Government of Sweden

Sweden is a constitutional monarchy with a representative democracy based on a parliamentary system. The affairs of Government are decided by a Cabinet of Ministers, which is led by a Prime Minister. The Cabinet and the Prime Minister are responsible for their actions to the Parliament of Sweden.

Head of Government

Main article: Prime Minister of Sweden

Head of Government: Prime Minister Göran Persson (since March 21, 1996)
:Cabinet: Ministers are appointed by the Prime Minister and confirmed by Parliament
:Elections: The Prime Minister is first appointed by the Speaker of Parliament and then confirmed (with the cabinet ministers) by Parliament
:Election results: Göran Persson is elected Prime Minister forming a Social Democrat minority government. After the general elections in 2002 the Social Democrat Government continues to depend on the Left Party and the Green Party to achieve a majority in Parliament.

Cabinet Government

As of the Cabinet reshuffle effective on October 10, 2003, in wake of the murder of Minister for Foreign Affairs, Anna Lindh, the Cabinet has 22 Ministers including the Prime Minister. Since the last organizational change in 1998 the Government Offices has, apart from the Prime Minister's Office and an Office for Administrative Affairs, ten Ministries.
The Prime Minister leads the work of the Cabinet and is the official Head of Government. On occasion there have been appointed Deputy Prime Ministers, but when none such exist the Minister with the most seniority in Cabinet, is the designate Deputy Prime Minister. Ten of the Cabinet Ministers are also Heads of Office for their respective Ministries. On October 21, 2004, Göran Persson announced a restructuring effective from November 1. The changes are indicated in the table below.

The cabinet members, including the prime minister, resign their seats in parliament while holding cabinet office. Ministers do not have to be elected to parliament to serve in the cabinet. Upon their visits to the Riksdag, like the weekly question time, the ministers sit at specially designated seats in the lower left hand corner of the session hall.

Government Offices

Effective from November 1, 2004:

Prime Minister's Office

Göran Persson, Prime Minister

Bosse Ringholm, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Policy Coordination and Minister for Sport

Ministry of Justice

Thomas Bodström, Head of Office and Minister for Justice

Jens Orback, Minister for Democracy, Integration and Equality Issues

Ministry for Foreign Affairs

Laila Freivalds, Head of Office and Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Barbro Holmberg, Minister for Migration and Asylum Policy

Carin Jämtin, Minister for International Development Cooperation

Ministry of Defence

Leni Björklund, Head of Office and Minister for Defence

Ministry of Health and Social Affairs

Berit Andnor, Head of Office and Minister for Children and Families

Ylva Johansson, Minister for Health and Social Affairs

Morgan Johansson, Minister for Public Health and Social Services

Ministry of Finance

Pär Nuder, Head of Office and Minister of Finance

Sven-Erik Österberg, Minister for Local Government and Housing

Ministry of Education, Culture and Science

Leif Pagrotsky, Head of Office and Minister for Education, Culture and Science

Ibrahim Baylan, Minister for Primary and Secondary Education

Lena Hallengren, Minister for Pre-School Education, Youth Affairs and Adult Learning

Ministry for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries

Ann-Christin Nykvist, Head of Office and Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries

Ministry of the Environment

Mona Sahlin, Head of Office

Lena Sommestad, Minister for the Environment

Ministry of Industry, Employment and Communications

Thomas Östros, Head of Office and Minister for Industry and Trade

Ulrica Messing, Minister for Communications and Regional Policy

Hans Karlsson, Minister for Employment

Office for Administrative Affairs

The Office for Administrative Affairs, or Statskontoret, is staffed and led by civil servants. The Permanent Secretary, currently Gunnar Holmgren, is not a member of government.

See also History of Government Offices of Sweden for old governments.

Government agencies

See also: Government agencies in Sweden

The Ministries in Sweden are relatively small and merely policy-making organizations, relying on Government agencies who independently carry out Government policy. A Government agency is constituted under the authority of a Ministry, but the Ministry is only allowed to influence the agency by making policy. The Minister in charge is furthermore prohibited from interfering with the day-to-day operation and the outcome in individual cases.
An exception to this are the Legations and Embassies in foreign countries, which are under the direct authority and integrated with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.