Leif Pagrotsky (born 20 October 1951 in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

) is a Swedish

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 ...

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

, and

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

. He held the position of Consul General of Sweden in New York City.

Early life and education

Leif Pagrotsky grew up in the

Björkekärr Björkekärr is an officially defined district in Gothenburg, Sweden which belongs to the Härlanda borough. Herbert (ship, 1905) classed as a historical ship by the Swedish National Maritime Museum, is situated 3 km southeast of Björke ...

district of Gothenburg. In his youth, he worked as a docker. Pagrotsky graduated from the

University of Gothenburg The University of Gothenburg ( sv, Göteborgs universitet) is a university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg. Founded in 1891, the university is the third-oldest of the current Swedish universities and with 37,000 students and 6000 st ...

with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

and a Master of Science in Economics.

Political career

Leif Pagrotsky, kultur- och utbildninsminister Sverige

Previously, he has held four cabinet-level ministerial positions in the government of

Göran Persson Hans Göran Persson (; born 20 January 1949) is a Swedish politician who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1996 to 2006 and leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1996 to 2007. Persson was first elected to the Swedish Parlia ...

from 1996 until 2006, including Minister of Commerce and Industry, Minister for Enterprise,

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 ...

and Minister for Education. Representing the Swedish Social Democratic Party, Leif Pagrotsky served as a Member of Parliament 2006–2012. In addition to being Minister of Commerce and Industry, Enterprise, and Minister for Culture and Education, Leif Pagrotsky has held several high-ranking posts in the

Swedish Government The Government of the Kingdom of Sweden ( sv, Konungariket Sveriges regering) is the national cabinet of Sweden, and the country's executive authority. The Government consists of the Prime Ministerappointed and dismissed by the Speaker of the R ...

Offices, including State Secretary for Financial Affairs in the Ministry of Finance and Vice Chair of the Council of Riksbanken, Sweden's central bank. He has served as Economic Advisor to the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

, as well as Head of the Division for Financial and Fiscal Affairs in the Ministry of Finance. Prior to the referendum on Sweden joining the

European Monetary Union The economic and monetary union (EMU) of the European Union is a group of policies aimed at converging the economies of member states of the European Union at three stages. There are three stages of the EMU, each of which consists of progr ...

and adopting the

Euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

, Pagrotsky argued against, contrary to the Prime Minister and the majority of the Social Democratic Party leadership. Leif Pagrotsky also worked as an economist at Riksbanken and at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). He was Chairman of the Swedish Trade and Invest Council Business Sweden, as well as Business Region Gothenburg. His financial focus has been on the internal market,

globalization Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...

energy policy Energy policy is the manner in which a given entity (often governmental) has decided to address issues of energy development including energy conversion, distribution and use as well as reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in order to contri ...

, and state-owned enterprises. Leif Pagrotsky has represented Sweden in the EU,

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...

WTO The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and e ...

UNCTAD The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is an intergovernmental organization within the United Nations Secretariat that promotes the interests of developing countries in world trade. It was established in 1964 by the ...

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

and

ASEM Asem (also spelled Aasem, Assem, Asim ar, عاصم ') is a male given name of Arabic origin, which means "savior, protector, guardian, defender." Asem is also a female given name of Kazakh origin, which means "beauty, beautiful, refined, gracefu ...

(ASEAN-EU). In addition to Leif Pagrotsky's finance-related positions he has been an advocate for the arts. He has been a board member of the

National Theatre of Norway The National Theatre in Oslo ( no, Nationaltheatret) is one of Norway's largest and most prominent venues for performance of dramatic arts. History The theatre had its first performance on 1 September 1899 but can trace its origins to Christiani ...

and the Swedish Performing Rights Society (STIM).

Diplomatic career

From 17 December 2015 to 1 October 2018, Pagrotsky was Consul General of Sweden in New York City. At this position, he focused on the promotion of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

in a broad sense, including trade and investment, cultural and consular affairs. In 2018, Pagrotsky announced permanent retirement from politics following a long and fulfilling political career.

Media

Leif Pagrotsky has been featured in both national and international press and media, he has also authored countless articles himself. One of his most recognized appearances was on ''

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form from ...

'' with

Jon Stewart Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, political commentator, and television host. He hosted ''The Daily Show'', a satirical news program on Comedy Central, from 1999 to 2015 and now hosts ''Th ...

and a segment calle
“The Stockholm Syndrome.”

Personal life

Pagrotsky is a

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

, and has been faced with threats because of this.https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article10692894.ab Aftonbladet, 31 Oktober 2005 (in

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 ...

), read 2017-10-26

References

External links

Pagrotsky on the Swedish economy
in conversation with

Big Think Big Think is a multimedia web portal founded in 2007 by Victoria Brown and Peter Hopkins. The website is a collection of interviews, presentations, and round table discussions with experts from a wide range of fields. Victoria Brown is the acting ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Pagrotsky, Leif 1951 births Living people People from Gothenburg University of Gothenburg alumni Swedish Ministers for Culture Swedish Social Democratic Party politicians Consuls-general of Sweden Members of the Riksdag 2002–2006 Swedish Ministers for Education Swedish Ministers for Nordic Cooperation