Criticism persists against Sweden’s rules for political parties to report income and expenses. Greco, a group within the Council of Europe working against corruption, want the rules tightened up.
In a follow-up of previous recommendations GRECO notes that Sweden has done a lot – but that more needs to. It is not sufficient that the parties, by law, must report their income. There is no compulsion to report expenses, assets or liabilities, either for parties or individual candidates. And parties and candidates must not keep separate electoral campaigns, which GRECO has recommended.
There is also no general prohibition against receiving anonymous gifts, says Greco.
The Swedish government will respond on the report before year-end. A politically joint committee is currently reviewing several of the points Greco observes. The study would be completed by the end of April, but has requested a six month extension
Until 2011, 2012, there was no sufficient support in parliament to legislate on the rules for how the parties will fund their activities and how they should report their economy. The turnaround came when the Conservatives gave up its resistance. Prior to the Act, which came into place in April 2014, the parties considered that it was enough voluntary agreements to recognize revenue.
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