Stockholm: Incoming Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Christerson vowed on Tuesday to set the country on a new course on immigration, criminal justice and energy policy as he introduced a centre-right coalition government led by his conservative Moderate Party. The new cabinet comprises 24 ministers – 13 men and 11 women. There are thirteen moderates, six Christian democrats and five liberals. Three centre-right parties won a majority in parliament after the September 11 elections with the help of the Sweden Democrats, a far-right party that entered the political mainstream after years of being treated as a pariah by other parties.
Moderate Party parliamentary leader Tobias Bilström was appointed foreign minister, while the head of the parliament’s defense committee, Paul Jonsson, another moderate, was appointed as defense minister.
Christian Democrat leader Ebba Bush became energy minister and Liberal’s 26-year-old Romina Pourmokhtari made history as Sweden’s youngest cabinet minister in charge of the climate and environment department.
Moderate Party spokeswoman on economic policy, Elizabeth Swantenson, was appointed Minister of Finance.
In a speech to parliament, Christerson promised a review of the penal code and expanded powers to the police to fight criminal gangs that have become more powerful and violent in recent years.
“No other country in Europe has a tendency to violence like Sweden: 53 fatal shootings so far this year, often outright executions,” he said. “The government now launches the largest offensive in Swedish history against organized crime.”
He also promised a “paradigm shift” on immigration policy, marking a definite end to decades of liberal immigration policies that had already begun to tighten under the previous social democratic government.