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POLITICS

Meet the 22 ministers in Stefan Löfven’s new (ish) government

Prime Minister Stefan Löfven presented his government on Friday after being reinstated by parliament just two weeks after they toppled him in a no-confidence vote.

Published: 9 July 2021 15:59 CEST
Updated: 9 July 2021 17:29 CEST
Meet the 22 ministers in Stefan Löfven's new (ish) government
Members of the government meeting with the parliamentary speaker, Swedish King and Crown Princess on Friday. Photo: Christine Olsson/TT

Löfven said he would present his government declaration, outlining the policies it would pursue, in September, but cited his four key priorities as: work, safety, the climate and welfare.

“This is a challenging and very important time for Sweden. We have a new political situation in our country,” he said in a nod to the tight margins between the two traditional political blocs, which led both to him being voted down in the no-confidence motion and voted back in by just 176 MPs (175 were needed to either vote in his favour or abstain).

No new ministers were appointed in the third Löfven government (the other two came after general elections in 2014 and 2018), which once again is made up of members of the Social Democrats and Green Party, both on the centre-left of the political spectrum.

This means Sweden no longer has a Minister of Rural Affairs. The holder of that post, Jennie Nilsson, resigned so that she could return to her seat in parliament to take part in the vote on Löfven’s candidacy as prime minister. MPs leave their seats when they enter government and are replaced, but Nilsson’s replacement has been absent on long-term sick leave, leaving the seat empty.

Instead of bringing Nilsson back to the post, Löfven handed the responsibility for rural affairs to Minister of Trade and Industry Ibrahim Baylan, and may appoint a new minister when parliament reopens after the summer recess in mid-September. This means Baylan may play a key role in negotiations between junior coalition partner the Green Party and the Centre Party, whose support the government needs to pass its budget, because forestry legislation is one of the sticking points between the two parties.

In the front row (L-R) are Per Bolund, Stefan Löfven, Märta Stenevi, and Ibrahim Baylan. Photo: Christine Olsson/TT

The ministers in the government are the following:

Stefan Löfven (Social Democrats), Prime Minister
Per Bolund (Green Party), Minister for Climate and Deputy Prime Minister
Magdalena Andersson (Social Democrats), Finance Minister
Hans Dahlgren (Social Democrats), Minister for EU Affairs
Mikael Damberg (Social Democrats), Interior Minister
Anna Ekström (Social Democrats), Minister for Education
Tomas Eneroth (Social Democrats), Minister for Infrastructure
Matilda Ernkrans (Social Democrats), Minister for Higher Education and Research
Anna Hallberg (Social Democrats), Minister for Foreign Trade 
Peter Hultqvist (Social Democrats), Minister for Defence
Lena Hallengren (Social Democrats), Minister for Health and Social Affairs
Morgan Johansson (Social Democrats), Minister for Justice and Migration
Ann Linde (Social Democrats), Foreign Minister
Ibrahim Baylan (Social Democrats), Minister of Trade and Industry
Amanda Lind (Green Party), Minister for Culture and Democracy
Åsa Lindhagen (Green Party), Minister for Financial Markets and Deputy Finance Minister
Lena Micko (Social Democrats), Minister for Public Administration
Eva Nordmark (Social Democrats), Minister for Labour
Anders Ygeman (Social Democrats), Minister for Energy and Digitalisation
Per Olsson Fridh (Green Party), Minister for Development Assistance
Ardalan Shekarabi (Social Democrats), Minister for Social Security
Märta Stenevi (Green Party), Minister for Equality and Minister for Housing

Löfven had two days to announce his ministers after being voted back in as Sweden’s leader. 

That vote was called after Löfven became Sweden’s first ever prime minister to lose a motion of no confidence after the Social Democrats’ long-term ally the Left Party (which was opposed to suggested changes to Swedish rental laws, the issue that sparked the conflict) sided with the right-wing opposition to topple the government.

Löfven opted to resign rather than call a snap election, citing the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic as a reason to avoid prolonged political uncertainty. This sparked rounds of talks between party leaders, and after leader of the opposition Ulf Kristersson abandoned his own bid to form a government, the torch was passed back to the Social Democrat leader.

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POLITICS

‘Very little debate’ on consequences of Sweden’s crime and migration clampdown

Sweden’s political leaders are putting the population’s well-being at risk by moving the country in a more authoritarian direction, according to a recent report.

Published: 29 April 2024 08:56 CEST
'Very little debate' on consequences of Sweden's crime and migration clampdown

The Liberties Rule of Law report shows Sweden backsliding across more areas than any other of the 19 European Union member states monitored, fuelling concerns that the country risks breaching its international human rights obligations, the report says.

“We’ve seen this regression in other countries for a number of years, such as Poland and Hungary, but now we see it also in countries like Sweden,” says John Stauffer, legal director of the human rights organisation Civil Rights Defenders, which co-authored the Swedish section of the report.

The report, compiled by independent civil liberties groups, examines six common challenges facing European Union member states.

Sweden is shown to be regressing in five of these areas: the justice system, media environment, checks and balances, enabling framework for civil society and systemic human rights issues.

The only area where Sweden has not regressed since 2022 is in its anti-corruption framework, where there has been no movement in either a positive or negative direction.

Source: Liberties Rule of Law report

As politicians scramble to combat an escalation in gang crime, laws are being rushed through with too little consideration for basic rights, according to Civil Rights Defenders.

Stauffer cites Sweden’s new stop-and-search zones as a case in point. From April 25th, police in Sweden can temporarily declare any area a “security zone” if there is deemed to be a risk of shootings or explosive attacks stemming from gang conflicts.

Once an area has received this designation, police will be able to search people and cars in the area without any concrete suspicion.

“This is definitely a piece of legislation where we see that it’s problematic from a human rights perspective,” says Stauffer, adding that it “will result in ethnic profiling and discrimination”.

Civil Rights Defenders sought to prevent the new law and will try to challenge it in the courts once it comes into force, Stauffer tells The Local in an interview for the Sweden in Focus Extra podcast. 

He also notes that victims of racial discrimination at the hands of the Swedish authorities had very little chance of getting a fair hearing as actions by the police or judiciary are “not even covered by the Discrimination Act”.

READ ALSO: ‘Civil rights groups in Sweden can fight this government’s repressive proposals’

Stauffer also expresses concerns that an ongoing migration clampdown risks splitting Sweden into a sort of A and B team, where “the government limits access to rights based on your legal basis for being in the country”.

The report says the government’s migration policies take a “divisive ‘us vs them’ approach, which threatens to increase rather than reduce existing social inequalities and exclude certain groups from becoming part of society”.

Proposals such as the introduction of a requirement for civil servants to report undocumented migrants to the authorities would increase societal mistrust and ultimately weaken the rule of law in Sweden, the report says.

The lack of opposition to the kind of surveillance measures that might previously have sparked an outcry is a major concern, says Stauffer.

Politicians’ consistent depiction of Sweden as a country in crisis “affects the public and creates support for these harsh measures”, says Stauffer. “And there is very little talk and debate about the negative consequences.”

Hear John Stauffer from Civil Rights Defender discuss the Liberties Rule of Law report in the The Local’s Sweden in Focus Extra podcast for Membership+ subscribers.

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