It will be a fast pace right from the start for a new foreign minister. Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer and the new foreign minister travel to Ankara on September 18 for a first high-level meeting on what is called the Security compact, a security cooperation between Sweden and Turkey at ministerial level in the work against, among other things, terrorism.
“Can create squeaks”
In connection with Tobias Billström’s resignation as foreign minister, cooperation with the prime minister has also been discussed. For a new foreign minister, it is both about keeping the foreign administration together and managing the cooperation with the prime minister and the cabinet committee.
A challenge here is the new Office for National Security Affairs, which is now being built directly under the Prime Minister. It is led by national security adviser Henrik Landerholm, who has a close relationship with the prime minister. One task for the National Security Council is, among other things, to analyze and coordinate Swedish security policy, tasks that have traditionally also been handled by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which can create friction between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the cabinet committee.
See Knutson’s analysis in the player above.