Tobias Billstrom, who oversaw Sweden’s accession to NATO, has announced his resignation as foreign minister and retirement from politics, offering no reason for the move.
Billstrom, 50, was first elected to the Swedish parliament in 2002 and was appointed foreign minister in 2022.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Billstrom said he informed Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson of his departure “with a mixture of sadness and pride.”
“I will now completely leave politics,” Billstrom wrote. “This means that I am also leaving my seat in the Riksdag. What I will do next is still open,” he added, noting he was “only 50 years old” and could make his mark “in other contexts.”
As his biggest achievement over the past two years, Billstrom listed Sweden’s abandonment of its 200-year neutrality to join NATO “after a long and sometimes challenging process.”
Stockholm is now part of “the core of the countries that support Ukraine” and oppose “Russian expansionism,” he…