Criticism of the Municipal Executive Committee in Ale Municipality for forwarding a complaint against a priest to the Church of Sweden in contravention of the Instrument of Government’s requirement for objectivity and impartiality

Summary of the decision: Ale Municipality forwarded a complaint from a private person concerning a priest in the Diocese of Gothenburg. According to the complaint, the priest and several other people were drinking beer and playing loud music in close proximity to Church premises.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman notes that the municipality had neither constitutional nor normative support for its actions, which could easily have been construed as a belief on the part of the municipality that the priest’s behaviour was wrong or inappropriate, and that the Church of Sweden should be alerted to this. By forwarding the complaint to the relevant diocese, the municipality acted beyond its remit in a manner that is incompatible with the requirement for objectivity and impartiality in the Instrument of Government (1974:152). The Municipal Executive Committee is criticised accordingly.