Cabinet of Fredrik Reinfeldt

The cabinet of Fredrik Reinfeldt is the current cabinet of Sweden. It is a coalition cabinet consisting of the four parties in the centre-right Alliance for Sweden: the Moderate Party ("Moderata samlingspartiet"), the Centre Party ("Centerpartiet"), the Liberal People's Party ("Folkpartiet liberalerna") and the Christian Democrats ("Kristdemokraterna"). The cabinet was installed on October 6, 2006, following the 2006 general election which ousted the Social Democrats after twelve years in power. It is led by Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt of the Moderate Party.

Ministers

Party breakdown

Party breakdown of cabinet ministers:

Facts and statistics

*Gender balance: 9 women and 13 men (although the ratio was initially 10 women and 12 men).
*First Swedish Minister of African descent: Nyamko Sabuni.
*First Swedish openly homosexual Minister: Andreas Carlgren.
*First Swedish openly bisexual Minister: Tobias Billström.
*Youngest Swedish Prime Minister in 80 years: Fredrik Reinfeldt.
*First former Prime Minister to return as Foreign Minister since 1932 - Carl Bildt.
*First majority government in 25 years.

New ministries

*Ministry of Employment, belonged to the Ministry of Industry, Employment and Communications in the cabinet of Göran Persson.
*Ministry of Culture, belonged to the Ministry of Education and Culture in the cabinet of Göran Persson.
*Ministry of Environment was before called the "Ministry of Sustainable Development".
*Ministry of Integration and Gender Equality, belonged to the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in the cabinet of Göran Persson.

Policy of the cabinet

The new government was presented on October 6, 2006. The following reforms have been proposed:
* Communication and transportation:
** The tax on automotive fuels will be raised because of inflation adjustment, by 9 öre per litre for gasoline and 6 öre per litre for diesel (excluding VAT). [http://www.n24.se/dynamiskt/privatapengar/did_13892939.asp Tyngre börda för bilismen] , Näringsliv24, October 20, 2006 sv icon]
* Culture:
** The new government plans to reintroduce entrance fees to the country's 21 state-operated museums. [ [http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=5186&date=20061011 Free museum entry to be abolished] en icon, The Local, October 11, 2006.]
** Third-party liability premiums for vehicle insurance will be raised.
** The current operator's license for the public service broadcasters Sveriges Television, Sveriges Radio and Sveriges Utbildningsradio will come up for renegotiation in three years, instead of six as negotiated with the outgoing government. [ [http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=1042&a=579870&previousRenderType=6 Sändningstillstånd kan bli kortare för public service] en icon, The Local, October 11, 2006.]
* Education:
** The reform of the secondary education (gymnasium) which was to take effect from January 1, 2007 will be scrapped and instead the new government will start planning for a deeper reform to take place some time before 2010. [ [http://www2.unt.se/avd/1,1786,MC=1-AV_ID=539572,00.html Regeringen stoppar gymnasiereform] , Upsala Nya Tidning, October 11, 2006 sv icon]
* Government agencies:
** The following government agencies will be closed down: Swedish Integration Board ( _sv. Integrationsverket), National Institute for Working Life ( _sv. Arbetslivsinstitutet), Swedish Animal Welfare Agency ( _sv. Djurskyddsmyndigheten) and the County Labour Boards ( _sv. länsarbetsnämnderna). [ [http://www.svd.se/dynamiskt/inrikes/did_13915210.asp Fler myndighetsnedläggningar utreds] , Svenska Dagbladet, October 23, 2006 sv icon]
** All agencies are being scrutinized for reformation.
** The director general, presidents and leaders are not to be employed by party association and instead by based competence.
*Foreign aid:
** The monetary foreign aid's goal and what countries receiving aid is being reconsider.

Controversies and resignations

On October 7, 2006, the day after the new cabinet was announced two of the ministers, the Minister for Foreign Trade Maria Borelius and the Minister for Culture Cecilia Stegö Chilò, admitted that they had previously employed persons to take care of their children without paying the appropriate taxes. On October 11, 2006 it came to light that Cecilia Stegö Chilò and her husband had not paid their TV license for the last 16 years. On October 12, 2006, it emerged that two other ministers in the cabinet had neglected to pay the television license; Maria Borelius and the Minister for Migration and Asylum Policy, Tobias Billström. [ [http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=5192&date=20061012 Ministers could be reported to police over TV fee] en icon, The Local, October 12, 2006.] Radiotjänst i Kiruna AB, the private agency tasked with collecting the license fee, filed criminal charges against Cecilia Stegö Chilò, Maria Borelius and Tobias Billström. [ [http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=5202&date=20061013 Ministers reported to police for unpaid TV licences] en icon, The Local, October 13, 2006.]

On October 14, 2006, Maria Borelius resigned as Minister for Foreign Trade. On October 16, 2006, just two days after Maria Borelius resignation, Minister for Culture Cecilia Stegö Chilò resigned as well. [ [http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=5230&date=20061016 Second Swedish minister resigns] en icon, The Local, October 16, 2006.]

The Minister for Defence, Mikael Odenberg, resigned on September 5, 2007 as he thought the budget cuts his department would face where to high. [citation|url=http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=1042&a=688962|pub=Dagens Nyheter|title=Odenbergs avgång en protest mot nedskärningar|date=September 5, 2007]

Public perception

In public opinion survey conducted by "Aftonbladet"/Sifo in late 2006, the Swedish public was asked to rate each of the new ministers on a 5-graded scale. The average result for the 22 ministers was 2.93. [Aftonbladet, January 4, 2007 (not online).] This is the higher than any of the rates that the Social Democratic Persson cabinet ever received during its years in power, and the highest ratings ever since the surveys started in 1996. [Erixon, Dick, " [http://www.erixon.com/2/blogg070114.htm#16 Högsta betyg för svensk regering någonsin] ", January 10, 2007.]

From the Swedish general election, 2006 the opinions for the Reinfeldt cabinet have declined steadily from a level of about 51% down to a level about 40% [ [http://www.synovate.se/Templates/Page____195.aspx Synovate/Temo Opinion research] ] , which election researchers generally explain as more than what could be expected due to normal inter-election popularity fallFact|date=February 2008. Center-right newspapers in Sweden criticize the cabinet for not being pedagogically proficientFact|date=February 2008, while the opposition newspapers just connects the impopularity of the cabinet with the scandals and the performed practical politicsFact|date=February 2008.

References

External links

* [http://www.sweden.gov.se/ The Government and the Government Offices of Sweden]
* [http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/2031/a/70233 Statement of Government Policy] (6 October 2006)