Monday, February 13, 2012

Fredrik Reinfeldt

John Fredrik Reinfeldt (born 4 August 1965 in Österhaninge, Stockholm County, Sweden) is the Prime Minister of Sweden, leader of the liberal conservative Moderate Party and former President of the European Council. He is married to politician Filippa Reinfeldt.

A native of Stockholm County, Reinfeldt joined the Moderate Youth League in 1983, and by 1992 had risen to the rank of chairman, a position he held until 1995. He has been a Member of Parliament since 1991, representing his home constituency. Following the 1994 defeat of the Moderate-led coalition government, Reinfeldt adopted a critical stance against the party leadership under Carl Bildt, which resulted in isolation within the party. However, following a change of leadership in 1999 and a bad result in the 2002 election, Reinfeldt gradually gained influence within the Moderate Party.

Reinfeldt was elected party leader on 25 October 2003, succeeding Bo Lundgren. Under his leadership, the Moderate Party has transformed its policies and oriented towards the centre, branding itself "the New Moderates" (Swedish: Nya moderaterna). Following the general elections held on 17 September 2006, Reinfeldt was elected Prime Minister by the new parliament on 5 October and presented his cabinet the following day. Together with the three other political parties in the centre-right Alliance for Sweden, Reinfeldt presides over a coalition government with the support of a narrow majority in the parliament. At the age of 41, he was the third youngest person to become Prime Minister of Sweden. After the 2010 election Reinfeldt's government was reduced to a minority government but also becoming the first centre-right government since before World War II to be re-elected, making Reinfeldt the first Moderate politician elected to two consecutive terms as Prime Minister. He is also the longest-serving Moderate Prime Minister in Swedish history.

Early Life and Education
In 1965, Fredrik Reinfeldt was born at Allmänna BB hospital in Stockholm as the oldest of three brothers to his parents Bruno and Birgitta Reinfeldt. At the time of his birth his parents lived in an apartment in Österhaninge in the south of Stockholm County, but a short time afterwards the family moved to London, England where his father worked as a consultant for Shell. Upon returning to Sweden, the family first lived in an apartment in Handen before moving to a terraced house in Bromsten in northwestern Stockholm. The Reinfeldt family was living in Bromsten when Fredrik's younger brothers, Magnus and Henrik, were born in 1969 and 1973. In 1976, the family moved into a single-family home in Täby in northeastern Stockholm County. His mother Birgitta was a leadership and management consultant, and some of her professional skills might have inspired and impressed the young Fredrik.

At the age of 11, Reinfeldt became chairman of the student council (Swedish: elevrådet) in his school, and became a fan of the football club Djurgårdens IF, a passion he maintains to this day. He started playing basketball for the "Tensta Tigers" while living in Bromsten (which is located adjacent to Tensta), and continued to play for them after his family moved to Täby. He also enjoyed setting up and performing revues and cabarets. After school, Reinfeldt completed his military service as a ranger (Swedish: lapplandsjägare) at Lapplands jägarregemente and finished first in his class as a cadet in Umeå. It was during this time that he became interested in politics, as a representative for his regiment in the congress of conscripts in the Swedish military (Swedish: värnpliktsriksdagen). Reinfeldt graduated from Stockholm University School of Business with a degree in Business and Economics (Swedish: civilekonomexamen) in 1990.

Personal Life
In 1992, Fredrik Reinfeldt married Filippa Holmberg, who is currently a Moderate Party County Councillor for healthcare issues (Swedish: sjukvårdslandstingsråd) in Stockholm. At present, Reinfeldt has moved into the official residence of the Prime Minister of Sweden, the Sager House, together with his wife and their three children, Ebba, Gustaf and Erik. His father Bruno Reinfeldt was also formerly involved in local politics for the Moderate Party in Täby, but left all his political posts in February 2009 after having been arrested and later convicted for drink driving.

During the 2006 election, it was brought to attention that Reinfeldt's paternal great-grandfather, John Reinfeldt, was the illegitimate son of Emma Dorotea Reinfeld, a maid from Eckau in present-day Latvia, and John Hood, an African American circus director from New York. Emma Dorotea Reinfeld later married the Swede Anders Karlsson, but her son John kept his mother's surname. The spelling was later changed to Reinfeldt. He also has Italian ancestry, via his paternal grandmother, who was allegedly related to royals King Ferdinand IV of Naples and his queen, Marie Caroline of Austria.

From : www.wikipedia.org