26-year-old Romina Pourmokhtari will be Sweden’s youngest minister
Sweden’s new government under Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, which was announced on Tuesday, includes the country’s youngest ever cabinet minister.
26-year-old Romina Pourmokhtari has been named the country’s climate minister, making her the youngest person ever to head the department, reports AFP.
Previously, the award was held by Aida Hadzialic, who in 2014 became Sweden’s minister of upper secondary education when she was 27 years old. Hadzialic was forced to resign just two years after taking office after controversy arose over her DUI conviction.
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The newly appointed climate and environment minister previously served as head of the People’s Party’s youth wing and had proposed a meat tax in 2020 to combat climate change.
Pourmokhtari, who was born into a family of Iranian origin in the suburbs of Stockholm, has previously been an outspoken critic of Kristersson’s effort to move his party closer to the anti-immigration and nationalist Sweden Democrats (SD), AFP reports.
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In a Twitter post dating back to 2020, she wrote “Ulf Kristersson without SD – Absolutely. Ulf Kristersson with SD – No thanks”.
Ulf Kristersson has been confirmed as prime minister after more than a month of negotiations with the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, who have agreed to support the coalition in parliament, Reuters reports.
With the country’s inflation at nearly 10 percent and the economy heading into recession, the new government faces a number of challenges.
(With input from agencies)
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