page_title: History of Sweden (1991–present)
section_title: The Reinfeldt Era
hierarchical_section_title: History of Sweden (1991–present) / The Reinfeldt Era
caption_attribution_description: President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt of Sweden meet with the press in the Oval Office Tuesday, May 15, 2007.
context_page_description: After a period of rapid growth and unprecedented prosperity during the late 1980s, by 1990 the Swedish economy overheated, and after a controversial bill freezing salaries and banning strikes failed in the Riksdag, the social democrat government led by Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson resigned in February 1990. At this time the respected Finance Minister Kjell-Olof Feldt left the government in protest over what he saw as irresponsible economic policies. Carlsson soon formed a new government, but by the time of the general election in September 1991 the economy was in free fall, and with rapidly rising unemployment, the social democrats received the smallest share of votes in sixty years, resulting in the loss of office to the opposition, a centre-right coalition.
  Around the same time a convicted murderer and bank robber known as Lasermannen shot eleven and killed one person in an attempted serial killing, which scared Swedish immigrants, whom he targeted.
context_section_description: Several new political parties - among them Feminist Initiative led by former leftist leader Gudrun Schyman, the euro-skeptical June List (originating in the 2004 European Parliament elections) and the anti-copyright Pirate Party ran for the Riksdag election of 2006 with attention from mass media, but with little success. In this election, the conservative coalition "Allians för Sverige" ("Alliance for Sweden") gained a majority in the riksdag and presented Fredrik Reinfeldt of the Moderates as their prime minister candidate. The success of the Sweden Democrats, who gained seats in several municipal councils, and got 2.9% of the Riksdag votes (though not meeting the 4% threshold), intimidated the established parties. During the first week, there was a series of scandals, where some of the cabinet ministers from the Moderate Party turned out to have dodged the television license fee, and paid maids under the table. Ministers Maria Borelius and Cecilia Stegö Chilo stepped down after only a few days in office. The cabinet was criticised for lack of gender equality and diversity because it contained only nine women (out of 22 ministers). On the other hand, defenders of the cabinet pointed out that Sweden now had their first African-born minister (Nyamko Sabuni) and their first openly homosexual minister (Andreas Carlgren) ever. Foreign minister Carl Bildt was questioned for his former directorship in Vostok Nafta, and his possible bias in the question of the planned Nord Stream pipeline. The pipeline in question was intended to reach between Russia and Germany on the floor of the Baltic sea, through Swedish territorial waters.
  Reinfeldt's policy was focused at lowering unemployment, by lowering taxes, as well as allowances for sick and unemployed. Until the onset of the subprime crisis employment rose, though the red-green opposition claimed that the main cause has been the current global prosperity.
  During the second half of 2009, Sweden held the rotating EU Precedency, during which Reinfeldt represented the EU at several high-profile summits with Barack Obama and other world leaders, including the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Reinfeldt also presided over the final negotiations surrounding implementation of The Lisbon Treaty, which entered into force on 1 December 2009, resulting in the appointment of Herman Van Rompuy as President of the European Council and Catherine Ashton as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
  The boost in perceived statesmanship that Persson enjoyed hosting the EU Presidency in 2001 largely evaded Reinfeldt however, and in opinion polls ahead of the 2010 general election support for his government continuously trailed that of the Social Democratic opposition. The Social Democrats joined forces in December 2008 with the Greens to form a Red-Green coalition to challenge the ruling liberal alliance. Starting in 2009, the Sweden Democrats consistently enjoyed support of over 4% in the opinion polls, and along with the Pirate Party, which got 7.1% in the 2009 EU Parliament election, had the potential to become kingmakers and alter the political landscape at the 2010 general election. However, despite a 5.7% result for the Sweden Democrats and a 49.7% result for the Reinfeldt government, the sitting government could remain as a significantly weaker minority government. The hopes of the Sweden Democrats to become kingmakers were ultimately turned down when both prospective prime ministers publicly announced that they would never cooperate with the Sweden Democrats. Instead both the Social Democrats and the Green party have been giving passive or sometimes active support to the liberal alliance to assure the stability of the government.
  In December 2009, Cecilia Malmström was nominated new EU Commissioner, to succeed Margot Wallström, who was appointed UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict.
  Following in her father's footsteps marrying a commoner, on 24 February 2009 the Royal Court of Sweden officially announced the engagem
caption: Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and U.S. President George W. Bush at the Oval Office in White House, on May 15, 2007.
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