Editing Carl Bildt (section)

==Prime minister==
{{Conservatism in Sweden|Politicians}}
On 4 October 1991, Bildt became the first conservative prime minister in Sweden in 61 years, leading a four-party coalition government. The policies of his government aimed at giving Sweden a "new start" in the middle of a rapidly mounting economic crisis caused by a speculation bubble in housing, focusing on privatising and de-regulating the economy in order to improve the conditions for businesses.

Long a champion of European integration and Sweden's participation in this, negotiating membership in the European Union was a priority for the Bildt premiership. The preceding Social Democratic government had, as part of an emergency economic crisis package in the autumn of 1990, done a sudden U-turn, abandoned its previous opposition and in the summer of 1991 submitted a formal application for membership in the EU.

Benefiting also from his close links with German [[Chancellor of Germany|Chancellor]] [[Helmut Kohl]], Bildt was able to initiate and conclude membership negotiations with the EU in record time, signing the [[1995 enlargement of the European Union|Treaty of Accession]] at the [[List of European Council meetings|EU summit]] in Corfu on 23 June 1994. The accession was supported by a [[1994 Swedish European Union membership referendum|referendum]] in November, and Sweden entered the EU as full member on 1 January 1995, thus fulfilling a key part of the platform of the Bildt government.

By that time his governing coalition had lost its majority in the [[1994 Swedish general election|September 1994 elections]], in spite of his Moderate party making slight gains.

The economic program of the government was focused primarily on a series of structural reforms aiming at improving competitiveness and improving growth. Economic reforms were enacted, including [[School voucher|voucher schools]], liberalizing markets for telecommunications and energy, privatizing publicly owned companies and health care, contributing to substantially liberalizing the Swedish economy.

These reforms were highly controversial at the time, and the government also had to deal with a rapid increase in unemployment as well as public deficits during 1991 and 1992. The period was marked by a severe economic crisis.<ref>Between 1990 and 1994, per capita income declined by approximately 10% as per [http://hdr.undp.org/docs/publications/ocational_papers/oc26c.htm this link] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070627060024/http://hdr.undp.org/docs/publications/ocational_papers/oc26c.htm |date=27 June 2007 }}</ref> These problems were reinforced by the economic crisis in other European countries and the crisis within the [[European Exchange Rate Mechanism]] in 1992. As a result, Sweden in November 1992 was forced to abandon its policy of a fixed exchange rate and allow the Swedish crown to float freely. As part of the effort to handle the economic crisis, the government was able to conclude an agreement with the Social Democratic opposition on some of its expenditure-cutting measures.

By 1994 the economy was registering strong growth, and the deficits were declining, although unemployment was still at levels higher than in 1991.

Prior to becoming prime minister, Bildt had been severely anti-[[Soviet Union]] and a strong supporter of the three Baltic nations, and during his period as PM devoted considerable efforts to trying to assist the three newly-independent Baltic states in handling their immediate challenges in the form of the withdrawal of ex-Soviet forces and strategic installations, as well as deciding on sensitive issues of citizenship. In this he worked closely together with the leaders of the three countries as well as with the Russian foreign minister [[Andrei Kozyrev]].

His government also had to handle a large increase in refugee flows from primarily the war in Bosnia, defending a liberal approach against the anti-immigration [[New Democracy (Sweden)|New Democracy]] party that had entered parliament in 1991.

Bildt was an early champion of the Internet and information technologies. He led the first IT Commission in 1994, and in that year also had the first exchange of emails between two heads of government with [[US President]] [[Bill Clinton]], sending Clinton the following email:<blockquote>Dear Bill,

Apart from testing this connection on the global Internet system, I want to congratulate you on your decision to end the trade embargo on Vietnam. I am planning to go to Vietnam in April and will certainly use the occasion to take up the question of the MIA's. From the Swedish side we have tried to be helpful on this issue in the past, and we will continue to use the contacts we might have.

Sweden is—as you know—one of the leading countries in the world in the field of telecommunications, and it is only appropriate that we should be among the first to use the Internet also for political contacts and communications around the globe.

Yours,

CARL<ref>https://diplomacy.state.gov/items/first-e-mails-between-heads-of-state/</ref><ref>https://internetmuseum.se/english/carl-bildt-and-bill-clinton-make-history-with-their-e-mails/</ref></blockquote>In the same year, Bildt established and chaired an IT Commission to introduce digital initiatives in Sweden while at the same time the government donated 1 billion SEK to create the [[:sv:Stiftelsen_för_kunskaps-_och_kompetensutveckling|Knowledge Foundation]].<ref>https://terranet.se/en/press/project-funding-and-cooperation-agreement-within-colission-warning-between-terranet-halmstad-university-astazero-and-other-major-industrial-partners/</ref>

In 1992, he had the reform of private schools under contract and the abolition of the school map adopted, reforms that favored the [[privatization]] of education.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://monde-diplomatique.de/artikel/!5532367 | title=Schwedens umstrittene Schulreform }}</ref>

The government's effectiveness was sometimes hampered by in-fighting, most memorably over the construction of the [[Øresund Bridge]], which led to the departure of the leader of the Centre Party Olof Johansson from the government, paving the way for the government to take the decision to approve the construction of the link.

Bildt continued to serve as leader of the Moderate party – and thus of the opposition – until 1999, when he was succeeded as party leader by [[Bo Lundgren]].