Lars Engqvist (born 13 August 1945) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

politician. He served as chairman of the youth organization of the Swedish Social Democrats from 1972 to 1978, and then worked as a journalist. He was the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

of ''

Arbetet ''Arbetet'' (Swedish: ''The Labour'') was a Swedish-language social democrat newspaper published in Malmö, Sweden, between 1887 and 2000. History and profile ''Arbetet'' was first published in Malmö on 6 August 1887. Axel Danielsson was the f ...

'', a

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal popula ...

-based newspaper. In the early 1990s he was the mayor of Malmö, and then president of the

Swedish Film Institute The Swedish Film Institute ( sv, Svenska Filminstitutet) was founded in 1963 to support and develop the Swedish film industry. The institute is housed in the ''Filmhuset'' building located in Gärdet, Östermalm in Stockholm. The building, c ...

before receiving his first government appointment in 1998. On 1 June 2004 he was appointed as deputy

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

of the

Swedish government The Government of the Kingdom of Sweden ( sv, Konungariket Sveriges regering) is the Cabinet (government), national cabinet of Sweden, and the country's Executive (government), executive authority. The Government consists of the Prime Minister ...

. The main reason for the appointment was to make him the acting prime minister under

Göran Persson Hans Göran Persson (; born 20 January 1949) is a Swedish politician who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1996 to 2006 and leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1996 to 2007. Persson was first elected to the Swedish Parlia ...

, when the latter received knee surgery in early June. The appointment would not affect his status as the Minister of Health and Social Affairs, but at the same time it was also announced that Engqvist would step down from his government posts on 1 October, to become the new

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Jönköping County Jönköping County ( sv, Jönköpings län) is a county or '' län'' in southern Sweden. It borders the counties of Halland, Västra Götaland, Östergötland, Kalmar and Kronoberg. The total county population was 356,291 inhabitants in Sept ...

. In April 2005 he was appointed as chairman of the Swedish public service television company

Sveriges Television Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Swedish national public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksdag (national parliament). Prior to 2019 ...

, succeeding

Allan Larsson Yngve Allan Gillis Larsson (born 3 April 1938) is a former Swedish Social Democratic politician. From 1990 to 1991 he served as Minister for Finance. From 1991 to 1995, he was a Member of the Swedish parliament Riksdag. From Sweden's entry into ...

. The appointment drew criticism because of his close ties to the Social Democratic Party and the government.

References

, - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Engqvist, Lars 1945 births County governors of Sweden Deputy Prime Ministers of Sweden Living people Mayors of Malmö Municipal commissioners of Sweden Swedish journalists Swedish Ministers for Health Swedish Ministers for Social Affairs Members of the Riksdag 2002–2006 Swedish Ministers for Housing

See also

References