Ylva Johansson

Ylva Julia Margareta Johansson (born 13 February 1964) is 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.

Ylva Johansson
European Commissioner for Home Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 December 2019
President	Ursula von der Leyen
Preceded by	Dimitris Avramopoulos
Minister for Employment
In office 3 October 2014 – 10 september 2019
Prime Minister	Stefan Löfven
Preceded by	Elisabeth Svantesson
Succeeded by	Eva Nordmark
Minister for Welfare and Elderly Healthcare
In office 13 September 2004 – 6 October 2006
Prime Minister	Göran Persson
Preceded by	Berit Andnor
Succeeded by	Cristina Husmark Pehrsson (Social Security) Maria Larsson (Elderly Healthcare)
Minister for Schools
In office 7 October 1994 – 6 October 1998
Prime Minister	Göran Persson
Preceded by	Beatrice Ask
Succeeded by	Ingegerd Wärnersson
Member of the Riksdag for Stockholm
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 October 2006
In office 4 October 1988 – 30 September 1991
Personal details
Born	13 February 1964 Huddinge, Sweden
Political party	Left Party (Before 1992) Social Democrats (1992–present)
Other political affiliations	Party of European Socialists
Spouse(s)	Bo Hammar (Divorced) Erik Åsbrink (2002–2015)
Education	Lund University Stockholm Institute of Education

Education and early career

Johansson studied at Lund University and the Stockholm Institute of Education 1983-88 and 1991–92 and holds a Master of Science in education. Upon graduating, she worked as math, physics and chemistry teacher.[1]

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.[2]

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.[2]

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%.[3]

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.[4][5]

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".[6][7]

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.[8]

Political positions

Johansson has been described as the "left wing of the Social Democrats".[1]

In March 2017, Johansson appeared on the BBC, where she claimed that the number of reported rapes and sexual harassment cases in Sweden “is going down and going down and going down.” Johansson later apologized and admitted that although the number of reports of rapes went down in 2015, they were on the rise in 2016.[9]

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".[10]

Personal life

Johansson has two children with her former husband Bo Hammar and a son with Erik Åsbrink. She an honorary member of Hammarby football club.[1]

References

1. Meet the commissioners Politico Europe, September 9, 2019.
2. Esha Vaish, Johan Sennero and Johan Ahlander (August 1, 2018), Sweden Inc. sounds alarm as election signals jobs clampdown on immigrants Reuters.
3. Ridderstolpe, Erik; Eriksson, Mats. "Mål om lägst arbetslöshet inom EU borta". Sveriges Radio (in Swedish). Retrieved 2019-10-07.
4. Sweden nominates Ylva Johansson as new European Commissioner Government of Sweden, press release of August 9, 2019.
5. Rafaela Lindeberg (August 8, 2019), Sweden Nominates Ylva Johansson for European Commission Post Bloomberg News.
6. SVT (2019-10-01). "Ylva Johansson får vänta på EU-godkännande efter utfrågning" (in Swedish). Retrieved 2019-10-02.
7. Ekot. "Inget grönt ljus för Ylva Johansson". Sveriges Radio (in Swedish). Retrieved 2019-10-02.
8. Laura Kayali, Paola Tamma and Hans von der Burchard (April 9, 2020), France’s freewheeling Thierry Breton rises to the crisis Politico Europe.
9. Swedish minister does U-turn on comments about Sweden's sex crimes, thelocal.se (The Local), 2017-03-02.
10. "Ylva Johansson eudebates the New Pact on Asylum and Migration with LIBE MEPs in Brussels". Youtube / EU Debates | eudebates.tv channel. 24 Sep 2020.

External links

• Ylva Johansson- Information page on the Swedish Government web site
• Regeringens heta romans - Article in Aftonbladet, September 23, 1998 on Ylva Johansson's and Erik Åsbrink's press release. (In Swedish)
• Ylva Johansson at the Riksdag website