Annie Lööf Charges Taxpayers 90,000 Kronor for Leadership Talks

SWEDEN - Former Centre Party leader Annie Lööf has found a new income after politics. For 90,000 kronor, roughly 8,000 euros, she will lecture on leadership, crisis management and "the green transition".

Among her clients are public bodies that pay for the talks with taxpayers' money.

Since stepping down as party leader in 2023, Lööf has built a career as a speaker through the agency Athenas. She offers talks on leadership, driving change and handling crises.

She recently posted on social media that she had lectured for school heads in Kalmar County. Journalist and commentator Carolin Dahlman then asked the regional association of municipalities behind the event what it had cost. An administrator answered 90,000 kronor. It is not clear whether that includes VAT.

Sold as one of Sweden's most experienced leaders

The agency markets Lööf as one of Sweden's most experienced leaders, someone who can lead through a crisis, drive change and stand firm when the wind blows.

Her own record tells a more complicated story. Before the 2018 election the Centre Party campaigned to remove Social Democrat Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and form a new centre-right Alliance government.

After the election Lööf instead broke up the Alliance and let a Social Democrat-led government take power through the so-called January Agreement. Back in 2013 she had said she would rather eat her right shoe than become a "support wheel" for the Social Democrats.

Her leadership was also criticised from within. Ahead of the 2022 election the tabloid Aftonbladet reported widespread discontent at party headquarters, with staff describing long days, sick leave and a small circle around the leader making all the key decisions.

When Lööf announced in August 2022 that she preferred Magdalena Andersson as prime minister, even senior party figures were caught off guard, according to Swedish Radio.

The Centre Party fell from 8.6 percent in 2018 to 6.7 percent in 2022. Lööf resigned shortly after the election.

More talks paid by councils

Reviews on the agency's website show that Lööf has also appeared in the municipalities of Gislaved and Växjö. What those talks cost, and who paid, is not yet known. Samnytt has asked Gislaved municipality for details but has not yet received an answer.

There is nothing unusual about former politicians charging for speeches. But when public bodies buy talks at this price, it raises the question of how tax money is spent and what school leaders actually get for it.

And if her old party now drifts back toward its former centre-right partners, it puts her final years as leader, and her paid lessons on firm values and standing by one's convictions, in a new light.