yes 9/0/0/7
KD
–
Yes 16/0/0/3
M
–
Yes 57/0/0/9
SD
–
Yes 60/0/0/10
Committee proposal
The Riksdag rejects the motions
2025/26:227 by Björn Tidland (SD),
2025/26:1965 by Ann-Sofie Lifvenhage (M),
2025/26:1969 by Ann-Sofie Lifvenhage (M) and
2025/26:3556 by Peter Hultqvist et al. (S) calls 79 and 85.
Original (Swedish)
Riksdagen avslår motionerna
2025/26:227 av Björn Tidland (SD),
2025/26:1965 av Ann-Sofie Lifvenhage (M),
2025/26:1969 av Ann-Sofie Lifvenhage (M) och
2025/26:3556 av Peter Hultqvist m.fl. (S) yrkandena 79 och 85.
Riksdag decision: The Government wants to strengthen protection for the civilian population at elevated alert. The Riksdag approved the Government's proposal for a new law on shelters and protected spaces.
Today there are approximately 64,000 shelters with space for 7 million individuals in Sweden. However, this is not sufficient to provide the population with adequate protection. Now the Government wants to ensure that Sweden has modern protection for the civilian population at elevated alert or armed attack.
The Government has therefore proposed a new law on shelters and protected spaces. The new law means among other things that provisions are introduced for a new protection alternative in addition to that on shelters, so-called protected spaces. A protected space is a space for protection of the population that provides limited protection in relation to shelters.
The law amendments begin to apply on 1 June 2026.
Counter-proposals
The counter-proposal wants the government to conduct a complete impact and cost analysis and ensure municipalities are provided with financial resources for new civil defense tasks. (S) — Reservation 6
Motion 2025/26:227 — Operativa skyddsrum i Sverige av Björn Tidland (SD)
Motion 2025/26:3336 — Skyddsrum och husdjur i beredskapsplaneringen av Marléne Lund Kopparklint (M)
Motion 2025/26:3556 — Totalförsvarets beredskap av Peter Hultqvist m.fl. (S)
Motion 2025/26:3931 — med anledning av prop. 2025/26:142 Ett starkare skydd för civilbefolkningen vid höjd beredskap av Hanna Gunnarsson m.fl. (V)
Motion 2025/26:3935 — med anledning av prop. 2025/26:142 Ett starkare skydd för civilbefolkningen vid höjd beredskap av Peter Hultqvist m.fl. (S)
Motion 2025/26:3938 — med anledning av prop. 2025/26:142 Ett starkare skydd för civilbefolkningen vid höjd beredskap av Mikael Larsson och Kerstin Lundgren (båda C)
Motion 2025/26:3944 — med anledning av prop. 2025/26:142 Ett starkare skydd för civilbefolkningen vid höjd beredskap av Ulf Holm m.fl. (MP)