Annika Billström (born 7 April 1956) is a Swedish

social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

. She was the first female mayor of Stockholm, serving between 2004 and 2006.

Background

Billström's background was as the

chief financial officer A chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization who is assigned the primary responsibility for making decisions for the company for projects and its finances; i.a.: financial planning, management of financial risks, ...

of Handels, the

Swedish Commercial Employees' Union The Swedish Commercial Employees' Union (, Handels) is Sweden's third-largest blue-collar union, with some 145,000 members, of whom around 25,000 are retired. Women make up over 70 percent of its membership. The union was established on 15 Apr ...

between 1987 and 1994. She was elected to the Stockholm City Council, serving as road commissioner in 1994–98 and commissioner in opposition from 1998 to 2002.

Mayoralty

Billström was appointed mayor of Stockholm in 2002 by the City Council after winning the municipal election and forming a majority with the Left party and the

Green party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

. Two of her decisions as mayor in particular were controversial, the first being the new

Stockholm congestion tax The Stockholm congestion tax (), also referred to as the Stockholm congestion charge, is a congestion pricing system implemented as a tax levied on most vehicles entering and exiting central Stockholm, Sweden. The congestion tax was implemented ...

that was introduced for vehicles entering the centre of Stockholm. The congestion tax was decided on a municipality-level to ensure support by the Green Party for the newly formed Social democratic cabinet and Billström was forced to honor this agreement even though she had promised not to in the run up to the 2002 election. In 2006 a referendum was held to let the people of Stockholm determine whether they wanted the entry tolls permanented or not, with more than 51% voting yes. The entry tolls were thus enforced by the conservative majority ruling 2006–10. Billström's other decision was to turn a central building in Stockholm (Skatteskrapan på

Södermalm Södermalm, often shortened to just Söder, is the southern district of Stockholm City Centre. Overview The Södermalm district covers the island of the same name (formerly called ''Åsön''), which, however, is not fully separated from th ...

) into student housing, which was criticised for being expensive for taxpayers. After losing the election in 2006, Billström stepped down and was replaced by Carin Jämtin.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Billstrom, Annika 1956 births Living people Mayors of Stockholm People from Härnösand Municipal commissioners of Sweden Swedish Social Democratic Party politicians Swedish trade unionists Swedish bloggers Writers from Stockholm Women mayors of places in Sweden Swedish women bloggers 21st-century Swedish women politicians 20th-century Swedish women politicians 20th-century Swedish politicians