Analysis: "Wallström's time as Foreign Minister has been rife with controversy"

That Margot Wallström now leaves the government is no surprise. She considered this before last fall's election, but the difficulties of forming government made her stay a few more months.

When she now decides to leave, it will take place before Tuesday's planned government reform in connection with the opening of the national assembly. It has already been clear that Ylva Johansson is leaving the post of Minister of Labor. She becomes new Swedish EU Commissioner. So now Margot Wallström is leaving, which means there will be at least two new ministers.

Perhaps Margot Wallström is more refined today than when she took over as Foreign Minister in the fall of 2014. For many Social Democrats, her idealism and activism has become a reminder of ancient days of greatness during Olof Palme's time. It has made her popular on her own path. Most Social Democrats are happy to talk nostalgically about the legacy of Palme. But during Margot Wallström's time as Foreign Minister, it has proved much more difficult to reconcile this idealism with a realistic government policy.

One example is Margot Wallström's ambition that Sweden should sign the UN Convention on a Prohibition on Nuclear Weapons. With this, she wanted to pursue a social-democratic disarmament tradition that dates back to the 1960s.

But the ambitions for Sweden to sign the convention on a ban on nuclear weapons have completely failed. Only when the government's own investigator strongly advised against signing the convention. That would risk serious consequences for Sweden's security, the investigation said. But it also turned out that there was no parliamentary support in Parliament to sign this convention.

Another hot potato has been the controversial issue of Western Sahara status. When the Social Democrats conquered government power in 2014, one of the promises was to recognize Western Sahara. But the government of Morocco reacted harshly, and the country has a strong position in the Arab world. The conflict with the Moroccan government risked jeopardizing the Swedish campaign for a seat on the UN Security Council. There was also no greater support within the EU for recognition. The government then chose to shrink the plans, as quietly and unnoticed as possible.

One of the first measures the government actually took in foreign policy after the 2014 elections was to recognize Palestine. This created an infected conflict with Israel that has persisted ever since. This has probably damaged Sweden's ability to act diplomatically in the region. The clash with Israel has also meant that Margot Wallström was expelled from Israel.

As Foreign Minister, Margot Wallström has also launched the concept of "feminist foreign policy" and highlighted this in both foreign declarations and solemn figures. However, the consequences for policy as a whole are difficult to measure or estimate. However, she will be remembered for launching this unifying concept for Swedish foreign policy.

Margot Wallström also got into trouble with the government of Saudi Arabia after accusing the Saudi regime of medieval punishment. Saudi Arabia responded by taking home its ambassador from Stockholm in protest. The government was then forced to send a special delegation to Saudi Arabia under the leadership of parliamentarian Björn von Sydow, to try to smooth over the conflict. Saudi Arabia is important for several large Swedish export companies, who risked the conflict between the countries.

Margot Wallström has thus been a foreign minister who sometimes expressed himself idealistically and activist, but where the government then in the next step was forced to correct its line or try to smooth the play. It has increased her popularity in her own ranks, but also made her criticized by the political opponents.

However, a major success during her time as Foreign Minister is the Swedish place in the UN Security Council. The political opponents have criticized this, too, but the fact is that no Swedish politician would relinquish this opportunity for a place at the center of world politics.