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The news from Sweden on Tuesday named a 26-year-old as climate minister, the youngest user to head a ministry in the home country of teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg.
The appointment among cabinet members came through newly elected Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who leads a right-wing coalition subsidized by Sweden’s far-right Democrats.
Romina Pourmokhtari, 26, until now head of the youth wing of the Liberal Party, and is not characterized by having climate as a political profile.
The young minister has been in the afterlife a vocal critic of Kristersson’s resolution to bring him closer to the Sweden Democrats (SD).
“Ulf Kristersson SD – Absolutely. Ulf Kristersson with SD – No thanks,” he wrote in a Twitter post in 2020.
Born into a circle of relatives of Iranian origin on the outskirts of Stockholm, the young woman inherits the portfolio of time and environment, and beats the past record of 27 years for the youngest minister.
Sweden is also home to teenage climate activist Thunberg, who presented a large global movement with millions of young people that sparked a torrent of debate about the risks of climate change.
Sweden’s coalition government was announced Friday after Kristersson signed an agreement with his partners and Sweden’s nationalist and anti-immigration Democrats who pledged to the government in exchange for political commitments, namely on immigration and crime.
During the unveiling of the closet, Kristersson also announced the creation of a new post of “civil defense” minister, as the country faces tensions with Russia.
The Sweden Democrats were the big winners of the election and have become the largest party of the moment, the Social Democrats, who have governed Swedish politics since the 1930s.
The Sweden Democrats’ significant influence on the quadripartite agreement has caused tension within the Liberals, which is also imperative to Kristersson’s survival.
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