The Swedish Riksdag trashes its own “democratic conditions bill”. Christian Democratic MP Roland Utbult says that more research would be necessary before it could be implemented.
In July, the Swedish Social Democrats presented a bill that would require churches to show proof of democratic conditions to be able to receive grants from the government. For several religious communities, this could be problematic, as “presenting threats of exclusion due to choice of life partner” or referring to conversion therapy would violate these conditions. Churches could be denied funds on these grounds.
The news about the bill led to many critiques. People feared that the state would get too much power and collectively punish religious communities.
Now, the new Swedish Parliament that will come to power soon wants to get rid of the proposal altogether, Altinget reports.
The coalition agreement of the new Parliament reads that “investigative work must be carried out to ensure that organisations and associations that receive funds from the general heritage fund correctly use these with clear reporting of results and that they follow democratic values.” Without these studies, the bill cannot be implemented.
According to Christian Democrat Roland Utbult, the bill will be withdrawn altogether. “It would be difficult to amend a text of a law that has so many flaws at its foundation. A review is required first”, he says, as reported by Dagen.
Extremism
The bill on democratic conditions had been in the making for several years. It was to be reviewed by the Swedish Cultural Commission on October 28. The spokesperson of the Green Party, Amanda Lind, says she does not know what the next step will be and whether a new proposal will be presented. “This concerns the entire civil society, and the conditions of democracy need to be clear, predictable, long-term and universally applicable”, she tells Altinget. “They must apply to all forms of extremism and all kinds of anti-democratic actors.”
