Laila Freivalds

Laila Freivalds

Laila Ligita Freivalds (born 22 June 1942) is a Swedish Social Democratic politician and a former Swedish Minister for Justice, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister.

Freivalds was born in Riga, Reichskommissariat Ostland, during World War II, and escaped to Sweden with her family. She graduated with a Candidate of Law (juris kandidat) from Uppsala University in 1970 after which she served in the Swedish Court System until 1976. From 1976 onwards she held senior posts at the Swedish Consumer Agency, before being appointed Minister for Justice in 1988. With the exception of the years 1991–1994, when her party was in opposition, she continued to hold that office until she resigned in 2000 over a controversy in which she was criticised, as a private individual, for trying to convert her tenancy into a condominium, circumventing a controversial housing tenure law that she was responsible for introducing and advocating in her public role as Minister of Justice. Since this scandal, her relations with the press have been strained.

After the assassination of Anna Lindh in 2003, Freivalds was asked to succeed her as Minister for Foreign Affairs.