Sweden: Sweden's trade minister Maria Borelius has resigned after only a week in office over media reports accusing her of dodging taxes, the prime minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt, said on Saturday.
The Reinfeldt cabinet's first week in office has been one of mounting embarrassment as several of its members have admitted not paying taxes and other mandatory fees.
Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter on Saturday carried the headline "The nightmare start" to describe the first days of the government that ousted the Social Democrats after 12 years in power last month and that promised a clean break from years of left-of-centre rule.
"I talked with Maria [Borelius] this morning and she herself felt that she did not have the strength to go on and we agreed that she would resign," Mr Reinfeldt said in a radio interview.
Shortly after Ms Borelius was appointed to the cabinet, Swedish media said she had employed a nanny without paying taxes or social contribution fees.
In the following days, the media said Ms Borelius, a member of the biggest party of the coalition government, Mr Reinfeldt's own Moderate Party, had bought a summer home in southern Sweden through a firm based in the tax haven of Jersey, thus avoiding paying full taxes on the real estate.
She has publicly apologised for not employing the nanny on a proper footing and said she welcomed a government inquiry into her financial dealings over the summer house.
"The basis of this [decision to resign] is that there are several question marks of an economic nature, some of which she informed me about and some which she did not," Mr Reinfeldt said.
Ms Borelius's exit, the first resignation from Mr Reinfeldt's four-party government, could be followed by others.
The opposition has called for the resignation of Moderate Party culture minister Cecilia Stego Chilo, who has said she employed a nanny without paying the necessary taxes and fees and who did not buy an obligatory television licence for 16 years.
Ms Borelius and another cabinet member, migration minister Tobias Billstrom, have also admitted to not buying their television licence.
The government, which ran on a platform of more jobs and lower taxes and unemployment benefits, is due to present its first budget bill today.
- (Reuters)