Mona Sahlin

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Mona Sahlin
Member of the Riksdag
In office 1982 – 1996 2002–
Constituency	Stockholm County
Chairman of the Social Democratic Party
Incumbent
In office since March 17, 2007
Preceded by	Göran Persson
Born	1957
Political party	Swedish Social Democratic Party
Spouse	Bo Sahlin
Children	Three: Ann-Sofie (born 1978), Jenny (born 1983), and Gustav (born 1989).

Mona Ingeborg Sahlin (née Andersson, born March 9, 1957) is a Swedish social democratic politician and the leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party.

Mona Sahlin has held various posts in Social Democratic cabinets during the 1990s and 2000s, such as Minister for Employment (1990–1991 and 1998–2002), Deputy Prime Minister (1994–1995), Minister for Gender Equality (1994–1995), Minister for Integration (2000–2002), Minister for Democracy and Integration (2002–2003), Minister for Democracy, Integration and Gender Equality (2003–2004), Minister for the Environment (2004–2005) and Minister for Sustainable Development (2005–2006). She served as party secretary of the Social Democratic Party from 1992 to 1994.

At an extra party congress on March 17, 2007, Sahlin was unanimously elected to succeed former Prime Minister Göran Persson as chairman of the Swedish Social Democratic Party.^[1]

Contents 1 Youth and education 2 Political career 3 Break from politics - and return 4 Social Democratic Party leadership candidacy 5 Criticism and controversies 5.1 Nanny controversy 5.2 TV-license controversy 5.3 "Toblerone affair" 5.4 Allegations of nepotism 5.5 Internal criticism 6 Personal life 7 Bibliography 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Youth and education

Mona Sahlin was born in Sollefteå, Västernorrland County (Ångermanland) in northern Sweden. Her father, Hans Andersson, worked at different ungdomsvårdsskolor (community homes or reformatories), forcing the family to move frequently. In the mid 1960s they moved to Järla, Nacka, Stockholm County (Södermanland), where they remained. Her father later became an advisor to former Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson.

In 1964, at the age of no more than seven, Sahlin founded Barbieklubben (the Barbie Club). During her childhood she also enjoyed soccer and music. In Melodifestivalen 1969 (the selection for the song to represent Sweden at the 1969 Eurovision Song Contest) Sahlin performed as one of the back up singers to Jan Malmsjö. The song was written by Benny Andersson, Lasse Berghagen and it came in second place.

Sahlin was educated at Nacka Samskola and Södra Latin in Stockholm and completed secondary school in 1977. From 1976 to 1977 she was vice chairperson of the Swedish Students' Association (Swedish: Elevförbundet). Thereafter she worked at a private company and later as a trade union representative for the Swedish National Union of State Employees (Swedish: Statsanställdas Förbund) (now named the Swedish Union for Service and Communications Employees). She has no college or university education.

[edit] Political career

Sahlin's political career began in the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League in Nacka, Stockholm County, in 1973, at the age of 16. This was during the Vietnam War, and already as a 13-year-old Sahlin had joined the Swedish FNL group.^[2]

In the Swedish general election of 1982 Sahlin was elected to the Riksdag as the youngest member of parliament at that time. In 1990, she became Minister for Employment, but after the Social Democrats lost power in the 1991 election, Sahlin began to serve as chairman of the Riksdag's Committee on the Labour Market and as spokesman for the Social Democrats on labour market issues. From 1992 to 1994 she was party secretary, a post she left to rejoin the government as Minister for Gender Equality and Deputy Prime Minister, when the Social Democrats regained power in the 1994 election.

[edit] Break from politics - and return

In 1995, Sahlin chose to resign from the government, after a scandal broke involving her spending government money for private purposes using her Riksdag credit card. (See below). She would soon repay the money and claimed that had been her intention all along.

Sahlin chose to step down as a candidate to replace Ingvar Carlsson for the post as Prime Minister. The post was instead given to Göran Persson, and Sahlin took a break from political life.

Sahlin returned to national politics in 1998, when she was appointed by Prime Minister Göran Persson, first in the Ministry for Industry, Employment and Communication, from 2002 as Minister for Democracy and Integration issues, and from 2004 to 2006 (due to the social democratic election loss) as Minister for Sustainable Development. She is currently vice chair of the Social Affairs committee in the Riksdag.

[edit] Social Democratic Party leadership candidacy

After the Social Democrats lost in the 2006 election, Göran Persson announced his retirement as party leader on the election night. It was clear that the party now wanted a female leader. Mona Sahlin was mentioned as a possible successor, but not considered to be the most likely candidate. Both Margot Wallström and Carin Jämtin received stronger support amongst local and regional party organisations. Ulrica Messing was also mentioned as a possible candidate. Wallström, Jämtin and Messing declared however that they would not stand for the post and instead supported Sahlin, leaving Mona Sahlin as the only serious candidate. On 18 January she was officially asked by the party's Election Committee to stand as party leader, and accepted. On March 17, she was unanimously elected at the extra party congress in Stockholm.

In January 2007, the new centre-right government of Sweden had dropped greatly in the polls, and the left bloc (including the Green Party) with much stronger support. This provides Mona Sahlin, as leader of the biggest opposition party, with excellent opportunities to lead the opposition against PM Fredrik Reinfeldt.^[3]

Mona Sahlin is - often unfairly - described as a scion of the party's right wing, and a number of left-wing party members criticised her candidacy for party leader. Much of this criticism was silenced in January 2007 when the chairman of the Trade Union Confederation, Wanja Lundby-Wedin, expressed full support for Sahlin^[4] as well as several powerful party districts around the country.^[5][6]

[edit] Criticism and controversies

[edit] Nanny controversy

Sahlin has said that part of beeing a Socialdemocrat is to think that it's "cool" to pay taxes. But in 1990 the newspaper Expressen reported that Sahlin had employed a nanny to take care of her children without paying the employment tax.^[7]

[edit] TV-license controversy

In 1993 it was revealed that Sahlin had not paid her television license, which is a crime in Sweden.^[7]

[edit] "Toblerone affair"

In October 1995 the newspaper Expressen revealed that Sahlin, who was then serving as Deputy Prime Minister and was the top candidate to succeed Ingvar Carlsson as Prime Minister, had cashed about two thousand Swedish kronor on her working charge card, which was only for working expenses. She had also used the card to buy clothes, and to rent a private car (the money was always repaid, and Sahlin described how she saw use of the card as "advance pay"). Sahlin also claimed that the work charge card and her private charge card looked exactly the same and that some of the work charges were unintentionally debited as personal expenses. Sahlin decided to take the case to court to prove her innocence and be cleared of all accusations of misconduct. During this controversy it was also revealed that Sahlin had many unpaid parking fines at the Swedish Enforcement Administration, and that she often had missed or been late in paying her children's kindergarten fees.^[7]

At a press conference on October 16, Sahlin said about the allegations: "I bought two Toblerone, diapers and cigarettes" (Swedish: "Jag köpte två Toblerone, blöjor och cigaretter") - after this statement the scandal came to be known as the "Toblerone affair". At the same time, Sahlin declared that she would take a time out from politics and thereafter took a vacation in Mauritius together with her family and two bodyguards. Her vacation in Mauritius was funded by Swedish tax money. At another press conference on November 10, Sahlin finally announced her resignation from the Swedish government and also from the Social Democratic Party leadership candidacy.^[7] Sahlin was eventually declared innocent on all counts by the court.

In 2002 Sahlin's car was prohibited from being driven, yet received a number of parking tickets during this time. Sahlin has infact received numerous parking tickets (98 in just one year) and many have gone to "kronofogdemyndigheten" (State Collector Authority). Eventually the government gave her a reserved parking space to solve the matter.

[edit] Allegations of nepotism

In August 2006 it was revealed that Sahlin's daughter, Ann-Sofie Sahlin, had been given a temporary substitute position at the Swedish embassy in Washington, D.C. In her letter to the consul-general in Washington, Pontus Järborg, on January 9, 2006, Ann-Sofie Sahlin referred to her mother. For the three months substitute Ann-Sofie Sahlin was paid 5,500 USD (approximately 40,000 SEK). Mona Sahlin denied the allegations that she had helped her daughter to get the job.^[8]

[edit] Internal criticism

Sahlin has been harshly criticised by Enn Kokk, a former high-ranking official of the Social Democratic Party who worked closely with Sahlin for many years.^[9]

[edit] Personal life

Mona Sahlin is married to Bo Sahlin, who is CEO of the AiP Media Produktion AB, a media company owned by the Social Democratic Party. They have three children: Ann-Sofie (born 1978), Jenny (born 1983), and Gustav (born 1989).

She has one brother and two sisters. Her brother, Janne "Japop" Andersson, used to be the lead singer of the pop group Japop and owns his own production company, while her sister, Lena Ridemar, is director of negotiation at the Swedish Union of Tenants (Swedish: Hyresgästföreningen). The other sister works at SEB (Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken).

She is interested in sports, especially soccer and supports the team AIK. She is also a big fan of Bruce Springsteen and has written letters to him, with political contents mentioning George W. Bush and American politics.^[10]

[edit] Bibliography

• Sahlin, Mona (1996). Med mina ord. Stockholm: Rabén Prisma. ISBN 91-518-3006-X. 

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Mona Sahlin's page on the Swedish Parliament's web site
• Mona Sahlin's page on the Social Democratic Party's web site
• Profile: Mona Sahlin in The Local

Political offices
Preceded by Ingela Thalén	Minister for Employment 1990–1991	Succeeded by Börje Hörnlund
Preceded by Bo Toresson	Secretary of the Swedish Social Democratic Party 1992–1994	Succeeded by Leif Linde
Preceded by Bengt Westerberg	Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden 1994–1995	Succeeded by Lena Hjelm-Wallén
	Minister for Gender Equality 1994–1995	Succeeded by Leif Blomberg
Preceded by Margareta Winberg	Minister for Employment 1998–2002	Succeeded by Hans Karlsson
Preceded by Ulrica Messing	Minister for Integration 2000–2002	Succeeded by Jens Orback (Minister for Democracy, Metropolitan Affairs, Integration and Gender Equality)
Preceded by Britta Lejon (Minister for Democracy)	Minister for Democracy and Integration 2002–2003
Preceded by Margareta Winberg (Minister for Gender Equality)	Minister for Democracy, Integration and Gender Equality 2003–2004
Preceded by Lena Sommestad	Minister for the Environment 2004–2005	Succeeded by Lena Sommestad
Preceded by Office created	Minister for Sustainable Development 2005–2006	Succeeded by Office ceaded
Preceded by Göran Persson	Leader of the Social Democratic Party 2007–	Succeeded by incumbent

Persondata
NAME	Sahlin, Mona
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Swedish social democratic politician, leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party.
DATE OF BIRTH	March 9, 1957
PLACE OF BIRTH	Sollefteå, Sweden
DATE OF DEATH	living
PLACE OF DEATH