KU believes that there have been ambiguities regarding the ministers’ relationship to the group that had the coordinating function (GSS).
“Given the importance that GSS came to have, it is doubtful whether it was appropriate that the State Secretary who has led GSS does not appear to have been subordinate to any minister,” writes KU.
KU notes that it is difficult to see that anyone other than the Prime Minister can be responsible at the Prime Minister’s level for the coordinating function.
The Commission presented its report at the end of February. The government was then criticized for making it difficult to obtain material and documentation on, among other things, meetings that central state secretaries had had during the pandemic. Without sufficient documentation, the examination of whether the government acted correctly during the pandemic is hampered, according to the Commission.
And it was incomprehensible, representatives of the Commission claim, that it took so long to get the material requested from the Government Offices.
Promised improvement
When Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson was questioned in April, she promised that the Government Offices would be better at documenting what is done during a crisis.
Minister of Social Affairs Lena Hallengren, for her part, called the commission’s criticism that the government had been belated in its handling “sweeping”.
One issue that KU devoted time to in the hearings concerns the evacuation of local employees and interpreters who once worked for the Swedish defense in Afghanistan. There, the government has reported for not having prepared for the chaotic situation that arose when the Taliban took over in Kabul in August, and for acting late.
Hultqvist: Proud of the action
But when Minister of Defense Peter Hultqvist (S) was questioned in KU, he said he was proud of how the government had acted.
– Given the difficult security situation, the government and relevant authorities did everything that was practically possible, Hultqvist said about the evacuation and the preparations, or the lack of such.
The role of the Constitution Committee is to examine how the government and the individual ministers conduct their work on the basis of the laws and rules they must follow. In its reports, KU issues a form of assessment of the work of the government and ministers in matters that have been examined. In simple terms, the worst thing that can happen is that a minister or the government receives such serious criticism that he, she or the government is spotted.