John Fredrik Reinfeldt is a Swedish economist, lecturer, former Prime Minister of Sweden from 2006 to 2014 and chairman of the liberal conservative Moderate Party from 2003 to 2015.
73 Facts About Fredrik Reinfeldt
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Fredrik Reinfeldt was the last rotating President of the European Council in 2009.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt is chairman of the Swedish Football Association since 25 March 2023.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt served as Member of Parliament from 1991 to 2014, representing his home constituency.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt was elected party leader on 25 October 2003, succeeding Bo Lundgren.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt's popularity fell until the economy of Sweden emerged as one of the strongest in Europe; this brought a resurgence of support for him, resulting in his government's re-election in 2010.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt's premiership was characterised by "Arbetslinjen", a focus on getting more people into the workforce, and by management of the late-2000s financial crisis and recession, which resulted in one of the world's strongest public finances and top rankings in climate and health care.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt is the longest-serving non-Social Democratic Prime Minister since Erik Gustaf Bostrom's first spell in office between 1891 and 1900.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt was born in 1965 in Allmanna BB hospital in Stockholm, the eldest of three brothers to his parents Bruno and Birgitta Fredrik Reinfeldt.
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The Reinfeldt family was living in Bromsten when Fredrik's younger brothers, Magnus and Henrik, were born in 1969 and 1973.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt's mother Birgitta was a leadership and management consultant, and some of her professional skills might have inspired and impressed the young Fredrik.
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At the age of 11, Fredrik Reinfeldt became chairman of the student council in his school, and became a fan of the football club Djurgardens IF, a passion he maintains to this day.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt started playing basketball for the "Tensta Tigers" while living in Bromsten, and continued to play for them after his family moved to Taby.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt enjoyed setting up and performing revues and cabarets.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt graduated from Stockholm University School of Business with a degree in Business and Economics in 1990.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt, who is said to dislike hard liquor and to consume wine and beer in moderate amounts, started "Conservative Youth" and formed a bond with the mother party, eventually taking over the youth league in 1987.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt became chairman of the Moderate Youth League's Stockholm branch in 1990, and the following year was elected a member of the Riksdag.
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From 1992 to 1995 Fredrik Reinfeldt was the chairman of the Moderate Youth League.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt ousted the former chairman Ulf Kristersson at the controversial congress known as the Battle of Lycksele, securing 58 of the delegates' votes where Kristersson gained only 55.
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The congress was controversial because it was the culmination of a long ideological battle within the Moderate Youth League between the conservatives and the libertarians; Fredrik Reinfeldt represented the conservatives and Kristersson the libertarians.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt later stated that although the effects of that deep ideological division and battle in the party lingered on within the Moderate Youth League, he felt that it was a defining moment in his life.
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In 1993 Fredrik Reinfeldt wrote the book Det sovande folket, Transl:"The sleeping people", where he criticized the Swedish welfare state and argues for a liberal societal system.
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On 14 February 1995 Fredrik Reinfeldt was called to a meeting of the Moderate Party's Riksdag group, which took place in the former second chamber of the Swedish parliament building, a meeting where Bildt apparently scolded him for hours.
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From 2001 to 2002 Fredrik Reinfeldt was chairman of the justice committee of the Riksdag.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt instead proposed reforms to Sweden's welfare state, which included cutting taxes for the lowest income earners and reducing unemployment benefits, in order to encourage the jobless to return to work.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt toned down calls within the party for dismantling large portions of the Swedish welfare state, stating that change must come gradually from the bottom up and not be dictated from the top down.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt's goal was said to be to fine-tune the welfare state, by focusing on getting people off welfare benefits and into employment.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt worked to shift the conservatives toward the middle ground by convincing voters that he would fix rather than dismantle the public welfare system.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt even extended an invitation to the Swedish Trade Union Confederation, traditional supporter of the Social Democrats and opponent of the Moderate Party.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt changed the Moderate Party's traditional stance towards the Swedish Labour and employment laws, stating that he prefers small changes instead of any radical reform.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt is said to have been instrumental in uniting the four parties, which previously were known for being notoriously divided, in order to present a powerful alternative to the Social Democrats.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt became the Prime Minister of Sweden on 6 October 2006, serving concurrently as Leader of the Moderate Party.
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The 41-year old Fredrik Reinfeldt became the youngest person to become Prime Minister since Rickard Sandler became Prime Minister at the age of 40 in 1925.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt's Government compromised four parties which prior to the election had formed a coalition named Alliance for Sweden, later turned into the Alliance.
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At a press conference prior to his appointment, Fredrik Reinfeldt commented that "this feels historic in many ways" partly because it was the first time in 36 years there would be a majority government in Sweden.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt's Government emphasized that a balanced budget was a priority, combined with income tax cuts to stimulate domestic production and commerce.
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The Cabinet received criticism for holding to hard in the public finances, with limited investments, and the support of Fredrik Reinfeldt's policies dropped to one of the lowest ever seen for an incumbent Government.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt became President of the European Council on 1 July 2009, as Sweden took over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from the Czech Republic.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt immediately requested the European Union to do more to combat climate change.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt spoke of his wish for Turkey to join the European Union.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt spoke of his other views, such as his hope that a second term would be possible quickly for the President of the European Commission and his desire that the European Union should not sanction Iran immediately following its election protests.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt had during his second term, in contrast to his first term, no major international engagement.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt adopted a liberal roadmap, leading in particular to a modification of the tax system, a tightening of the conditions of access to unemployment benefits or sick pay, and the reduction of public spending.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt visited Washington, DC on 15 May 2007, meeting with President Bush.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt's trip included meetings with others, including United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
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Bush and Fredrik Reinfeldt mostly discussed climate change and free trade, focusing on the Doha Round.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt visited President Barack Obama at first the White House and then in the Metropolitan Museum of Art on 23 September 2009.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt was President of the European Council from 1 July to 1 December 2009.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt was responsible in this role to put EU's efforts to get into a binding agreement at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in 2009 but this did not succeed.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt stepped down from the office of Prime Minister on 3 October 2014, being succeeded by Stefan Lofven.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt resigned from the Riksdag on 31 December 2014 and stepped down as party leader on 10 January 2015, being succeeded by Anna Kinberg Batra.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt will continue to promote his "job line", which was a key part of his premiership, in a continued community deed.
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On 11 December 2015, Fredrik Reinfeldt was nominated to become the next chairman of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.
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On 15 March 2016 it was announced that Fredrik Reinfeldt had been hired by Bank of America Merrill Lynch as a senior adviser for its business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt has been called a "Swedish David Cameron," insofar as he succeeded in shifting the public perception of the Moderate Party from a clear right-wing position to a more centrist one.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt has been perceived as a controlled and harmonious person.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt has been criticized for supposedly anti-Swedish commentary such as "The native Swedish culture is only barbaric" which referred to the positive effect the inflow of people and influences had on the development of Sweden.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt was criticized for his book "Det sovande folket", of which he initially denied authorship, but later confessed calling it a "sin of the youth".
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VLT published an article stating that Fredrik Reinfeldt was 28 years old, a business and economics graduate and had been in parliament for two years and that he "knew fully what he was doing".
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Fredrik Reinfeldt has been called "one of Sweden's most dangerous leaders" in an article by Social Democrat Daniel Suhonen.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt has been criticized for having sold out parts of elderly care, privatized some primary and secondary schools and pharmacies.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt received heavy criticism for having proposed in a deputy report, authored by himself, that Swedes should work to the age of 75 and further if possible.
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Blekinge Lans Tidning published an article criticizing Fredrik Reinfeldt for being narrow minded stating that "migration can save the pension system".
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Henrik Lilja of conspiracy oriented Facebook group ProjektSanning criticized Fredrik Reinfeldt for having "destroyed Sweden".
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Fredrik Reinfeldt asked the Swedish public to "open their hearts" towards refugees which he was criticized for by some political opponents.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt received criticism for not having provided the financial prerequisites during his eight years in power.
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Leftist anarchist leaning website AktuelltFokus published an article criticizing Fredrik Reinfeldt, after leaving politics, for receiving a government pension with monthly payments of 156 000 SEK from Swedish tax money while his own corporate declared a profit of 22 million SEK in 2016.
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In 1992, Fredrik Reinfeldt married Filippa Holmberg, a Stockholm County municipal politician for the Moderate Party.
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On 23 February 2015, Fredrik Reinfeldt confirmed that he was now in a relationship with Roberta Alenius.
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Alenius served as Head of Communications at the Cabinet Office from 2006 to 2014, while Fredrik Reinfeldt served as Prime Minister.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt has revealed that his personal distaste for the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats party is based on his partly African ancestry.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt has said that he left the Church of Sweden when he was eighteen years old, critical of the left-leaning perspectives of the church.
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Fredrik Reinfeldt has lately attracted some attention as a political science fiction writer.