Ylva Julia Margareta Johansson (born 13 February 1964) is a Swedish politician who has been serving as European Commissioner for Home Affairs and Swedens European Commissioner in the von der Leyen Commission since 1 December 2019.
Johansson was previously Minister for Schools from 1994 to 1998, Minister for Welfare and Elderly Healthcare from 2004 to 2006 and Minister for Employment from 2014 to 2019 in the Government of Sweden. She was Member of Parliament from 1988 to 1991 and from 2006 to 2019, both times representing Stockholm Municipality.
Education and early career
Johansson studied at Lund University and the Stockholm Institute of Education between 1983–88 and 1991–92 respectively, and holds a Master of Science degree in education. Upon graduating, she worked as a math, physics, and chemistry teacher.
Political career
Early beginnings
In the 1988 general elections Johansson was elected as a member of the Riksdag for the Left Party - Communists (VPK). She later left the party and joined the Social Democrats.
From 1992 to 1994 Johansson worked as a teacher, until Prime Minister Ingvar Carlsson made her Minister for Schools in his government. In 1998, she and the then Minister for Finance Erik Åsbrink announced their wish to "publicly confirm that we are in love" and their intention to separate from their respective partners. Soon afterwards, Johansson left the government. The following years, she worked in the private sector.
In 2004, Prime Minister Göran Persson appointed Johansson to the government in a new position, as Minister for Health and Elderly Care, succeeding Lars Engqvist.
Minister of Employment, 2014–2019
From 2014, Johansson served as Minister for Employment in the government of Prime Minister Stefan Löfven. During her time in office, she worked to tighten labor immigration laws.
In the 2013 Social Democrat party congress, the goal was set that Sweden should have the lowest rate of unemployment in the EU. While the Social Democrats and Green Party were in power, unemployment decreased more in other EU countries than Sweden and by 2019, Sweden's place in the unemployment ranking slipped to 18 with an unemployment rate of 6.2%, where the first spot was occupied by Czech Republic at 1.7%.
Member of the European Commission, 2019–present
Following the 2019 European elections, Löfven nominated Johansson as Sweden's candidate for the post of European Commissioner.
During a question & answer session in October 2019 in the European Parliament, Johansson was asked on whether Swedish policy on gang crime and migration would be exported to the EU level. Johansson responded that she was "proud that Sweden received so many refugees".
In early March 2020, Johansson was appointed by President Ursula von der Leyen to serve on a special task force to coordinate the European Union's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In September 2023, more than 120 boats carrying around 7,000 migrants from Africa arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa in the span of 24 hours. Johansson said that "We are seeing a really challenging situation in Lampedusa. This is a European matter that needs a European response."
Political positions
Johansson has been described as the "left wing of the Social Democrats".
In a September 2020 EU debate on the new migration pact she said "we have a lot of migration to the European Union, and we need that" because of the ageing of Europe, while also noting that "those that are not eligible to stay, they have to leave; not everybody that has a right to apply for asylum has the right to stay in the European Union".