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Laila Freivalds
Photo: Magnus Fröderberg/norden.org

Laila Freivalds (born June 22, 1942) is a Latvian-born Swedish Social Democratic politician and a former Swedish Minister for Justice, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister.

Freivalds was born in Riga, Latvia, during World War II, and escaped to Sweden with her family. She graduated with a Candidate of Law (juris kandidat) from Uppsala University in 1970 after which she served in the Swedish Court System until 1976. From 1976 onwards she held senior posts at the Swedish Consumer Agency, before being appointed Minister for Justice in 1988. With the exception of the years 1991–1994, when her party was in opposition, she continued to hold that office until she resigned in 2000 over a controversy in which she was criticised, as a private individual, for trying to convert her tenancy into a condominium, circumventing a controversial housing tenure law that she was responsible for introducing and advocating in her public role as Minister of Justice. Since this scandal, her relations with the press have been strained.

After the assassination of Anna Lindh in 2003, Freivalds was asked to succeed her as Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Laila Freivalds with US Secretary of State Colin Powell in February 2004.

Laila Freivalds was severely criticised in the Swedish press for the way the Swedish Government handled the 2004 Asian tsunami disaster, and has admitted that her ministry "ought to have reacted much more strongly as early as Boxing Day instead of waiting for more information." In addition, she was heavily criticised for going to the theatre on December 26, 2004, the day of the Tsunami disaster, and for stating that she does not listen to the news when she is not working.

On March 21, 2006, she resigned from her office as minister of foreign affairs, after accusations of lying to media about her involvement in the closing of a website belonging to the Sweden Democrats, in the wake of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy. Her involvement in closing the website is seen by many as a violation against that part of the Swedish constitution dealing with freedom of the press.

Offentlighetsprincipen (The Principle of Public Access) — a freedom of information provision enshrined in the Swedish constitution — made it possible to show that her earlier denial of involvement was less than truthful. Since all documents in the Swedish state are in principle accessible to the public, internal documents in four places were found that made it quite clear that she had been fully informed of the event. This information was therefore published in "Riksdag & Department".

Most journalists suggest that the turning point came after Göran Persson, the Prime Minister of Sweden during this time, publicly criticized the civil servant who requested the closing of the website for his actions, only to find out that he had acted with the approval of Laila Freivalds. The Prime Minister then lost confidence in his Foreign Minister and probably suggested that she resign. This theory requires Freivalds to have lied to the cabinet, something many have found unlikely.

Bosse Ringholm was Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs^[1][2] until March 27th, when Jan Eliasson was appointed to the post.

1. ^ Swedish foreign minister resigns over cartoons. Reuters AlertNet. Retrieved on March 21, 2006.
2. ^ FACTBOX-Five facts about Sweden's Laila Freivalds. Reuters AlertNet. Retrieved on March 21, 2006.