The Riksdag examines EU documents

The examination gives an overview of the EU’s ideas

The EU institutions send ideas, drafts and long-term plans for future legislative proposals to the Riksdag. The committees examine relevant EU documents within their areas of responsibility and present the results in a statement. After each examination, it is possible to hold a debate on the statement in the Chamber. The European Commission then reads the Riksdag’s viewpoints.

All EU documents are sent to the Riksdag

The Riksdag can acquaint itself with the EU’s strategy documents on upcoming work in the EU from an early stage. This is because the European Commission, the EU institution that also proposes new legislation, sends all its documents to the Riksdag and the national parliaments of the other EU member states. The EU’s strategy documents include, for example, idea documents, reflection papers and long-term plans for upcoming legislation.

The Riksdag also receives documents from the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. The purpose is to give the national parliaments time to examine and comment on these initiatives, before being presented with a completed legislative proposal which is up for negotiation and decision in the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament.

Which EU documents are examined?

The contents of an EU document determine whether the Riksdag chooses to work with it.  If the document deals with long-term objectives, concrete proposals and questions of interest to the members of the Riksdag or other EU parliaments, it may be of relevance for examination.

It is the Speaker of the Riksdag, together with the parliamentary party group leaders, who decides which documents are to be looked at more closely.

The parliamentary committees are each responsible for separate policy areas

In the Riksdag, there are 349 members divided into 15 parliamentary committees which each work with separate policy areas. Examples are the Committee on Environment and Agriculture, the Committee on Finance and the Committee on Transport and Communications.

It is in the parliamentary committees that most of the Riksdag’s work with EU affairs takes place. If the Riksdag has decided to examine a particular EU document, the matter is forwarded to the committee responsible for the policy area in question. The Committee on Environment and Agriculture may, for example, examine EU documents dealing with long-term plans or strategies for support to farmers.

The parliamentary committees present their opinions to the Chamber

When an EU document is examined, the members of the committee study the contents and purpose more closely to see whether the initiative may lead to a future legislative proposal of significance for Swedish policies and legislation. This also provides an opportunity for the committee to raise any points of view on the subject from the Riksdag’s perspective. The committee also has an opportunity to request information from the Government and to invite ministers for talks about the EU matter that the document concerns.

The committee collects its points of view in a statement which is presented to the members of the Riksdag at a meeting in the Chamber.

Debate and decision in the Chamber

In the Chamber, all of the members of the Riksdag have the opportunity to debate the EU matter that the document concerns, as well as the committee’s points of view. After a decision has been taken in the Chamber, the European Commission can read the Riksdag’s viewpoints.

The statement shows what the Riksdag thinks of a strategic EU initiative at the time, but is not binding in any way. Neither the EU institutions, the Government nor the Riksdag are obliged to follow what is said in the statement.