The Speaker unveils bust of Fredrik Reinfeldt at the Riksdag

On 24 September, the Speaker Andreas Norlén unveiled a bust of the former Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt (Moderate Party) at the Swedish Parliament.

The ceremony began with the Speaker Andreas Norlén, the former Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and the artist Peter Linde holding speeches in the former Second Chamber. The bust was then unveiled in the presence of the Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, members of the Riksdag, invited guests and the media.  

About the bust

The former Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has been represented with a bust which is placed in the Grand Stairway of the East Wing of the Riksdag. The artist is Peter Linde and the bust was cast by Herman Bergman Konstgjuteri AB.

The Riksdag commemorates former prime ministers with commemorative busts and medallions placed in the Riksdag building. Those who have been prime minister for at least four years are portrayed with a relief or medallion, and a commemorative bust is dedicated to those who have held office as prime minister for at least eight years.

The Speaker’s speech

Fredrik Reinfeldt,
Prime Minister,
Honoured members of parliament,
Ladies and gentlemen,

A warm welcome to this ceremony during which we will be unveiling the commemorative bust of former Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt. I am happy that so many of you would like to be here today to experience this moment.

The position of prime minister is of central importance in our Swedish parliamentary democracy. The Prime Minister is the primary political leader of our country. It is natural that our country's prime ministers should be honoured here at the Riksdag, the heart of democracy.

In the Grand Stairway of the Eastern Wing of the Riksdag, we are therefore surrounded by busts and portrait medallions of former prime ministers. Among them, we can find Karl Staaff who pushed for the introduction of universal and equal suffrage. We can also see Nils Edén, who played a pivotal role in achieving the broad compromise on the great franchise reform which we are now celebrating as the advent of democracy. And here we can find many of the prime ministers who have since managed this democratic heritage.

Some of them were only in office for a short time. Others were in office for much longer and left a clear mark on their time. The older, more monumental busts have their own history, but the rule we now have in the Riksdag is that if a prime minister has been in office for two electoral periods or more, he or she is portrayed with a commemorative bust. If a prime minister has been in office for one electoral period or more, he or she is portrayed with a medallion. You, Fredrik, belong to the circle of those who have been in office for two electoral terms. 

You were Sweden’s 33rd prime minister and led our country's 48th government since the modern office of prime minister was established in 1876.  

***

Being prime minister is no simple task. Many are those who assumed office with a clear idea of what they wanted to achieve, only to find themselves devoting all their powers to solving erupting crises. Whoever is to succeed therefore needs to be well-prepared. Only in this way is it possible to deal with crises without losing sight of your goal.

And you were well-prepared. As Chair of the Moderate Party Youth Association, member of the Riksdag and party leader, you had plenty of time to develop your leadership, your political ideology and your ideas for how to renew your party, form an alliance and change the political landscape. When you were asked to form a government by the Speaker, you were ready.

***

You were Prime Minister from 2006 to 2014. I was voted in to the Riksdag myself in 2006 and I remember clearly the feeling in the air here at the Riksdag during those days and weeks straight after the election. It was highly charged, there were great expectations from those who supported the new government, great concerns from others. But no one could doubt the fact that a new phase had been entered into.  

It was a time of change, both in Sweden and in the world around us, and your time in government came to be more about change than administration. New thinking permeated both the way of working and politics.

As prime minister, you chose to organise your work in a way different for that of your predecessors. You got to work early in the morning and left the office before five o’clock to get home in time to go through your children's homework. You managed international meetings as effectively as possible, preferably in the daytime. You replaced dinners with international guests with lunches. Work, everyday life and the work-life balance were not only of central importance in your life, but also fundamental themes in the policy you pursued and the story of Sweden you formulated.

If we cast our eyes over the rest of the world, we can see that these were years which were to contain both the Swedish EU Presidency, when the Treaty of Lisbon was finally adopted, and the financial crisis, the Arab spring and Russia's annexation of Crimea. Events that in many ways characterise our times today.

***

Just a few days ago, exactly ten years had passed since you left your post as Prime Minister. A long time for an individual person, but a short time in the life of a nation. Far too short a time for us as a society to gain the distance that is necessary to fully and with historical perspective enable us to understand the impact you made during your years as Prime Minister. I think that everyone realises that the impact has been significant, regardless of whatever political points of view they may have. 

Ladies and gentlemen,

The art of government is timeless. The reflections of prime ministers today are of the same ilk as those of monarchs in the Middle Ages.

At the end of Maurice Druon’s novel Le roi de fer, the French King Phillipe IV finds that he has come away from his hunting party and in a glade in the forest encounters one of his subjects. During their conversation, the King realises what crucial importance one of his decisions he made has had for this man. Thanks to this decision, he is now a free man.

During your many travels in Sweden, you endeavoured to speak to ordinary citizens, rather than dignitaries. With the disappointed muttering of an occasional business leader, chair of a local government association or county governor ... But just like the French King a millennium earlier, you managed to form your own picture of how your reforms had affected citizens. Had they become freer? Had they gained more power over their daily lives?

Then as now, there are many people who have opinions on how a leader should act. But only a person who has been put in this position of leadership can judge whether the result corresponds to his or her own objectives.

***

The effects of what you did when you were Prime Minister are permanent. This bust will remind members of the Riksdag, officials at the Riksdag, and visitors to the Riksdag for all time of what you achieved during your time as our county’s principal political leader. 

We will now hear in your own words how you see your time as Prime Minister. I will therefore now leave the floor to the former Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt. Welcome up to the rostrum!