The investigator, formerly Court of Appeal judge Krister Thelin, has after nine months of investigation of a national begging ban landed on the fact that it is not needed.
A reason for this is that the number of people begging has decreased, according to Thelin.
There are many, many fewer today, he says at a press conference and adds that it has been difficult to get an exact figure.
No longer profitable
This is partly due to decreased use of cash.
This means that it is no longer possible to get together "150 kronor per day" as before, which makes it no longer profitable enough to travel from countries such as Romania and Bulgaria to beg in Sweden, according to the investigator.
Another reason why a ban is not needed, according to Thelin, is that municipalities already have the opportunity to introduce local begging bans – which about 20 municipalities have done.
Both The Moderate Party and the Sweden Democrats have previously advocated for a begging ban. The Sweden Democrats have stated that the party hopes to get one through during the term of office.
For The Liberals, a begging ban has been harder to swallow, but the Tidö negotiations resulted in an investigation being appointed.
In a comment, L's group leader in the Riksdag, Lina Nordquist, says that the investigator's recommendation is in line with the party's policy:
"We want to combat poverty, vulnerability and mental illness, not ban people from asking for help", she says.
The task included "regardless of stance" to submit a proposal that means begging is prohibited. The investigator has therefore presented two different proposals on how a begging ban could be implemented.
SD: Ban would be good
The government will now send the investigation for review.
I do not anticipate that process, says Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer (M) and continues:
Then we will return to our choices in the future.
If the Tidö parties proceed with a ban, it can according to Strömmer "technically" be introduced before the 2026 election.
The Chairman of the Justice Committee, Henrik Vinge (SD), says that a ban would still be "good" since begging is "part of a structure that is very close to organized crime".
We must do everything we can to counter that. It would mean that we can address the problem in different ways. It's not about punishing someone who is poor, he says.
According to Vinge, it is a bad solution that the decisions are made at the municipal level.
One is just passing the problem around between the municipalities.
