128-633: Margot Elisabeth Wallström ( Swedish pronunciation: [ˈmǎrːɡɔt ˈvâlːstrœm] ; born 28 September 1954) is a Swedish politician of the Swedish Social Democratic Party who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden and Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2014 to 2019 and Minister for Nordic Cooperation from 2016 to 2019. Wallström previously served as the first United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict from 2010 to 2012, as Vice-President of
256-535: A Moderate Party government led by Carl Bildt (1991–1994), creating the fiscal crisis of the early 1990s. According to Cerra and Saxena (2005) almost all of the fall in the substantial GDP per capita lead over the OECD average that Sweden enjoyed through the 1960-1990 period can be attributed to the Swedish financial crisis, and there is no evidence for a substantial negative growth impact from egalitarian policies as in
384-688: A banking clerk at the Alfa Savings bank in Karlstad . She worked there from 1977 to 1979, and briefly as an accountant from 1986 to 1987. Wallström was the CEO of a regional TV network in Värmland , Sweden from 1993 to 1994. Before taking up her appointment as EU Commissioner she was executive vice-president of Worldview Global Media in Colombo , Sri Lanka . Wallström has had a long career in politics in
512-472: A breach of the oath every member of the European Commission gives, which states that any member of the commission should work for the community's best interest with no influence from politicians. European Commission spokespeople Mikolaj Dowgielewicz and Pia Ahrenkilde-Hansen stated that her new assignment was not in conflict with her commissioner position. In December 2006, Wallström was voted
640-603: A culture, a history, something that binds them together. Swedes have only Midsummer Night and such silly things." Karen Jespersen , a former Minister of Integration in Denmark, commented: Cultural self-denial cannot easily be more monstrous and ghastly." After the terrorist action in Brussels in March 2016, Sahlin, who was then serving as national coordinator against violent extremism, maintained in an op-ed that such atrocities were
768-456: A just level and promote business efficiency and productivity. With the pre-1983 cooperation of capital and labor federations that bargained independently of the state, the state determined that wages would be higher than the market would set in firms that were inefficient or uncompetitive and lower than the market would set in firms that were highly productive and competitive. Workers were compensated with state-sponsored retraining and relocating. At
896-695: A new coalition government with the Green Party was unsuccessful because her budget proposal failed to pass. On 18 October 2022, conservative leader Ulf Kristersson became the new Prime Minister to succeed Magdalena Andersson, meaning that the Social Democratic Party, although still Sweden's largest party, would be in the opposition. Mona Sahlin Mona Ingeborg Sahlin ( Swedish pronunciation: [ˈmôːna saˈliːn] ; née Andersson ; born 9 March 1957)
1024-668: A number of left-wing party members criticised her candidacy for party leader. Much of this criticism was silenced in January 2007 when the chairman of the Trade Union Confederation , Wanja Lundby-Wedin , expressed full support for Sahlin as well as several powerful party districts around the country. One of her key initiatives was the formation of the Red-Green alliance between the Social Democrats and
1152-485: A passed and inferior development state." The Social Democrats are strong supporters of egalitarianism and maintain a strong opposition to discrimination and racism . The party supports social welfare provision, paid for by progressive taxation . The party also supports a social corporatist economy involving the institutionalization of a social partnership system between capital and labour economic interest groups, with government oversight to resolve disputes between
1280-552: A prescient view of the working class. The party's 1932 election manifesto asserted that "[the SAP] does not question whether those who have become capitalism's victims are industrial workers, farmers, agricultural laborers, forestry workers, store clerks, civil servants or intellectuals ". While the SAP has worked more or less constructively with more radical left-wing parties in Sweden,
1408-504: A prominent Social Democrat who educated himself in economics by studying the work of the British radical Liberal economists. The social democratic labor market policies, or ALMPs, were developed in the 1940s and 1950s by LO ( Landsorganisationen i Sverige , the blue-collar union federation) economists Gösta Rehn and Rudolf Meidner . The Rehn-Meidner model featured the centralized system of wage bargaining that aimed to both set wages at
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#17327910759891536-592: A result of 10.3% in this election. In 1968, the established Communists, most likely due to bad press about the Soviets overtaking of Czechoslovakia ( Prague Spring ), got a historically bad result of 3% of the votes while the SAP enjoyed 50.1% and an absolute majority in parliament. Only in a fairly brief period between the elections of 1973 to 1979 did the SAP get below the normal interval of 44.6% to 46.2%, instead scoring an average of 43.2%, losing in 1976 (the first time in 44 years) and again just barely in 1979. However,
1664-455: A result of the transactions, and was closed in early 1996 when it came to the conclusion that there was no infringement. She eventually paid the bills (along with an extra of SEK 15,000, which was later returned) to the Treasury. The controversy was dubbed as the "Toblerone affair" due to the inclusion of Toblerone bars on the credit card statement. From 1996 to 1997, Sahlin worked as
1792-704: A self-employed owner of a small company and as a television reporter. In 1997, she was elected chairman of the European Council Against Racism and in 1998 she became the head of the Social Democratic youth education school Bommersvik . Sahlin returned to national politics in 1998 when then Prime Minister Göran Persson appointed her as Minister without Portfolio . She served first in the Ministry of Industry, Employment and Communication from 1998 to 2002, then from 2002 to 2004 in
1920-400: A society of wranglers, cheaters, peculiar manipulations, false ambitions and new injustices. It took me at least a decade to get a part of the party to see this". With the capitalist confederation's defection from the 1938 Saltsjöbaden Agreement and Swedish capital investing in other European countries rather than Sweden as well as the global rise of neoliberal political-economic hegemony ,
2048-420: A strong commitment to public education , the middle class in Sweden became so large that the capitalist class has remained concentrated. Not only did the SAP fuse the growing middle class into their constituency, they also ingeniously forged periodic coalitions with small-scale farmers (as members of the "exploited classes") to great strategic effect. The SAP version of socialist ideology allowed them to maintain
2176-464: A study committee that came up with a 1976 proposal that entailed transferring the excess profits into investment funds controlled by the workers in the firms, with the intention that the companies’ employment would increase and thus pay more workers higher wages, rather than increasing the wealth of the company owners and managers. Capitalists immediately distinguished this proposal as socialism, and launched an unprecedented opposition—including calling off
2304-462: Is a Swedish politician who was leader of the opposition and leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 2007 to 2011. Sahlin was a Member of Parliament , representing Stockholm County , from 1982 to 1996 and again from 2002 to 2011. She has also held ministerial posts in the Swedish government from 1990 to 1991, from 1994 to 1995 and from 1998 to 2006. Sahlin was elected as leader of
2432-526: Is a social democratic political party in Sweden . The party is member of the Progressive Alliance and the Party of European Socialists . Founded in 1889, the SAP is the country's oldest and currently largest party. From the mid-1930s to the 1980s, the Social Democratic Party won more than 40% of the vote. From 1932 to 1976, the SAP was continuously in government. From 1982 to 2022, the party
2560-456: Is inflected by a socialist tradition foregrounding widespread and individual human development. In 1967, Gunnar Adler-Karlsson confidently likened the social democratic project to the successful social democratic effort to divest the king of all power but formal grandeur: "Without dangerous and disruptive internal fights. ... After a few decades they [the capitalists] will then remain, perhaps formally as kings, but in reality as naked symbols of
2688-565: Is no more patriotic party than the [SAP since] the most patriotic act is to create a land in which all feel at home", famously igniting Swedes' innermost longing for transcendence with the 1928 idea of the Folkhem, or the People's Home. The Social Democratic Party promoted Folkhemmet as a socialist home at a point in which the party turned its back on class struggle and the policy tool of nationalization . Hansson soothed that "[t]he expansion of
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#17327910759892816-818: The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, supports Israel's right to defend itself, and is in favor of the two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. She expressed her condemnation of BDS during an "Israel day" conference held by the Jewish community in Sweden. During Wallström's December 2016 visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority , many Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , refused to meet her, citing scheduling conflicts. Some sources suggest that
2944-539: The Chicago School of political and economic thought and the global neoliberal movement. Social Democratic Party leaders—including Göran Persson , Mona Sahlin and Anna Lindh —promoted European Union (EU) membership and the Swedish referendum passed by 52–48% in favor of joining the EU on 14 August 1994. Liberal leader Lars Leijonborg at his 2007 retirement could recall the 1990s as a golden age of liberalism in which
3072-660: The Communist Party of Sweden (SKP), participated in a coalition government due to the pressures of the Second World War , and it led to voters most likely wanting one party to be in majority to give a parliament that could not be hung . In 1944 , the tides of the war had turned and the Allied nations looked to win, giving voters more confidence in voting by preference and explaining the more normal electoral result of 46.6%. The previously excluded SKP also achieved
3200-696: The Democratic Republic of the Congo to help investigate claims that rebel fighters raped more than 150 women and baby boys over four days within miles of a UN base in the country. Wallström later addressed the United Nations Security Council in a September 2010 session on the use of sexual violence as a weapon by both rebel militias and government troops in the eastern provinces of the DRC. In her speech, she demonstrated that
3328-503: The German Social Democrats . In the 21st century, many of the aspects of the social democratic welfare state continued to function at a high level, due in no small part to the high rate of unionization in Sweden, the independence of unions in the wage-setting and the exemplary competency of the female public sector workforce as well as widespread public support for welfare. The Social Democrats initiated studies on
3456-674: The Great Depression (which she contrasts with the Social Democratic Party of Germany 's reluctance towards Keynesian policies during the same time and the German Social Democrats' subsequent decline). In 2007, the Social Democrats elected Mona Sahlin as their first female party leader. On 7 December 2009, the Social Democrats launched a political and electoral coalition with the Greens and
3584-463: The Ministry of Justice as the "Minister for Democracy and Integration", and from 2004 to 2006 in the Ministry of Sustainable Development as the "Minister for Sustainable Development". In 2004, she was the Social Democratic minister for integration of refugees and her public positions indicated an opposition to proposed restrictions on asylum seekers, arguing the all refugees entering Sweden must have
3712-664: The Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party infrastructure to the liberal Democratic Party in 1944. Under the Social Democrats' administration, Sweden retained neutrality as a foreign policy guideline during the wars of the 20th century, including the Cold War . Neutrality preserved the Swedish economy and boosted Sweden's economic competitiveness in the first half of the 20th century as other European countries' economies were devastated by war. Under Olof Palme 's Social Democratic leadership, Sweden further aggravated
3840-564: The Nordic countries . Sweden could also borrow and innovate upon ideas from English-language economists which was an advantage for the Social Democrats in the Great Depression , but more advantageous for the bourgeois parties in the 1980s and afterward. Among the social movement tactics of the Swedish Social Democratic Party in the 20th century was its redefinition of " socialization " from " common ownership of
3968-591: The Russian foreign ministry warning of "consequences" if Sweden joins NATO . In January 2015, Wallström tweeted criticism of Saudi Arabia 's flogging of human rights activist blogger Raif Badawi , calling it a "cruel attempt to silence modern forms of expression". In May 2015, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Wallström as member of the High-Level Panel on Humanitarian Financing, an initiative aimed at preparing recommendations for
Margot Wallström - Misplaced Pages Continue
4096-510: The Swedish Municipal Workers' Union , bypassing an average eight-year waiting list. Wallström replied that she acted in good faith and received a confirmation from highest-ranking officials, that all norms and rules were followed. Wallström accused the union's general secretary Annelie Nordström of not being truthful. The affair caused a controversy and prompted an investigation by a special prosecutor. The prosecutor closed
4224-545: The Treaty of Lisbon following its rejection by French and Dutch voters. Immediately after the election of Mona Sahlin as party leader, Wallström accepted a membership in a group working to develop political strategies for the upcoming election to the European Parliament in 2009 . The membership in this group was considered by Swedish liberal Carl B Hamilton (and later also Fredrik Reinfeldt ) to constitute
4352-461: The ideology and policies of the SAP have had strong influence on Swedish politics. The Swedish social democratic ideology is partially an outgrowth of the strong and well-organized 1880s and 1890s working class emancipation, temperance and religious folkrörelser (folk movements), by which peasant and workers' organizations penetrated state structures early on and paved the way for electoral politics. In this way, Swedish social democratic ideology
4480-542: The means of production " to increasing "democratic influence over the economy". Starting out in a socialist-liberal coalition fighting for the vote, the Swedish Social Democrats defined socialism as the development of democracy—political and economic. On that basis, they could form coalitions, innovate and govern where other European social democratic parties became crippled and crumbled under right-wing regimes. The Swedish Social Democrats could count
4608-553: The middle class among their solidaristic working class constituency by recognizing the middle class as "economically dependent", "working people", or among the "progressive citizens", rather than as sub-capitalists. The Social Democratic congress of 1932 established that "[t]he party does not aim to support and help [one] working class at the expense of the others". In fact, with social democratic policies that refrained from supporting inefficient and low-profit businesses in favor of cultivating higher-quality working conditions as well as
4736-456: The 'Eurosclerosis' hypothesis. The financial crisis can in turn be explained by policy errors. For example, in the late 1980s high inflation interacted with the tax code to produce negative real interest rates and an investment boom. However, in 1990-1991 the highly trade exposed Swedish economy was impacted by the global downturn, but the commitment to the fixed exchange rate now required a rapid shift to high real interest rates in order to defend
4864-565: The 1980s industrial restructuring and the currency policy excesses. At the turn of the 21st century, Sweden had a well-regarded, generally robust economy and the average quality of life after government transfers was very high, inequality was low and the ( Gini coefficient was .28) and social mobility was high (compared to the affluent Anglo-American and Central European countries). The Social Democratic Party pursues environmentalist and feminist policies which promote healthful and humane conditions. Feminist policies formed and implemented by
4992-539: The 2016 World Humanitarian Summit . One of Wallström's main foreign policy goals was to secure one of the non-permanent seats for Sweden on the UN Security Council in the 2016 elections . This was achieved on 28 June 2016. In February 2018, Wallström cancelled her visit to Turkey that was due in two weeks to protest the Turkish invasion of northern Syria aimed at ousting U.S.-backed Syrian Kurds from
5120-583: The Centre Party and Liberals, it was one of the weakest governments in Swedish history. In August 2021, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven announced his resignation and finance minister Magdalena Andersson was elected as the new head of Sweden's ruling Social Democrats in November 2021. On 30 November 2021, Magdalena Andersson became Sweden's first female prime minister. She formed a minority government made up of only her Social Democrats. Her plan for forming
5248-409: The EU's Europe by Satellite (EbS) video-broadcast service into an EU news agency; the plan was scrapped after press organizations complained that it would undermine the work of reporters covering the EU. Following Sweden's 2006 election , in which the Social Democratic Party lost power, former Prime Minister Göran Persson announced his withdrawal from politics in March 2007. Wallström was regarded as
Margot Wallström - Misplaced Pages Continue
5376-598: The European Commission and European Commissioner for Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy from 2004 to 2010, European Commissioner for the Environment from 1999 to 2004, Minister for Consumer Affairs from 1988 to 1991 and Member of the Riksdag (MP) for Värmland from 1982 to 1999. Born in Skellefteå , Wallström is a high school graduate without academic degrees. In 1973, she started her career as
5504-632: The European Commission's initial proposal for REACH , a regulation requiring manufacturers of industrial chemicals to test and register their products with the European Chemicals Agency before they can be used. In 2004, she approved the importation of a genetically modified corn from the United States for animal feed after a six-year moratorium, arguing in a statement that the corn produced by biotechnology company Monsanto , known as NK603 maize, had been rigorously tested and
5632-403: The Green Party to counter the move to pare back the social welfare system and privatize state-owned assets. In the election to the European Parliament held on 7 June 2009 – Sahlin's first election as party leader – the Social Democratic Party received 24.41 percent of the votes (a slight reduction from the 2004 election in which the party received 24.56 percent). The result was the lowest for
5760-463: The Labour Market and as spokesman for the Social Democrats on labour market issues. From 1992 to 1994, she was party secretary. During this period, she openly criticized government reforms, particularly on social welfare and employees' rights, maintaining they needed to be reversed. She left her position to rejoin the government as Minister for Gender Equality and Deputy Prime Minister , when
5888-677: The Left Party known as the Red–Greens . The parties contested the 2010 election on a joint manifesto, but lost the election to the incumbent centre-right coalition, The Alliance . On 26 November 2010, the Red–Green alliance was dissolved. The party is a member of the Progressive Alliance , the Party of European Socialists and SAMAK . The party was a member of the Socialist International until March 2017. SAP has been
6016-472: The Left Party, a close ally of the SAP, abstained. The oppositional Alliance-parties also abstained while the Sweden Democrats voted against. In the 2018 Swedish general election , the Social Democrats' vote share fell to 28.3 percent, its lowest level of support since 1911 . Nevertheless, a Social Democrat and Green Party coalition government was formed in January 2019. Relying on support of
6144-572: The Liberals. The party's first chapter in its statutes says "the intention of the Swedish Social Democratic Labour Party is the struggle towards Democratic Socialism ", i.e. a society with a democratic economy based on the socialist principle " From each according to his ability, to each according to his need ". Since the party held power of office for a majority of terms after its founding in 1889 through 2003,
6272-579: The Russian ambassador to Sweden, Victor Ivanovitj Tatarintsev, over the behaviour of a Russian military jet which Swedish authorities said had caused an SAS flight from Copenhagen to Poznań , Poland, to change course off southern Sweden; the incident inflamed sensitivities over Russian flights in the Nordic region, driven in part by tensions over separatism in eastern Ukraine . On 11 September 2015, she again summoned Russia's ambassador to explain comments from
6400-434: The SAP in 2006. From 2006 to 2014 , the SAP lost two consecutive terms to the centre-right Alliance due to the centrist liberal attitudes of then- Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt attracting some of the SAP voters. In 2010 , 2014 and 2018, the vote share of SAP dramatically declined, with some of these votes being lost to the right-wing populist party, Sweden Democrats . In the 2018 Swedish general election ,
6528-424: The SAP was able to secure capital's co-operation by convincing capital that it shared the goals of increasing economic growth and reducing social friction. For many Social Democrats, Marxism is loosely held to be valuable for its emphasis on changing the world for a more just, better future. In 1889, Hjalmar Branting , leader of the SAP from its founding to his death in 1925, asserted: "I believe that one benefits
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#17327910759896656-554: The Saudi ambassador back to Sweden. It is deeply satisfying that we have been able to clear the misunderstanding that we insulted the world religion Islam." Wallström has called for more articles on Misplaced Pages about women related topics. In 2005, Wallström, in her capacity as EU Commissioner responsible for communications, came under pressure to justify her handling of a controversial speech that linked opposition to European integration with Nazi genocide, after it emerged she had changed
6784-651: The Saudi king, and a fellow Social Democrat member of the government, Björn von Sydow , travelled to meet King Salman bin Abdul Aziz and Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud , taking him private letters from the Swedish King and from Prime Minister Stefan Löfven . These have remained classified, but in a press conference on 28 March, Wallström said: "I am very pleased to announce that we can normalize our relations immediately, and that we are able to welcome
6912-712: The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon , announced at the African Union summit in Ethiopia his intention to nominate Wallström as his first ever United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict . As a reaction, Wallström said that she felt "honoured" and "humble" to have been chosen for the job, which she started in April 2010. In August 2010, Ban sent Wallström to
7040-771: The Social Democratic Party along with the Green Party and the Left Party (which made an arrangement with the Social Democrats to support the government while not forming a coalition), include paid maternity and paternity leave, high employment for women in the public sector, combining flexible work with living wages and benefits, providing public support for women in their traditional responsibilities for care giving and policies to stimulate women's political participation and leadership. Reviewing policies and institutional practices for their impact on women had become common in social democratic governance. The Social Democratic Party
7168-505: The Social Democratic Party backed away from the progressive Meidner reform. The economic crisis in the 1990s has been widely cited in the Anglo-American press as a social democratic failure, but it is important to note that not only did profit rates begin to fall worldwide after the 1960s, this period also saw neoliberal ascendance in Social Democratic ideology and policies as well as the rise of bourgeois coalition rule in place of
7296-408: The Social Democratic Party on 17 March 2007, succeeding Göran Persson who resigned as leader following the defeat in the 2006 general election . Sahlin is the first female leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party and became in 2011 the first since Claes Tholin in 1907 to leave that position without having served as Prime Minister of Sweden . In 2012, her successor Håkan Juholt joined her as
7424-429: The Social Democratic Party since the introduction of universal suffrage in Sweden in 1921. In a speech before trade unionists during the election campaign on 12 May 2009, Sahlin said: " If there's not a plus in front of our figures it's a deep failure ". She led the Social Democratic Party in the election of September 2010 where she failed to unseat Fredrik Reinfeldt as Prime Minister. The Social Democrats received
7552-711: The Social Democratic Party. Founded in 1889 as a member of the Second International , a split occurred in 1917 when the left socialists split from the Social Democrats to form the Swedish Social Democratic Left Party (later the Communist Party of Sweden and now the Left Party ). The words of honour as recorded by the 2001 party programme are "freedom, equality, and solidarity ". The party had influences from Marxism in its early days, but these were gradually removed in
7680-503: The Social Democrats have borrowed from socialists some of their discourse and decreasingly the socialist understanding of the structurally compromised position of labor under capitalism. Even more creatively, the Social Democrats commandeered selected, transcendental images from such nationalists as Rudolf Kjellen in 1912, very effectively undercutting fascism 's appeal in Sweden. In this way, Per Albin Hansson declared that "there
7808-460: The Social Democrats regained power in the 1994 election. In October 1995, the newspaper Expressen following an investigation led by Christian Democratic Spanish-Swedish Public Auditor Carlos Medina de Rebolledo reported that Sahlin, who was then serving as Deputy Prime Minister and was widely seen as the main candidate to succeed Ingvar Carlsson as Prime Minister, had charged SEK 53,174 for private expenses on her working charge card, which
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#17327910759897936-466: The Social Democrats were under the expanding influence of the Liberals and its partners in the centre-right political coalition. Leijonborg recounted neoliberal victories such as the growth of private schooling and the proliferation of private, for-profit radio and television. It has been argued that the Swedish Social Democrats' Third Way pension reforms have been more successful than those enacted by
8064-406: The Social Democrats won back power in 1982 with a normal result of 45.6%. The voter base consists of a diverse swathe of people throughout Swedish society, although it is particularly strong amongst organised blue-collar workers. In the 2006 Swedish general election , the SAP received the smallest share of votes (34.99%) ever in a Swedish general election with universal suffrage , resulting in
8192-415: The Social Democrats' vote share fell to 28.3 percent, its lowest level of support since 1908 . In the 2022 Swedish general election , the Social Democrats remained Sweden's largest party, with 30.3% of the vote, however the right-wing bloc won a slim majority in the parliament. Based on the Sveriges Television 's exit polls . In the 1890s, the Social Democrats usually stood on the same ticket as
8320-446: The Social Democrats. In the 1980s the Social Democratic party's neoliberal measures—such as depressing and deregulating the currency to prop up Swedish exports during the economic restructuring and transition, dropping of corporate taxation and taxation on high income-earners and switching from anti-unemployment policies to anti-inflationary policies—were exacerbated by the international recession , unchecked currency speculation and by
8448-426: The Swedish GDP, which is consistent with other research suggesting that a financial crisis can have extremely persistent effects. When the Social Democrats returned to power in 1994, they responded to the fiscal crisis by stabilizing the currency—and by curtailing the welfare state and privatizing the public sector and goods as governments did in many countries influenced by conservative Milton Friedman ,
8576-503: The Swedish Social Democratic movement include: The SAP had its golden age during the mid-1930s to mid-1980s when in half of all general elections it received between 44.6% and 46.2% (averaging 45.3%) of the votes, making it one of the most successful parties in the history of the liberal-democratic world. In two of the general elections in 1940 and 1968 , it got more than 50% of the votes, although both cases had special circumstances. In 1940, all established Swedish parties, except for
8704-411: The Swedish parliament, the Swedish government, and the European Commission . At 25, she was elected to parliament. She was Environment Commissioner from 1999 to 2004, and in the Swedish government she was Minister for Consumer Affairs, Women and Youth from 1988 to 1991, Minister for Culture from 1994 to 1996, and Minister for Social Affairs from 1996 to 1998. During her time in office, Wallström pushed
8832-413: The Union. Her work on such platforms, including the backing of the oneseat.eu petition, has given her a good reputation in some quarters, even being dubbed "the Citizens Commissioner" – but has earned her names like "the Propaganda Commissioner" as well from political opponents. The Economist listed her among the least effective commissioners in 2009. In 2006, Wallström presented her a plan to transform
8960-456: The United States and United Kingdom's previous interventions in Afghanistan . Because the Rehn–Meidner model allowed capitalists owning very productive and efficient firms to retain excess profits at the expense of the firms' workers, thus exacerbating inequality, workers in these companies began to ask for a share of the profits in the 1970s, just as women working in the state sector began to assert pressure for better wages. Meidner established
9088-438: The aftermath of the November 2015 Paris attacks in which 137 were murdered, Wallström told Swedish television network SVT2 : "To counteract the radicalization we must go back to the situation such as the one in the Middle East of which not the least the Palestinians see that, for us, there is no future: we must either accept a desperate situation or resort to violence." The Israeli government reacted angrily to Wallström's linking
9216-489: The age of 15 criminal as sexual abuse . Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu summoned Swedish ambassador for reprimand meeting and deputy prime minister Mehmet Simsek accused Wallström of being misinformed and acting without checking all facts. The original case was brought to the Constitutional Court by a lower court that was afraid there is no legal discrimination between teenagers that may understand
9344-637: The age of seven, Sahlin founded the Swedish " Barbie Club". During her childhood, she also enjoyed soccer and music . Sahlin performed as one of the back up singers to Jan Malmsjö , in the selection for the song to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969 . The song was written by Benny Andersson and Lasse Berghagen and it came in second place. Sahlin was educated at Nacka Samskola and Södra Latin in Stockholm and completed secondary school in 1977. From 1976 to 1977, she
9472-535: The attacks to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict , summoning the Swedish ambassador and saying Wallström's statement bordered on antisemitism and blood libel . In December 2015, Wallström denounced the ongoing wave of Palestinian knife and car-ramming attacks in Israel. On 12 January 2016, Wallström called for an investigation into whether Israel was guilty of the extrajudicial killings of Palestinians during
9600-453: The breaking down of all the social and economic barriers that now separate citizens into the privileged and the neglected, into the rulers and the dependents, into the rich and the poor, the propertied and the impoverished, the plunderers and the plundered. Swedish society is not yet the people's home. There is a formal equality, equality of political rights, but from a social perspective, the class society remains, and from an economic perspective
9728-431: The class compromise established in the 1938 Saltsjöbaden Agreement . The 1980s were a very turbulent time in Sweden that initiated the occasional decline of Social Democratic Party rule. In the 1980s, pillars of Swedish industry were massively restructured. Shipbuilding was discontinued, wood pulp was integrated into modernized paper production, the steel industry was concentrated and specialized and mechanical engineering
9856-453: The dictatorship of the few prevails. The Social Democratic Party is generally recognized as the main architect of the progressive taxation , fair trade , low-unemployment, active labor market policies ( ALMP )-based Swedish welfare state that was developed in the years after World War II . Sweden emerged sound from the Great Depression with a brief, successful " Keynesianism -before Keynes " economic program advocated by Ernst Wigforss ,
9984-499: The early 20th century. Early on, in large part due to the leadership of Hjalmar Branting , the Swedish socialists adopted a flexible and pragmatic understanding of Marxism. They were also willing to form cross-class coalitions with liberals and farmers. Political scientist Sheri Berman also credits the Swedish Social Democratic success during the interwar years to the party's adoption of Keynesianism during
10112-404: The effects of the neoliberal changes and the picture that emerged from those findings allowed the party to reduce many tax expenditures , slightly increase taxes on high income-earners and significantly reduce taxes on food. The Social Democratic Finance Minister increased spending on child support and continued to pay down the acquired public debt. By 1998, the Swedish macro-economy recovered from
10240-596: The enclave of Afrin . In December 2018, Wallström met with Iranian deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi in her office, a meeting which was unannounced by the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs . Wallström "promised a 'feminist' foreign policy when her Social Democrats formed the coalition government" in October 2014. She has criticized the lack of women's rights in Saudi Arabia . The Spectator ,
10368-628: The fault not only of the terrorists themselves but of critics of Islam whose remarks in online chat rooms, in comments fields, and on social media "give the extremists their nourishment." Commentator Jenny Sonesson called for her to be dismissed from her position, saying that she "knows nothing about Islam." Writing in Expressen , Sakine Madon also criticized Sahlin for her refusal to address the reality of jihadism. On 5 May 2016, Sahlin stepped down from her position as Sweden's national coordinator against violence-embracing extremism, due to revelations by
10496-477: The favourite candidate to succeed Persson as Social Democratic party leader, but made clear that she did not wish to be considered for the position. The post instead went to Mona Sahlin . Between 2006 and 2007, Wallström served as member of the Amato Group , a group of high-level European politicians unofficially working on rewriting the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe into what became known as
10624-530: The four-party Alliance claimed a combined 50 percent voter support while the Sahlin-led opposition had 45.2 percent. Later the same month a Sifo poll showed that merely 27 percent of Swedes were confident or extremely confident in her leadership ability, while the public confidence in Reinfeldt was measured at 60 percent. Mona Sahlin is often described as a scion of the party's more moderate members, and
10752-605: The hostility of United States’ political conservatives when Palme openly denounced the American aggression in Vietnam . President Richard Nixon suspended diplomatic ties with the social democratic country, because of its denouncement of the war. In 2003, top-ranking Social Democratic Party politician Anna Lindh —who criticized the American-led invasion of Iraq as well as both Israeli and Palestinian atrocities and who
10880-564: The investigation in May 2016 and cleared Wallström, stating that there was no evidence any crime had been committed. On 24 August 2016 Wallström tweeted that "Turkish decision to allow sex with children under 15 must be reversed. Children need more protection, not less, against violence, sex abuse." This was after the Constitutional Court of Turkey cancelled a constitutional provision that made all sexual activities with children under
11008-696: The largest party in the Riksdag since 1914. The member base is diverse, but it prominently features organized blue-collar workers and public sector employees. The party has a close, historical relationship with the Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO). As a corporatist organ, it has also formed policy in compromise mediation with employers' associations (primarily the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise and its predecessors) as well as trade unions. Organisations within
11136-461: The loss of office to the opposition, the centre-right coalition Alliance for Sweden . Among the support that the SAP lost was the vote of pensioners (down 10% from 2002 ) and blue-collar trade unionists (down 5%). The combined SAP and Left Party vote of citizens with non-Nordic foreign backgrounds sank from 73% in 2002 to 48% in 2006. Stockholm County typically votes for the centre-right parties and only 23% of Stockholm City residents voted for
11264-401: The lowest recorded percentage of the votes in their history but were still the largest party in Sweden by a slim margin in 2010. She resigned as party leader on 25 March 2011, becoming the second Social Democratic Party leader to have resigned without having served as prime minister. Speaking in 2005 at a Swedish mosque, Sahlin said that "many Swedes are envious of immigrants because they have
11392-687: The meaning of sex and toddlers that do not understand it. Wallström has been married to her husband, Håkan, since 1984. She has two sons. She lives in Stockholm and Värmland . Swedish Social Democratic Party The Swedish Social Democratic Party , formally the Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party ( Swedish : Sveriges socialdemokratiska arbetareparti [ˈsvæ̌rjɛs sʊsɪˈɑ̂ːldɛmʊˌkrɑːtɪska ˈârːbeːtarɛpaˌʈiː] , S or SAP ), usually referred to as The Social Democrats (Swedish: Socialdemokraterna [sʊsɪˈɑ̂ːldɛmʊˌkrɑːtɛɳa] ),
11520-536: The most popular woman in Sweden, beating royals and athletes in a survey carried out by ICA-kuriren and Sifo . In the previous year she had attained second place. Wallström was modest in response stating that "it might be because I'm so far away". On 16 November 2007, Margot Wallström, became Chair of the Council of Women World Leaders Ministerial Initiative. This position was previously held by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright . On 31 January 2010,
11648-558: The new centre-right government of Sweden had dropped greatly in the polls, which showed the left bloc (including the Green Party ) as having much stronger support. This provided Mona Sahlin, as leader of the biggest opposition party, with excellent opportunities to lead the opposition against the PM Fredrik Reinfeldt . By April 2009, however, the support had waned and a Demoskop poll published in Expressen showed that
11776-401: The newspaper Expressen that she had lied about her bodyguard's salary, in order to help him secure a mortgage. The bodyguard had a monthly salary of SEK 43,000, but Mona Sahlin wrote a confirmation letter stating that he had a salary of SEK 120,000. When confronted with the issue, she first made a false statement that she had paid the difference out of her own pocket, before retracting
11904-475: The oldest continuously published magazine in the English language, wrote: The Swedish foreign minister denounced the subjugation of women in Saudi Arabia. As the theocratic kingdom prevents women from travelling, conducting official business or marrying without the permission of male guardians, and as girls can be forced into child marriages where they are effectively raped by old men, she was telling no more than
12032-439: The party in to its longest period in opposition since before 1936. Sahlin announced her resignation following the 2010 defeat and she was succeeded by Håkan Juholt in 2011. Initially, his leadership gave a rise in the opinion polls before being involved in a scandal surrounding benefits from parliament which after a period culminated in his resignation. Sahlin and Juholt become the first SPA party leaders since Claes Tholin , who
12160-428: The party to a people's party does not mean and must not mean a watering down of socialist demands". He further stated: The basis of the home is community and togetherness. The good home does not recognize any privileged or neglected members, nor any favorite or stepchildren. In the good home there is equality , consideration, co-operation, and helpfulness. Applied to the great people's and citizens' home this would mean
12288-449: The party were influenced by the dual sympathies of early leader Hjalmar Branting and manifest in the party's first actions, namely reducing the work day to eight hours and establishing the franchise for working-class people. While some commentators have seen the party lose focus with the rise of SAP neoliberal study groups, the Swedish Social Democratic Party has for many years appealed to Swedes as innovative, capable and worthy of running
12416-457: The party's second worst election result to the Riksdag since universal suffrage was introduced in 1921. With a hung parliament , Löfven formed a minority coalition government with the Green Party. On 2 October 2014, the Riksdag approved Löfven to become the country's Prime Minister and he took office on 3 October 2014 alongside his Cabinet . The Social Democratic Party and the Green Party voted in favour of Löfvén becoming Prime Minister while
12544-428: The peg, collapsing asset markets and fixed investment. The household savings rate rose appreciably, exacerbated by fears of welfare state retrenchment, worsening the fall in aggregate demand. Unemployment rose rapidly, and the banking sector went into crisis as the nonperforming rate rose sharply, prompting a large bailout program. According to Cerra and Saxena, the deep recession had large and permanent negative effects on
12672-549: The rank of deputy minister and above are not welcome in Israel. Though she later clarified that it was only the Foreign Minister and her aids what are not welcome. International law expert Noah Feldman stated Wallström misunderstands international law , which does not apply in these cases. The Simon Wiesenthal Center placed Wallström at place eight on its annual list of the worst "anti-semitic/anti-israel incidents". Although she has criticized Israel, Wallström opposes
12800-691: The rapes in the North Kivu and South Kivu provinces "were not an isolated incident but part of a broader pattern of widespread systematic rape and pillage". On 18 September 2010, Wallström confirmed that when her assignment with the UN came to an end in February 2012, she would become the chair of the University Board at Lund University in Sweden. On 3 October 2014, when the Social Democratic leader Stefan Löfven became Prime Minister, Wallström
12928-560: The refusal stemmed from Wallström's policy on Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Wallström welcomed the UN Security Council Resolution 2334 and said it confirms the position of both the EU and Sweden on the continued Israeli settlement of the occupied West Bank . On 15 January 2016, Aftonbladet published information that Wallström was one of several labour officials who rented apartment in Stockholm, owned by
13056-461: The same rights and obligations. After the Social Democratic defeat in the 2006 election , Göran Persson announced his retirement as party leader on the election night. Mona Sahlin was mentioned as a possible successor, but not considered to be the most likely candidate. Both Margot Wallström and Carin Jämtin received stronger support amongst local and regional party organisations. Ulrica Messing
13184-674: The same time, the state reformed wages to the goal of "equal pay for equal work", eliminated unemployment, also known as ("the reserve army of labor ") as a disciplinary device and kept incomes consistently rising while taxing progressively and pooling social wealth to deliver services through local governments. Social Democratic policy has traditionally emphasized a state spending structure, whereby public services are supplied via local government as opposed to emphasizing social insurance program transfers. These social democratic policies have had international influence. The early Swedish red–green coalition encouraged Nordic-networked socialists in
13312-680: The second now living person to do so. On 14 November 2010, following another electoral defeat for the Social Democrats, she announced her intent to step down as party chairman, which she did in early 2011. Sahlin was born Mona Ingeborg Andersson in Sollefteå , Västernorrland County , Sweden . Her father, Hans Andersson, worked at youth care schools community homes. In the mid-1960s, the family moved to Järla in Stockholm County where they remained. Her father later became an advisor to former Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson . In 1964, at
13440-401: The state of Minnesota to dedicate efforts to building a similarly potent labor-farmer alliance that put the socialists in the governorship, running statewide model innovative anti-racism programs in the early years of the 20th century and enabled federal forest managers in the state of Minnesota to practice a precocious ecological-socialism before U.S. Democratic Party reformers appropriated
13568-498: The state. The Social Democrats became one of the most successful political parties in the world, with some structural advantages in addition to their auspicious birth within vibrant folkrörelser . At the close of the 19th century, liberals and socialists had to band together to augment establishment democracy which was at that point embarrassingly behind in Sweden and they could point to formal democratic advances elsewhere to motivate political action. In addition to being small, Sweden
13696-486: The statement after it was proven by Expressen to actually be false. The media mentioned similarities to the so-called Toblerone case of the 1990s when Sahlin was caught using her government credit card to pay for private expenses and then dodging the issue when confronted. In November 2017, Sahlin was found guilty of tax evasion. In 2015, she had failed to declare 151,072 kronor in income from writing and lecturing, and in 2016 she had failed to declare SEK 106,193. She
13824-432: The time, Social Democrat Finance Minister Kjell-Olof Feldt reminisced in an interview: "The negative inheritance I received from my predecessor Gunnar Sträng (Minister of Finance, 1955–1976) was a strongly progressive tax system with high marginal taxes . This was supposed to bring about a just and equal society. But I eventually came to the opinion that it simply didn't work out that way. Progressive taxes created instead
13952-508: The truth. On 10 March 2015 Sweden announced it would revoke a weapons export agreement with Saudi Arabia that had been in place since 2005. Saudi Arabia retaliated by stopping visa issues for Swedish businesspeople, boycotting Wallström's speech from the Arab League , temporarily withdrawing their ambassador from Sweden, and refusing to accept four Amazonian monkeys from a Swedish zoo. King Carl XVI Gustaf then offered to mediate with
14080-528: The two factions. Concerning constitutional issues, the Social Democrats advocate the abolition of monarchy . Liberalism has also strongly infused social democratic ideology. Liberalism has oriented social democratic goals to security . Tage Erlander , prime minister from 1946 to 1969, described security as "too big a problem for the individual to solve with only his own power". Up to the 1980s, when neoliberalism began to provide an alternative, aggressively pro-capitalist model for ensuring social quiescence,
14208-514: The version published on the internet to remove the controversial passage. The original version of the speech, given to journalists ahead of Wallström's visit to Terezin in the Czech Republic to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp, suggested that scrapping the idea of a supranational Europe could put the continent back on the road to a holocaust . In
14336-535: The violence, causing further anger in the Israeli political establishment. The Foreign Ministry of Israel issued an official statement saying that Wallström's "irresponsible and delirious statements are giving support to terrorism and encouraging violence". This also caused further deterioration in Israel-Sweden relations, and Deputy Foreign Minister of Israel Tzipi Hotovely declared that Swedish politicians of
14464-594: The workers so much more by forcing through reforms which alleviate and strengthen their position, than by saying that only a revolution can help them". Some observers have argued that this liberal aspect has hardened into increasingly neoliberal ideology and policies, gradually maximizing the latitude of powerful market actors. Certainly, neoclassical economists have been firmly nudging the Social Democratic Party into capitulating to most of capital's traditional preferences and prerogatives which they term "modern industrial relations ". Both socialist and liberal aspects of
14592-459: The years leading up to the split in 1917. Between 1923 and 1940, the party was a member of the Labour and Socialist International . Swedish social democracy rose due to the extension of suffrage to the working class and the organizing of trade unions and other civic associations. Unlike in many other European countries, the Swedish socialist left was able to form a stable majority coalition during
14720-418: Was a semi-peripheral country at the beginning of the 20th century, considered unimportant to competing global political factions, so it was permitted more independence while soon the existence of communist and capitalist superpowers allowed social democracy to flourish in the geo-political interstices. The SAP has the resource of sharing ideas and experiences and working with its sister parties throughout
14848-442: Was also mentioned as a possible candidate. Wallström, Jämtin and Messing declared however that they would not stand for the post and instead supported Sahlin, leaving Mona Sahlin as the only serious candidate. On 18 January, she was officially asked by the party's Election Committee to stand as party leader, and accepted. On 17 March, she was unanimously elected at the extra party congress in Stockholm . In January 2007, support for
14976-437: Was also revoked which meant that if she visited Israel she would do as an individual rather than an official of a foreign state, which would normally mean enjoying protection by security services. In a March 2018 interview, she stated that the intent behind the recognition was to speed up the process towards a Two-state solution but also admitted that no progress on that issue had been made. In December 2014, Wallström called in
15104-623: Was appointed to the Swedish government as Minister of Foreign Affairs. On 30 October 2014, Wallström became the first EU foreign minister to recognise the State of Palestine , with a view to "facilitate a peace agreement by making the parties less unequal"; as a result, Israel the same day recalled its ambassador for consultations. Although a visit by Wallström to Israel had been planned for January 2015, Israel's foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman and prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined to receive her. Wallström's diplomatic immunity status in Israel
15232-602: Was considered "as safe as any conventional maize". In 2004, Wallström became the first member of the European Commission to operate a blog. The comments section of her site quickly became a hotspot for arguments concerning the policies of the European Union. After the rejection of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe by French and Dutch voters, Wallström pushed forward her "plan D" (for democracy, dialogue and debate) to reconnect Citizens with
15360-488: Was defeated in 2006 by the centre-right Alliance for Sweden coalition. Mona Sahlin succeeded Göran Persson as party leader in 2007, becoming the party's first female party leader. Prior to the 2010 Swedish general election , the Social Democratic Party formed a cooperation with the Green Party and the Left Party culminating in the Red–Green alliance. The cooperation was dissolved following another defeat in 2010, throwing
15488-547: Was digitalized. In 1986, Olof Palme , one of the Social Democratic Party's strongest champions of democracy and egalitarianism , was assassinated . Swedish capital was increasingly moving Swedish investment into other European countries as the European Union coalesced and a hegemonic consensus was forming among the elite financial community while progressive taxation and pro-egalitarian redistribution became economic heresy. A leading proponent of capital's cause at
15616-528: Was during the Vietnam War , and already as a 13-year-old Sahlin had joined the Swedish FNL group. In the Swedish general election of 1982 , Sahlin was elected to the Riksdag as the youngest member of parliament at that time. In 1990, she became Minister for Employment , but after the Social Democrats lost power in the 1991 election, Sahlin began to serve as chairman of the Riksdag's Committee on
15744-409: Was in government with the exception of the periods 1991–1994 and 2006–2014. Since 2022, the party has been out of government. It participates in elections as "The Workers' Party – The Social Democrats" (Swedish: Arbetarepartiet – Socialdemokraterna [ˈârːbeːtarɛpaˌʈiːɛt sʊsɪˈɑ̂ːldɛmʊˌkrɑːtɛɳa] ). The first female PM in Swedish history, Magdalena Andersson , is the current leader of
15872-405: Was only for working expenses. At a news conference, she admitted that she had used a Government credit card to buy groceries. She further confessed to having failed to pay 19 parking tickets and several bills for her children's day care on time. Later, she apologized in a Stockholm newspaper. A preliminary investigation was initiated by the chief prosecutor Jan Danielsson [ sv ] , as
16000-441: Was party leader 1896–1907, to not become Prime Ministers of Sweden . Stefan Löfven , elected by the party council, succeeded Juholt as party leader. Löfven led the Social Democratic Party into the 2014 European Parliament election which resulted in the party's worst electoral results at national level since universal suffrage was introduced in 1921. He then led the party into the 2014 Swedish general election which resulted in
16128-597: Was required to pay a fine of SEK 23,000. Mona Sahlin has one brother and two sisters. Her brother, Janne Andersson, is the former lead singer of the pop group Japop and owns his own production company. Her sister Lena Ridemar is the chief of staff at the Tenants' Association. In 1982, she married Bo Sahlin, a politician who later became the CEO of the Social Democratic media company AiP Media Produktion AB in 2006. The couple have three children: Jenny (born 1983), Gustav (born 1989), and Johan who died after ten months as
16256-539: Was the lead figure in promoting the European Union in Sweden—was publicly assassinated in Stockholm . As Lindh was to succeed Göran Persson in the party leadership, her death was deeply disruptive to the party as well as to the campaign to promote the adoption of the EMU (euro) in Sweden. The neutrality policy has changed with the contemporary ascendance of the centre-right coalition as Sweden had committed troops to support
16384-754: Was vice chairperson of the Swedish Pupils' Association. Thereafter she worked at a private company and later as a trade union representative for the Swedish National Union of State Employees . At age 13, Sahlin joined the Swedish support group for the Viet Cong. Sahlin's political career began in the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League in Nacka , Stockholm County , in 1973, at the age of 16. This
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