Marie Cecilia Stegö Chilò (; born 25 March 1959) was the

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 ...

Minister for Culture A culture minister or a heritage minister is a common cabinet position in governments. The culture minister is typically responsible for cultural policy, which often includes arts policy (direct and indirect support to artists and arts organizat ...

for ten days, from 6 to 16 October 2006. Prior to her appointment as a cabinet member she was Chief executive officer of the , and Director of

Timbro Timbro is a liberal think tank and publishing company located in Stockholm, Sweden. In its present form Timbro was founded in 1978 by Sture Eskilsson and the Swedish Employers’ Association, a precursor to the Confederation of Swedish Enterpr ...

, a neoliberal,

free-market In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...

think-tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmental ...

. A former journalist and editorialist, she is a member of the

Moderate Party The Moderate Party ( sv, Moderata samlingspartiet , ; M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a liberal-conservative political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free market, civil liberties and economic lib ...

. From 2007 she is Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Permanent Platform of Atomium Culture.

Personal life

Cecilia Stegö was born in

Linköping Linköping () is a city in southern Sweden, with around 105,000 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Church ...

Östergötland County Östergötland County ( sv, Östergötlands län) is a county or '' län'' in southeastern Sweden. It has land borders with the counties of Kalmar to the southeast, Jönköping to the southwest, Örebro to the northwest, and Södermanland to the ...

. She has studied

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

and

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...

. Cecilia Stegö Chilò lives with her husband and two children in Bromma in western Stockholm.

Professional life

In 1982 she was Secretary General of the

European Democrat Students European Democrat Students (EDS) is a pan-European centre-right student and youth political association, and the official student organisation of the European People's Party. Founded in Vienna by Scandinavian, German and Austrian students in 1961, ...

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

and

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. From 1982 to 1983 she was Vice chairperson of the Confederation of Swedish Conservative and Liberal Students. She has worked as a reporter at ''

Norrköpings Tidningar ''Norrköpings Tidningar'' (English: ''Norrköping Times''), also known as ''NT'', is a Swedish language daily newspaper with its main distribution in northern and eastern Östergötland, Sweden. History and profile The newspaper was founded in ...

'' from 1982 to 1984, secretary in the Stockholm County Council from 1984 to 1985, press secretary in the Moderate Party's

parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary party, or parliamentary caucus is a group consisting of some members of the same political party or electoral fusion of parties in a legislative assembly such as a parliament or a city council. Parliamenta ...

from 1985 to 1987, speech writer for the Moderate Party leadership from 1987 to 1988 and as a reporter and editorial journalist for the newspaper '' Svenska Dagbladet'' from 1989 to 1999. From 2001 to 2002 she was a political commentator at Sveriges Radio.

Political career

Cecilia Stegö Chilò left the

in 1995 in protest after the expulsion of the EU-critic

Björn von der Esch Carl Gösta Björn Joachim von der Esch (11 January 1930 – 10 March 2010 EMU The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the genus '' Dromaius''. The emu ...

and against the vision of a tighter federalism in EU affairs. She rejoined the

in 2005. Following the 2006 general election on 17 September 2006 the Moderate Party together with three other parties in the Alliance for Sweden gained a majority of the seats in the parliament and were able to form a coalition government. On 6 October 2006 Stegö Chilò was selected by the newly elected Prime Minister

Fredrik Reinfeldt John Fredrik Reinfeldt (pronounced ; born 4 August 1965) is a Swedish economist, lecturer, and former politician who was Prime Minister of Sweden from 2006 to 2014, and chairman of the liberal conservative Moderate Party from 2003 to 2015. He ...

to hold the post of Minister for Culture with responsibility for culture, the media and sports in his cabinet. However, during the period 7 to 16 October 2006, a series of media revelations into the newly appointed minister led to her resignation after ten days in office.

Political controversies

Nanny controversy

On 7 October 2006, the day after the

Cabinet of Fredrik Reinfeldt The cabinet of Fredrik Reinfeldt ( sv, Regeringen Reinfeldt) was the cabinet of Sweden from 2006 to 2014. It was a coalition cabinet consisting of the four parties in the centre-right Alliance for Sweden: the Moderate Party, Centre Party, ...

was announced two of the ministers, Cecilia Stegö Chilò and Maria Borelius, admitted that they had previously employed persons to take care of their children without paying the appropriate taxes. Stegö Chilò stated: "''It's just as well that I say this right away. If you want to remove me because of that, go ahead.''" Neither Stegö Chilò or Borelius face any criminal or administrative consequences since the events took place more than five years ago, outside of the

statute of limitations A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In ...

Television licence controversy

On 11 October 2006, it came to light that Stegö Chilò and her husband had not paid their

television licence A television licence or broadcast receiving licence is a payment required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts, or the possession of a television set where some broadcasts are funded in full or in part by the licence ...

( sv, TV-avgift, literally ''TV fee'') for at least 16 years (since records began being kept), withholding more than 16,000 kronor from the public service broadcasters. In Sweden it is a crime for the owner of a television not to pay the TV-licence, and punishable by a fine. However, it is possible to come to an agreement and pay the fee retroactively. Her husband registered ownership of a television five days before her appointment as minister. As Minister for Culture Stegö Chilò's responsibilities include oversight of the Swedish public service corporations. Stegö Chilò expressed an ambition to repay what she owed with interest. However, on 12 October 2006 Radiotjänst i Kiruna AB, a private agency tasked with collecting the licence fees, filed criminal charges against Stegö Chilò together with two other ministers in the Reinfeldt Cabinet:

Tobias Billström Tobias Lennart Billström (born 27 December 1973) is a Swedish politician of the Moderate Party. He has served as Minister for Foreign Affairs in the cabinet of Ulf Kristersson since 18 October 2022 and has been Member of the Riksdag since th ...

and Maria Borelius. In November 2006, she sent a letter to Radiotjänst saying that she had just paid in SEK 22.656. In the letter she refers to an agreement made with the MD of Radiotjänst before the criminal charges were filed. According to the agreement the amount should equal unpaid license fees plus interest and that paying would close the issue.

Resignation

On 16 October 2006, Stegö Chilò tendered her resignation to Prime Minister Reinfeldt.

Lars Leijonborg Lars is a common male name in Scandinavian countries. Origin ''Lars'' means "from the city of Laurentum". Lars is derived from the Latin name Laurentius, which means "from Laurentum" or "crowned with laurel". A homonymous Etruscan name was born ...

, Minister for Education and Research in the

, took over the responsibilities for Stegö Chilò's portfolio until her successor

Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth Lena Elisabeth Adelsohn Liljeroth (born 24 November 1955) is a Swedish politician who served as Minister for Culture and Sports from 2006 to 2014. A member of the Moderate Party, she was an MP of the Swedish Riksdag from 2002 to 2014. Persona ...

was appointed on 24 October 2006. In November 2006, she sent a letterOn her letter to the government regarding her pension
, Dagens Nyheter, 12 November 2006 to the salary unit within the government. She clarified that even though she might be entitled to keep her salary for some time after her resignation, she did not wish to receive any money.

Bibliography

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

) ''Systemskiftet - En 1800-talshistoria''

References

External links

Cecilia Stegö Chilò
at the Government Offices of Sweden
Profile
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stego Chilo, Cecilia 1959 births Living people People from Linköping Moderate Party politicians Swedish journalists Swedish Ministers for Culture Women government ministers of Sweden 21st-century Swedish women politicians