Jim from Filipstad is trying to stir up municipalities against the state

Assignment review meets Jim Frölander along the highway on his way to Helsingborg. He has a fully booked schedule and a serious message:

- Municipality after municipality goes out and says, "Help how much we have to save in the next three years" and "where we will need to save at school". And that's a consequence of government policy, says Jim Frölander.

The Frölanders municipal tour began last spring and has its origins in an increasingly desperate situation in the home municipality of Filipstad.

In the wake of the large refugee reception in 2012-2017, the municipality is now struggling against high unemployment, rising child poverty and increased costs for financial assistance.

- It becomes much clearer in smaller municipalities. There you can not isolate it in a suburb and then "business as usual", but it affects the entire social body and that is what it will do in all of Sweden too, says Jim Frölander.

In March 2018, the hope was raised in Filipstad, when the government launched a billion initiative for Swedish municipalities.

"We are taking the entire democratic toolkit now to ensure that we build the largest, strongest security program in modern times," said Stefan Löfven (S).

The new Delegation Against Segregation Authority, Delmos, was commissioned to help 32 particularly vulnerable municipalities. Filipstad was promised up to SEK 40 million per year, until 2027.

But already in the same year, the Riksdag voted for Delmos to close down and liquidate itself during 2019. A major setback for Filipstad.

The goal of Jim Frölander's tour is a joint manifesto from the municipalities, which will be handed over to the government in September. It must contain concrete proposals and measures to solve the problems that the municipalities are facing.

The week when Mission Review follows Jim Frölander, he visits Karlskrona, Motala and Kristianstad, among others.

- It is a little better and more fun to be a few more when you try to describe a reality, than that you come from little Filipstad, which can be experienced as something world-unique. It is not a unique world, but something that is happening in Sweden now and that affects over a hundred municipalities, says Frölander.

Minister of Civil Affairs Ardalan Shakarabi (S) is aware of the serious situation in Filipstad and other municipalities:

- We need to make sure that these municipalities have the financial conditions to handle the situation. It is a lot about money, but it is also about what scope the municipality has. The state must dare to trust the municipalities more and give them more room for maneuver, says Minister of Civil Affairs Ardalan Shakarabi (S).