The Löfven I cabinet () was the government of Sweden from 3 October 2014 to 21 January 2019. It was a coalition minority government between the Social Democrats and the Green Party, with confidence and supply from the Left Party, led by Prime Minister Stefan Löfven of the Social Democrats. It was the first time that the Green Party had been part of a government and the first time in 57 years that the Social Democrats had formed a coalition government.
The cabinet was installed following the 2014 general election, after a formal government meeting with King Carl XVI Gustaf on 3 October 2014. Stefan Löfven had previously announced his cabinet ministers at 09:00 AM on the same day. On 25 September 2018, after the 2018 general election, the Riksdag (Swedish parliament) passed a motion of no confidence in it by 204 votes to 142, and Löfven resigned. However, the speaker then invited him to stay on as acting prime minister of a caretaker government. Löfven was reelected as prime minister on 18 January 2019, after a Swedish record-long government formation. On 21 January, the Löfven II cabinet was installed.
With only a total of 37.9 percent of the popular votes in 2014 and 138 out of 349 seats (39.5%) in the Riksdag, the "red-green" coalition began as one of the weakest minority governments in Swedish history and relied on support from other parties in the Riksdag. However, the cabinet ruled out cooperation with the nationalist Sweden Democrats. Ministers The cabinet consisted of 12 men and 12 women.
In May 2016, Löfven reshuffled his cabinet. In July 2017, three cabinet ministers (Infrastructure Minister Anna Johansson, Interior Minister Anders Ygeman, and Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist) were challenged by a vote of confidence by the opposition and a majority in the Riksdag. Löfven subsequently removed Johansson and Ygeman from office, but retained Hultqvist, and the no-confidence motion against Hultqvist collapsed in September 2017 after the Centre Party and the Liberals dropped their support for it.No-confidence motion against Sweden's Defence Minister collapses as two opposition parties back out, The Local (September 14, 2017).
Facts and statistics The numbers below refer to the composition of the cabinet at its formation on 3 October 2014.
Number of ministers: 24 (the Prime Minister included) Number of women: 12 Number of men: 12 Average age: 45,4 Youngest minister: Aida Hadžialić (27 years) Oldest minister: Kristina Persson (68 years) Number of foreign-born ministers: 4
Party breakdown Party breakdown of cabinet ministers: Social Democrats 18 Green Party 6
Policy The government announced the outline of its policy on 3 October 2014. Plans included reducing unemployment to the lowest level in the EU by 2020, reducing deficits, phasing out nuclear energy, reducing emissions from fossil fuels and having a more socially liberal asylum policy.Prime Minister's Office,
In its statement the government identified as feminist. It aims to increase gender equality, reduce the gender wage gap and introduce quota if female representation on governing boards is below 40% by 2016. It also promised to increase penalties for aggravated sexual offences.
The government's foreign policy will consist of pursuing membership of the Security Council and remaining outside NATO. The government said it opposes ISIL. It was the first EU government to recognise the State of Palestine in view to "facilitate a peace agreement by making the parties less unequal", resulting in that Israel the same day recalled its ambassador for consultations.Israel recalls ambassador to Stockholm after Sweden's decision to recognize Palestinian state, Jerusalem Post 30 October 2014
2014 government crisis
On 3 December 2014, the proposed budget of the cabinet failed in the Riksdag due to the Sweden Democrats siding with the centre-right opposition Alliance's budget. Prime Minister Löfven announced plans to call for fresh elections in March 2015.The Local: Sweden's Prime Minister calls fresh election However, on 27 December, the early election was cancelled after the governing parties signed an agreement with the four parties in the opposition Alliance. Under the Decemberöverenskommelsen (December Agreement), the six parties agreed not to vote against a budget proposed by the government for the next eight years. However, the December Agreement fell already in October 2015 when the Christian Democrats decided to leave it.
2018–2019 government formation
Prime Minister Stefan Löfven lost the motion of no confidence against him and his cabinet on 25 September 2018. 142 members of parliament voted for retaining Löfven's cabinet while 204 voted against. Löfven stated in a subsequent press conference that he would not be stepping down as Social Democratic party leader and that he would be willing to partake in talks regarding the formation of a new government, but insisted that it is ultimately up to the Speaker of the Riksdag. Löfven also stated that he finds it "completely unbelievable that the Alliance could ever form a government", if they intend on keeping their promise of not co-operating with the nationalist Sweden Democrats. Löfven and his cabinet continued to serve as a caretaker government until Löfven was reelected as prime minister in January 2019, 131 days after the 2018 election. 115 MPs voted to re-elect Löfven as prime minister, while 153 voted against him and 77 MPs, representing the Centre Party, the Liberals and the Left Party, abstained. Since the Swedish prime minister is elected through negative parliamentarism, a candidate can be elected to the office if no more than 175 MPs vote against them.
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