Country Profile: Sweden

• Author: Naldini, Andrea; Pompili, Marco; Peruccacci, Eleonora
• Pages: 237-242

237

25. COUN TRY PROFI LE: SWEDEN

Int roduct ion

Sweden is a centralised coun try, where the g overnm ent is the main authorit y

responsible for m anaging and evalu at ing public policies. Evaluat ions of public policies,

including State aid schemes, are usually carried out by several ex perienced

gov ernment al entities/ agen cies.

25.1. Sect ion 1 - National r ules for t he evaluation of St ate aid schemes

25.1 .1 . Obligat ion or lack ther eof to evaluat e

The Swedish evaluation scene is largely focused on sector-based int erest s and t his

app lies also to St ate aid eva luat ion . Ge neral obli gat ions to ev alua te are laid do wn in the

legislation on the g overnm ental agencies r esponsible for analysis and evaluation

pr act ices reg ard ing th e u se o f p ubl ic f und ing in t heir r espe ctiv e f iel ds, incl udi ng gra nt ing

authorities of St at e aid. Obligations to evaluate include, im plicitly, St at e aid schemes

as a part of t he analysis on the use of public funding, alth ough t here ar e no national

rules specifically addr essing State aid ev aluat ion. No authority h as responsibility for

continuously m onitoring and an alysing the ov er all st ate of St at e aid gover nance, with

follow -up , ev aluation an d analy sis done by secto r.

When the Govern ment desi gns a m easur e and incl udes an evaluat ion pla n, carr yin g ou t

an ev alua tio n is m andat ory an d an y of the gover nm ent al agen cies may be req uest ed t o

proceed with t he evaluation. The legal basis ensur ing that evaluation s com ply with the

EU rules is laid down in the Law on t he applicat ion of the Eur opean Union’s State aid

ru les (2 013: 388 ). To conclude, the ob ligati on t o evaluate is ba sed o n a legal o bligation

but highly dependent on sectoral administr ativ e pract ices to car ry out analyses on the

efficiency of the use of public fu nding. The prevailing legal obligat ions do not lay down

any provisions on systematic evaluation practices with r espect to St at e aid, when

evaluation is not m andatory accor ding to th e EU rules and Law 201 3: 388. When

evalu atio n is m andatory, th e law is en forced by carr yin g ou t a n ev aluation according to

an ev aluat ion plan.

For ex amp le, the Sw edish Agenc y for Gr owt h Poli cy A naly sis, Grow th Anal ysis has been

com m issio ned by th e Gov ern me nt to ev aluat e and anal yse Swed ish gro wt h p olicy u nder

Ord inance 2016: 1 04 8. I t s tasks in clu de gather ing microdata on State aid schem es

granted t o businesses. Compared t o the EU report ing requirements, its m ission is, on

the one hand, narr ower in scope as it does not gather m icrodat a on St at e aid in all

sect or s, while, on the other , it is broader as it includes small-scale Stat e aid falling

outside th e scop e of EU St at e aid control.

In addition t o the government al agencies, the National Audit Office

(Riksr ev isionsverket) act in g as Supreme Au dit Inst it ution an d operating as an

independent body under th e Swedish Parliament is also active on St ate aid ev aluation

on its ow n initiat ive under Ordinance 1998: 4 18 . The Sw edish Agency for Public

Management ( St at skontoret) mandated by t he Ministry of Finance is also act ive in

dev eloping ev aluat ion practice in Sw eden though its role in St ate aid ev aluation is

lim ited.

Ex-ante assessment on meeting t he precon ditions an d the pr ocedures under EU law is

carried out within t he Ministr y of Enterprise and I nn ovation . In addit ion, the National