Daniel Helldén held a speech at the Green party's congress in Västerås and then brought up the government's plans to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 13 years for certain serious crimes.
The Green party has previously been critical of the proposal.
Now, the Tidö parties want us to detain, prosecute and lock up thirteen-year-olds. Think about what that means. Junior high school children. It's absurd, he says.
It was met with applause from the around 800 Green party members in the hall. A prison sentence for such a young person cements a life of crime, according to Helldén.
”They should receive care”
The Social Democrats, with whom the Green party wants to cooperate, say yes to temporarily lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 14 years for serious crimes. But the Green party does not intend to accept that either.
We will not compromise on this. There should be no children in prison in that way. They should be given care, in Sis-homes, says Helldén.
The Green party will otherwise adopt a lot of new policies at the congress, including a new party program since the old one is from 2013.
Helldén promises in the speech that the Green party will stand for a system change in the view of the railway and invest in new main lines. The Moderate Party has made the car the norm and "completely privatized" railway maintenance, he says.
We promise to take back control. We will divide the Swedish Transport Administration and create an authority with full focus on the railway. We will take back maintenance under state control.
Criticizes nuclear power
In the speech, Helldén also attacks the government's and the Sweden Democrats' plans to let the state subsidize new nuclear power in Sweden. The Social Democrats have also opened up to supporting nuclear power, provided that other energy sources also receive state support.
But Helldén has objections.
Nuclear power slows down the climate transition and crowds out investments in renewable energy, welfare, and infrastructure. The price tag will be enormous, he says.
He calls the government's timeline for getting more nuclear power in place a failure.
Party comrades, there will be no new nuclear power in Sweden.
In a comment, Finance Market Minister Niklas Wykman (The Moderate Party) writes that the Green party's decommissioning policy harms Swedish households.
"Magdalena Andersson is without a government alternative in many of the most important issues for Sweden", he says.
