Swedish resignations

Hej to all on the Scandinavian Politics list,

A week is a long time in politics, they say. It must have felt like that
for the new Swedish prime minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt, who took office
only a week and a half ago. This morning, his cabinet sustained its second
resignation. Very briefly, this is what happened.

As soon as the new government was announced, Reinfeldt acknowledged that
two of its more suprising appointments - trade minister Maria Borelius and
exotically named culture minister Cecilia Stegö Chilò - had hired domestic
help in the 1990s on the black market, that is, without paying employer
charges. This, it seems, was just about forgiveable. What made life much
tougher for Stegö Chilò, though, was the revelation soon afterwards that
she hadn't paid her television licence fee since 1990. Nor, it turned out,
had a third cabinet member, migration minister Tobias Billström.

For both Borelius and Stegö Chilò, maybe the worst mistake was their
shifting explanations for their tax- and fee-dogding. Pressure built on
Borelius as the media revealed aspects of her business life that had never
quite become illegal, but which were somewhat opaque and generally just,
well, a bit dodgy. She resigned on Saturday. That, in turn, proved the
last straw for Stegö Chilò, although her position - a minister in charge
of public-service broadcasting who didn't pay her licence fee - looked
untenable from the start.

Of course, this is all disastrous for the new government. To cap it all,
Stegö Chilò's belated resignation has displaced this morning's other
event, a tax-cutting budget, as the main headline. Meanwhile, commentators
have been drawing inferences about the longer-term significance of this
debacle for Reinfeldt's Moderate Party (Borelius, Stegö Chilò and
Billström are all Moderates, and all belong to its more neo-liberal wing),
for women in politics, and for the risks of appointing to government
individuals who haven't been screened by long experience of party
politics. Maybe it's also that, just as a party can grow too accustomed to
sitting in government, a party can also grow too accustomed to being in
opposition.

Best,

Nick Aylott.
--
Dr Nicholas Aylott, senior lecturer (docent) in political science
School of Social Sciences, Södertörn University College
SE-141 89 Huddinge, Sweden
www.sh.se/statsvetenskap

Please feel free to forward this message to anyone who might be
interested. To join the Scandinavian Politics mailing list, send a message
to me, the convenor (nicholas.aylott@sh.se). If you want to send something
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just let me know. See also www.psa.ac.uk/spgrp/scandinavia/

PSA conference and new Swedish government

Hej to all on the Scandinavian Politics Specialist Group list,

Two quick notices.


1. We've proposed two panels for the PSA conference in April 2007. See the
Scandinavian Politics website for details (address below, click on
Conference panels and other events).


2. The new Swedish cabinet has this morning been announced. The only
rumour to have leaked out of the negotiations between the four allied
centre-right parties appeared yesterday in a Danish paper, and it turned
out to be true - as well as mildly sensational. Carl Bildt, former
Moderate leader and prime minister, will be the foreign minister. This is
a bold choice by the new prime minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt. He has
apparently disregarded the risk of being overshadowed by his
internationally well-known predecessor. What's more, relations between the
two when Bildt was party leader and Reinfeldt was chair of the
Moderates'youth wing were not, it seems, enormously warm.

Otherwise, the Moderates have bagged half of the 22 portfolios. Apart from
those of prime minister and foreign minister, they get get justice,
defence and finance, too - which probably amounts to rather more
heavyweight positions than most pundits had expected. The Centre Party's
successful election brings it four portfolios, including commerce, the one
that party leader Maud Olofsson clearly wanted and has got. The Liberals
also get four jobs. Party leader Lars Leijonborg gets education; MEP (and
political scientist) Cecilia Malmström gets the new job of EU minister.
The Christian Democrats' leader Göran Hägglund gets social affairs as one
of his party's three portfolios.

More information can be found at the usual sites, including Dagens Nyheter
(dn.se).


Best,

Nick.
--
Dr Nicholas Aylott, senior lecturer (docent) in political science
School of Social Sciences, Södertörn University College
SE-141 89 Huddinge, Sweden
www.sh.se

Please feel free to forward this message to anyone who might be
interested. To join the Scandinavian politics mailing list, send a message
to me, the convenor (nicholas.aylott@sh.se). If you want to send something
to the list, or if you don't want to receive these occasional messages,
just let me know. See also www.psa.ac.uk/spgrp/scandinavia