Ylva Johansson

In the 1988 general elections Johansson was elected as a member of the Riksdag for the Left Party - Communists (VPK). She later left the party and joined the Social Democrats.

From 1992 to 1994 Johansson worked as a teacher, until Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson made her Minister for Schools in his government. In 1998, she and the then Minister for Finance Erik Åsbrink announced their wish to "publicly confirm that we are in love" and their intention to separate from their respective partners. Soon afterwards, Johansson left the government. The following years, she worked in the private sector.

In 2004, Prime Minister Göran Persson appointed Johansson to the government in a new position, as Minister for Health and Elderly Care, succeeding Lars Engqvist.[2]

From 2014, Johansson served as Minister for Employment in the government of Prime Minister Stefan Löfven. During her time in office, she worked to tighten labor immigration laws.[2]

In the 2013 Social Democrat party congress, the goal was set that Sweden should have the lowest rate of unemployment in the EU. While the Social Democrats and Green Party were in power, unemployment decreased more in other EU countries than Sweden and by 2019, Sweden's place in the unemployment ranking slipped to 18 with an unemployment rate of 6.2%, where the first spot was occupied by Czech Republic at 1.7%.[3]

Following the 2019 European elections, Löfven nominated Johansson as Sweden's candidate for the post of European Commissioner.[4][5]

During a question & answer session in October 2019 in the European Parliament, Johansson was asked on whether Swedish policy on gang crime and migration would be exported to the EU level. Johansson responded that she was "proud that Sweden received so many refugees".[6][7]

In early March 2020, Johansson was appointed by President Ursula von der Leyen to serve on a special task force to coordinate the European Union's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.[8]