Ylva Johansson
Ylva Julia Margareta Johansson (born 13 February 1964) is a Swedish politician who has been serving as European Commissioner for Home Affairs since 2019. She previously served in the government of Sweden as Minister for Schools from 1994 to 1998, as Minister for Welfare and Elderly Healthcare from 2004 to 2006, and as Minister for Employment from 2014 to 2019. She has been a member of the Swedish Riksdag since 2006. Education and early career. Johansson studied at Lund University and the Stockholm Institute of Education between 1983–88 and 1991–92 respectively, and holds a Master of Science degree  in education. Upon graduating, she worked as a math, physics, and chemistry teacher. Political career. Early beginnings. In the 1988 general elections Johansson was elected as a member of the Riksdag for the Left Party - Communists (VPK). She later left the party and joined the Social Democrats. From 1992 to 1994 Johansson worked as a teacher, until Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson made her Minister for Schools in his government. In 1998, she and the then Minister for Finance Erik Åsbrink announced their wish to "publicly confirm that we are in love" and their intention to separate from their respective partners . Soon afterwards, Johansson left the government. The following years, she worked in the private sector. In 2004, Prime Minister Göran Persson appointed Johansson to the government in a new position, as Minister for Health and Elderly Care, succeeding Lars Engqvist. Minister of Employment, 2014–2019. From 2014, Johansson served as Minister for Employment in the government of Prime Minister Stefan Löfven. During her time in office, she worked to tighten labor immigration laws. In the 2013 Social Democrat party congress, the goal was set that Sweden should have the lowest rate of unemployment in the EU. While the Social Democrats and  Green Party were in power, unemployment decreased more in other EU countries than Sweden and by 2019, Sweden's place in the unemployment ranking slipped to 18 with an unemployment rate of 6.2%, where the first spot was occupied by Czech Republic at 1.7%. Member of the European Commission, 2019–present. Following the 2019 European elections, Löfven nominated Johansson as Sweden's candidate for the post of European Commissioner. During a question & answer session in October 2019 in the European Parliament, Johansson was asked on whether Swedish policy on gang crime and migration would be exported to the EU level . Johansson responded that she was "proud that Sweden received so many refugees". In early March 2020, Johansson was appointed by President Ursula von der Leyen to serve on a special task force to coordinate the European Union's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Johnansson wants companies to detect, report and remove child sexual abuse online, and establish a dedicated EU center to prevent and combat child sexual abuse. Online platforms should detect, report and remove child sexual abuse online. This means that companies like Meta should check private messages before they are sent, thereby undermining encryption. Current systems are not  capable to recognize this content, resulting in false alarms and mass surveillance. Political positions. Johansson has been described as the "left wing of the Social Democrats". In a September 2020 EU debate on the new migration pact she said "we have a lot of migration to the European Union, and we need that" because of the ageing of Europe, while also noting that "those that are not eligible to stay, they have to leave; not everybody that has a right to apply for asylum has the right to stay in the European Union". Personal life. Johansson has two children with  her former husband Bo Hammar and a son with Erik Åsbrink. She is an honorary member of the Swedish football club Hammarby IF.