Budgetpromenaden Explained

Location:	Stockholm, Sweden
Date:	April (spring budget) September–October (fall budget)
Type:	Political event

Budgetpromenaden, or the budget walk, is a traditional biannual procession when the Swedish finance minister walk with a copy of the budget bill from the Ministry of Finance to the Riksdag (the Parliament), a distance of 400m (1,300feet).

The minister is followed by a large gathering of journalists and various political activists and is usually given extensive media coverage. Sometime minor incidents occur, like in April 2001 when a 21-year-old threw a cake on then finance minister Bosse Ringholm.

The physical budget bill has traditionally been delivered in paper form, called

"den nådiga luntan" (English: "the gracious tome"). Later social democratic governments have made a point of using digital storage media such as CD's from 1996, and later flash drives. When Sweden got a center-right government in 2006 the new finance minister Anders Borg returned to paper tomes. During 2017's budget walk, finance minister Magdalena Andersson carried a tome of 3 906 pages that weighed 10.5kg (23.1lb).^[1]

Notable budget walks

• 20 September 1999 - Bosse Ringholm's first budget bill delivered as both CD and paper tome.^[2]
• 17 April 2001 - A 21-year-old throws a cake on Bosse Ringholm.^[3]
• 14 April 2005 - Pär Nuder's first budget walk, the budget bill is delivered as CD.
• 20 September 2005 - The CD is replaced with a USB flash drive, that Nuder carries in a blue ribbon around his neck.
• 16 October 2006 - Anders Borg delivers his first budget bill as paper tomes in purple binders.^[4]
• 23 October 2014 - Magdalena Andersson delivers her first budget bill.

References

1. News: Lugn budgetpromenad under Säpokontroll. 20 September 2017. Sydsvenskan. 21 September 2017. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20170920115807/https://www.sydsvenskan.se/2017-09-20/lugn-budgetpromenad-under-sapokontroll. 20 September 2017. sv. Quiet budget walk under Säpo control.
2. News: Nöjd Ringholm lämnade över sin första lunta. Salomonsson. Claes. 20 September 1999. Aftonbladet. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20140503194027/http://wwwc.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/9909/20/bringholm.html. 3 May 2014. sv. Satisfied Ringholm hands over his first tome.
3. News: Ringholm fick tårta i ansiktet. Sohlander. Annika. 17 April 2001. Aftonbladet. 9 October 2011. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20190817135852/http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/EowAyG/ringholm-fick-tarta-i-ansiktet. 17 August 2019. Thunblad. Claes. sv. Ringholm got cake on his face.
4. News: Tumult vid Borgs promenad. Behdjou. Behrang. 16 October 2006. Expressen. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20160310055817/http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/tumult-vid-borgs-promenad/. 10 March 2016. Sjödin. Frida. sv. Tumult at Borg's walk.