26-year-old Romina Pourmokhtari makes history, becomes Sweden's youngest-ever Cabinet minister

Stockholm: Incoming Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Tuesday vowed to set the country on a new course on immigration, criminal justice and energy policy as he presented a centre-right coalition government led by his conservative Moderate Party. The new Cabinet consists of 24 ministers - 13 men and 11 women. Thirteen are Moderates, six Christian Democrats and five Liberals. The three centre-right parties secured a majority in Parliament after the September 11 elections with the help of the Sweden Democrats, a far-right party that has entered the political mainstream after years of being treated as a pariah by the other parties.

Moderate Party parliamentary leader Tobias Billstrom was appointed foreign minister while the head of Parliament's defence committee, Pal Jonson, another Moderate, was tapped as defence minister.

Christian Democrat leader Ebba Busch became energy minister, and 26-year-old Romina Pourmokhtari of the Liberals made history as Sweden's youngest-ever Cabinet minister, in charge of the climate and environment portfolio.

Elisabeth Svantesson, the Moderate Party's spokeswoman on economic policy, was appointed finance minister.

In a speech to Parliament, Kristersson promised a review of the penal code and expanded powers to police to fight criminal gangs that have grown more powerful and violent in recent years.

"No other country in all of Europe has the same trend of violence as Sweden: 53 fatal shootings so far this year, often outright executions," he said. "The government now begins the biggest offensive in Swedish history against organised crime."

He also promised a "paradigm shift" on immigration policy, marking a definite end to decades of liberal immigration policies that had started to tighten already under the previous Social Democratic government.