Election Guide 2002 - Sweden.se

The party election manifesto adopted before each
election and setting out our pledges for the coming term
of office, is adopted by the Party Executive.
The parliamentary group is assisted by the Riksdag
Office, which is headed by an Administrative Director
and an Assistant Administrative Director and otherwise
consists of a number of Political Officers, a secretarial
staff and a caretaker.
At the European Parliament in Brussels we have an
Administrative Director and five political officers
(assisting the party’s MEPs) and a small press department
with a staff of two.
The parliamentary group, the parliamentary group
executive, the committees and the Riksdag Office are
responsible for observation of day-to-day political
affairs. More overarching, long-term policy is the
responsibility of the party executive and the party’s
political division.
The political division also includes handling officers
for municipal and county council policy who assist in coordinating
the party’s policies at local and regional levels.
The party publishes a membership journal,
Medborgaren, which appears eight times annually. There
is also Svensk Tidskrift, which is published by a separate
foundation but makes no secret of being very closely
allied with the Moderates.
Political ideas
The core of Moderate policy is the liberty of the individual.
The state must never do things which individual persons
– alone or together with others – can do just as well or
even better.
Anyone wishing to reduce other people’s freedom
must show justification for doing so. Accordingly, it is
not a person wishing to retain their money who must
explain why, it is the person wishing to spend other
people’s money who must prove the necessity of doing so.
Sweden has the world’s highest taxes. We want to
reduce them substantially. Today hundreds of thousands
of people with jobs still have to depend on public handouts
in order to make ends meet. We maintain that people
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