Bosse Ringholm
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Bo "Bosse" Ingvar Karchimirer Ringholm (born August 18, 1942) is a Swedish Social Democratic politician. He held the titles of Minister of Finance, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Policy Coordination, and Minister for Sport in the Persson administration.
[edit] Career
Ringholm was born in Falköping, a town in the west of Sweden, and grew up in a working-class family. He lacks higher education, and dropped out of high school after failing both math and English. Like many Swedish Social Democratic politicians of his generation, Ringholm started his political career in the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League, an organisation he led from 1967 to 1972. After stepping down, Ringholm worked as a political adviser at the Ministries of the Interior and Labour. He also became active in the local politics of Stockholm. From 1973 he was a member of the Stockholm County Council, and two years later he was elected to the executive committee of the Stockholm party branch. In 1976 he became a director at the Ministry of Education and Science, and worked in the government administration until he became Transportation Commissioner of the Stockholm County from 1983. From 1997 he was the director-general of the Swedish Labour Market Board (AMS), until Prime Minister Göran Persson unexpectedly named him to succeed Erik Åsbrink as Minister for Finance in 1999.
On October 21, 2004, Göran Persson announced a restructuring of his government, in which Ringholm was moved from the Ministry of Finance to become Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Policy Coordination and Minister for Sport. The reason cited by Persson was Ringholm was not interested in continuing as Minister of Finance following the coming 2006 general elections. His successor was Pär Nuder.
Following the resignation of Laila Freivalds on March 21, 2006, Ringholm was temporarily acting as Minister for Foreign Affairs until March 27, when he was replaced by Carin Jämtin who also held the post temporarily until the new Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jan Eliasson, took office on April 24.
[edit] Private
Although Ringholms given name is Bo, he is almost always referred to as "Bosse", the common Swedish nickname for Bo - even in formal circumstances. He is a teetotaller. He is also known for his great interest in sports, and was the chair of Enskede sports club for 15 years until he declared he was going to step down when he became Minister for Sport. His involvement in the club has been far from unproblematic. In the summer of 2004, it was discovered that the club had neglected to pay taxes related to the sale of ad space. Ringholm denied any knowledge of this but promised that the taxes were going to be paid. A few month later the Swedish national public radio aired a news story claiming that Enskede sports club had made payments to trainers without reporting them to tax authorities, prompting the Swedish National Tax Board to investigate the matter. Ringholm, however, denied the allegations.
[edit] Trivia
- Bo Ringholm is the only person in Sweden named Karchimirer.
| Preceded by Ingvar Carlsson |
Chairman of the Social Democratic Youth League 1967–1972 |
Succeeded by Lars Engqvist |
| Preceded by - |
Commissioner of Transportation of the Stockholm County Council 1983–1985 |
Succeeded by Stig Dingertz |
| Preceded by Leni Björklund |
Commissioner of Finance of the Stockholm County Council 1989–1991 |
Succeeded by Ralph Lédel |
| Preceded by Elwe Nilsson |
Chief Commissioner of the Stockholm County Council 1994–1997 |
Succeeded by Claes Ånstrand |
| Preceded by Göte Bernhardsson |
Director-General of the Swedish Employment Services 1997-1999 |
Succeeded by Anders L. Johansson |
| Preceded by Erik Åsbrink |
Minister of Finance of Sweden 1999-2004 |
Succeeded by Pär Nuder |
| Preceded by Laila Freivalds |
Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden 2004-2006 |
Succeeded by Maud Olofsson |
| Preceded by Pär Nuder |
Minister of Policy Coordination of Sweden Minister of Euopean Affairs 2005-2006 |
Succeeded by Cecilia Malmström |
| Preceded by Laila Freivalds |
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden 2006 |
Succeeded by Jan Eliasson |
