Two new ministers, an ex-minister gets the EU’s migration portfolio and and an ex-party leader goes back into uniform. Where to start?
When Margot Wallström said buh-bye to the Foreign Minister job there weren’t really a lot of candidates to replace her. It had to be a woman, so that narrowed it right down too. Today, we got the formal word that the new Minister for Foreign Affairs will be Ann Linde, previously Minister for Foreign Trade, with responsibility for Nordic affairs.
This is not particularly surprising, and she’ll likely continue with a feminist foreign policy (but without the fanfare). However, her appointment is far from unquestioned: Linde showed incredibly poor judgement when she heard about the data leaks at the Swedish Transport Agency (Transportstyrelsen) – and didn’t do anything. Let’s hope she’s learned something, or Sweden’s security is in shaky hands. A minor, but likely painful, problem will be all the coming meetings with foreign representatives who will no doubt think, however briefly, of Anna Lindh, the well known and popular Foreign Minister who met a tragic end in 2003.
The new Minister for Employment, Eva Nordmark, will also have to fill large shoes. Nordmark comes from TCO, The Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees where she has been chair. TCO is an umbrella organization for 13 different white-collar unions and as far as anyone knows, is skeleton free. The Ministry for Employment is responsible for “the labour market, the work environment, gender equality, human rights at national level, children’s rights and the introduction of newly arrived immigrants,” so not so piddly.
Meanwhile, the previous Minister for Employment, Ylva Johansson, is in Brussels and looks to be getting the dubious honor, but important position, of heading up EU’s Home Affairs office. The EU commission is the executive branch of the EU, proposing legislation and implementing decisions (nod here to Wikipedia) – at Home Affairs, Johansson will be working on easy stuff like migration issues and security. EU commissioner von der Leyen described Johansson as “hands-on. If you want something to be done, ask her”(t.sr.se/SRJohansson).
There’s going to be a lot of asks, as there is a lot that people want done. Or not. Some people want their own migration policy and not EU deciding it for them. Getting 28 countries to agree on a migration policy is, well, as the Chinese have it “when the sun rises in the west.”
Finally, Major Jan Björklund is back on the job. This time, not as Liberal Party leader but as acting operations leader in Middle Military Region’s command staff (). Though he couldn’t introduce discipline in schools, it seems like he’s giving it another try in the trenches.