A new government focused on the future

This blog post will not be about the extremely sad reality we woke up to today... a reality with many losers and only 12.9% "winners". Nor will it be about speculation about government constellations, ministerial posts or possible re-elections. We will have many reasons to come back to that in the future.

Instead, this blog post is about something even more important. About Sweden's future beyond the current post-election swings. About how Sweden will be able to meet all the future challenges that lie ahead. About the challenges that the Commission on the Future describes in detail in its final report , which was presented last spring. Challenges linked to sustainable growth, demographic development, integration in the labor market, democracy, gender equality and social cohesion. About the challenges that we face in about 5-15 years' time but which we must address now.

The Commission's mission was to - by identifying some of Sweden's long-term challenges - contribute to a more future-oriented debate and to enable the government, parliament and other parts of society to make decisions at an early stage that enable Sweden to meet the challenges in the best possible way. The result was a very comprehensive report that in a clear and well-illuminated way highlighted the challenges that Swedish decision-makers need to address in their daily political work to ensure a strong, competitive and good Sweden in the future. A Sweden to be proud of.

But what happened to this excellent analysis of the future? Well, it became a page on regeringen.se. No promises from the client, the Alliance government. No subsequent commissions of inquiry with the aim of highlighting concrete proposals and measures to meet these future challenges. Nothing at all. The final report was largely met with silence.

Except from MP. Gustav Fridolin and Per Bolund wrote in a reply on Brännpunkt on March 27, 2013 how distressing it was that "the four party leaders of the Alliance do not make any promises whatsoever in response to the report. The only message is that the government will continue to work, unclear how, and unclear for how long. There is thus an obvious risk that the knowledge gathered by the Future Commission will not lead to any change in policy."

Now is your chance MP! Now that the Swedish people have voted you and S into power, make sure we have a long-term plan to meet the really big challenges we face. In our own report, published last year, we propose goals and concrete initiatives linked to the Future Commission's final report. Packaged and ready. Just to pick straight off.

Because with an ageing population where fewer people of working age have to support more and more people, the opportunities of digitalization must be taken seriously. With digitization, we can rationalize public administration and ensure that every tax dollar in this country is used as efficiently as possible - so that we can safeguard welfare and ensure that Sweden is a country to be proud of. Also in the future.