After the traffic chaos on the E22 in Skåne, representatives of several Riksdag parties are demanding answers from the Swedish Transport Administration about how the situation could have arisen, reports Sweden’s Radio Ekot.
The Sweden Democrats took the initiative to invite the Swedish Transport Administration to the Riksdag’s traffic committee to let the authority give its explanation of the situation on the E22 during Wednesday and Thursday, when thousands of people were stuck in the cold for several hours when the road was blocked due to a snowstorm. After that, KD, C, MP and V have followed.
– The Director General (of the Swedish Transport Agency) is very welcome to the committee to give an account of the incident, says Ulrika Heie (C), chairman of the traffic committee, to the radio.
She, like representatives MP and V, at the same time emphasizes that there are several responsible authorities that are of interest to hear, among other things about how the coordination of the rescue work worked.
A: The Minister’s responsibility
The Social Democrats’ traffic policy spokesperson Gunilla Svantorp instead believes that it is infrastructure minister Andreas Carlsson (KD) who should be held accountable.
– I think it is much more important that it is the minister who comes, because the Swedish Transport Administration acts on orders from the ministers, she tells Ekot.
In a comment to Dagens Nyheter, Andreas Carlsson says that he “takes a serious view of what happened” and states that the responsible authorities will make an initial evaluation of the situation on Monday.
“The government and I will follow the evaluation and take part in the conclusions. The government is ready to make the decisions that may be required,” he tells the newspaper.
Comprehensive review
One of the authorities that will take a closer look at what happened on the highway is the Skåne County Administrative Board, reports P4 Kristianstad. The investigation must be shared by the actors, which means that there is an evaluation of the entire system rather than an examination of the incident within the respective authority, the radio channel states.