Sweden, minister resigns: “I’m 50, too old for politics”

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom today announced his resignation from his post, a resignation that goes hand in hand with his definitive abandonment of politics. “I am 50 years old and I hope to be able to contribute and work hard in other contexts”he declared.

Billstrom was, among other things, one of the architects of Sweden’s accession to NATO in March this year. “We have left behind more than 200 years of non-alignment and this would not have been possible without the hard work of the government and the Foreign Ministry,” he said in his farewell note on X.

“It is difficult to underestimate the importance of this for the security of Sweden and our Nordic and Baltic friends,” he added, but warned of significant challenges for his successor. “We are in the most serious political security situation since the Second World War,” he said.

“We belong to the core of countries that support Ukraine,” and in the Middle East, he added, “in the long term the only reasonable solution is a two-state solution. My successor has no shortage of tasks, I wish him the best of luck.” Billstrom stressed that this decision is accompanied by his departure from politics.where he has spent the last 25 years in various roles. “I will be leaving my seat in the Riksdag, the Swedish parliament. My next move is still to be decided.”

Shortly after the announcement, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson took to social media to send a message of thanks. “Tobias has served the nation with great success,” he said, noting that the last two years at the Foreign Ministry had been “the most challenging of all.”