Annika Billström (born 7 April 1956) 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 ...

social democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. She was the first female

mayor of Stockholm This is a list of municipal commissioners for finance of Stockholm (''finansborgarråd''). In English, the title is often translated as Mayor of Stockholm.c.f. :sv:Stockholms författningsreform 1940 The office of municipal commissioner for fin ...

, serving between 2004 and 2006.

Background

Billström's background was as the

chief financial officer The chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization that is assigned the primary responsibility for managing the company's finances, including financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financ ...

of Handels, the

Swedish Commercial Employees' Union The Swedish Commercial Employees' Union ( sv, Handelsanställdas Förbund, 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 ...

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. Two of her decisions as mayor in particular were controversial, the first being the new entry toll that was introduced for vehicles entering the centre of Stockholm. The toll was decided on a state-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 a district and island in central Stockholm. Overview The district covers the large island of the same name (formerly called ''Åsön''). Although Södermalm usually is considered an island, wat ...

) 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 Carin Jämtin (born 3 August 1964 in Stockholm) is a Sweden, Swedish civil servant and former politician who has been serving as the Director General of the Swedish International Development Agency since 2017. She served as party secretary of the ...

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