http://www.sr.se/cgi-bin/International/nyhetssidor/artikel.asp?ProgramID=2054&Nyheter=&format=1&artikel=820394Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds Resigns
Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds has resigned after accusations that she acted unconstitutionally over the closure of a far-right web site which published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.
Freivalds originally said that she was unaware the foreign ministry had contacted the web hosting company which then shut down the site belonging to the anti-immigrant Swedish Democrat party. But documents published this week showed she had indeed been informed. Political pressure on a company to close such a website would be against the Swedish constitution.
She told a news conference Tuesday morning that she believes the current situation is impossible for her. She said, ”It is damaging the government, the party and the ministry of foreign affairs and that is why I have chosen to resign.”
Prime Minister Göran Persson said, ”It was her own decision.”
Freivalds was also widely criticised in connection to the government’s bungled response to the Asian tsunami in which some 500 Swedes died.
The resignation comes just six months before the ruling Social Democrats face what analysts expect to be a tight general election. Laila Freivalds will be replaced by Vice Prime Minister Bosse Ringholm.***
http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=3330&date=20060321&PHPSESSID=b71056d4676f951cc019f45fb0cd72e6Freivalds quitsPublished: 21st March 2006 08:47 CET
Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds has resigned, said Prime Minister Göran Persson at a press conference at Rosenbad on Tuesday morning.
Vice prime minister Bosse Ringholm has replaced her as temporary foreign minister, said Persson.
"I have today received Laila Freivalds' letter of resignation and I have accepted it," said Göran Persson.
In recent days her position became untenable as it emerged that that she knew that a foreign ministry official contacted the internet hosting company which later closed the web site of the Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraternas).
Speaking to journalists at the time, Freivalds had denied prior knowledge of this. However, on Monday it became clear that she had been consulted on the matter.
Opposition leaders called for her resignation, saying that she had lost the confidence of the people. They were joined by the government's ally, the Green Party.
Laila Freivalds was at the press conference and explained her decision:
"I feel that the current situation has become impossible for me. It is damaging to the government, to the party and to the foreign ministry, and therefore I have chosen to resign," she said.
"Yesterday evening I held a press conference in Brussels on the election in Belarus and none of the journalists were interested in that issue. That was when I realised this is impossible.".
Persson said that Freivalds had been "a competent and strong foreign minister".
"I think it's good that we can draw the line under this story," said the Green Party's spokesperson Peter Eriksson to TT.
"And it was good that Laila understood that there wasn't the confidence in her that is needed today."
Freivalds had also faced months of criticism following her handling of the tsunami catastrophe.
The LocalI'll quote from an earlier post where I defended the harsh criticism the FM received over this incident against some who would apparently think nothing of the fact that the government can step in and stifle free speech like this:
The Swedish Democrats have filed a complaint against the government with both the Office of the Chancellor of Justice and the Parliamentary Ombudsman. The official Press Ombudsman and leading publicists have likened the matter to the censuring of free press during World War II, and the leader of the Liberal Party has said this is "unprecedented in modern times". People are justifiably upset that government officials (and the "Security Police", who was also involved) can shut down a Party website in this way. The Chancellor of Justice has by the way already tried the aspect of the actual publishing of the cartoons and deemed it not to fall under hate-speech laws.Yes, this was a flagrant breach of the Swedish constitution, and she was right to "resign" - or, as the real meaning of that word is in this matter, "be fired".