In the spring amendment budget for 2023, the government reduced the appropriation Preventive measures against landslides and other natural disasters by SEK 25 million, to finance new surveys of Estonia.
Certain preventive measures against natural disasters cannot therefore be started this year and the level of grants to the municipalities for other measures may be lower, writes the government.
But according to Andreas Önnerfors, who researches conspiracy theories, the new investigations are only about answering “conspiracy theories”. See his views in the video above.
Municipalities need more money
With Sweden’s municipalities, there is no shortage of interest in receiving the grant and being able to prevent, for example, landslides. According to the Swedish Agency for Community Protection and Preparedness municipalities this year have applied for a total of SEK 800 million, and applications from previous years that are still being processed amount to SEK 2.4 billion. After the reduction, there is a total of SEK 475 million to be given to the municipalities in 2023.
The measures granted must be intended to protect buildings from natural disasters such as flooding, landslides and erosion.
– In a longer time perspective, there is probably an even greater need than this 500 million per year, says Ida Axelsson Wall, coordinator for the state grant at the Agency for Community Protection and Preparedness. That’s what Axelsson Wall says regarding the fact that the budget for next year looks to be SEK 500 million.
Discovery film’s creators admit misleading graphics
The creators behind Discovery’s documentary about Estonia have not wanted to be interviewed, but write in an email reply to SVT that they regret that the graphics in the program that would show how Estonia hit rock bottom have become misleading.
They also write that with Discovery’s Estonia series they wanted to “depict different experiences”, but do not specifically answer why they let the misleading graphics remain on Discovery/HBO.
Representatives of the government announce in an email to SVT that Estonia affects many Swedes and that “the investigations can contribute with answers to some of the remaining questions about how the ship sank”. The Government Office also believes that the changed allocations do not need to have a negative effect on the work against landslides, and that the allocations for preventing landslides in the budget for 2024 have not been reduced.