Adam, three months, gets to cuddle at home with dad.
Mother Romina Pourmokhtari, 30, is at work trying to save the struggling Liberals.
– Our focus is clearly to make the party survive, she says.
It is an exuberantly happy Romina Pourmokhtari, Minister of Climate and Environment, who has returned after 3.5 months of parental leave.
The fact that she is part of a party that is at great risk of being kicked out of the Riksdag does not seem to have dampened her spirits.
She loves her new life as a mother.
She has dreamed of that. And longed for.
– I have always thought that this thing about having children seems to be a peak person. That you are at the height of your humanity, she says.
Pourmokhtari takes a sip of the coffee, and adds:
– It’s very much animal instincts, I’ve always thought it was exciting to experience. So I really enjoy it.
She is only in Almedalen for one day, her son Adam is at home with his father. From Gotland, she goes to Luxembourg for a meeting with the European climate ministers’ circle.
She admits that it is hard to be without her son, but at the same time says that she is lucky. Adam is kind, strong and just as comfortable with his dad, and her husband is enjoying his father time.
– When I left them at home this morning, he was lying there laughing out loud at his father.
Son Adam was born 3.5 months ago.
Photo: Private
Emphasize welfare
The fact that Romina Pourmokhtari had a child has also influenced her politically, she states.
She describes it as if a physiotherapist might have thought a lot about exercises for the pelvic floor after childbirth. As a politician, she has instead thought about what experiences she can take with her into politics.
She has landed in the fact that it is to work for more staff in welfare, so they get more time.
– In your profession, you should feel that you have the time to do your job the way you want.
A teacher must be able to stop with a student and see what exactly he needs. A nurse should not have to rush from one patient to the next.
This increased focus on welfare has begun to be felt within the Liberals.
Together with the Christian Democrats, L portrays itself as the Tidö collaboration’s welfare parties.
The question is whether it is a new focus that will save L.
If there were an election today, the party would leave the Riksdag.
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Romina Pourmokhtari describes it as “a very serious situation” and says she intends to help party leader Simona Mohamsson in every way she can.
Within L there is a hope that Pourmokhtari’s return to daily politics will lift the party. She is described as a skilled debater and has been called one of the foremost political talents of our time.
Photo: SVEN LINDWALL
Dislike SD
Romina Pourmokhtari was number one on the wish list as the new party leader, but declined.
At the same time, she has been part of the L management which was considered to be a coup in the new SD approach, and which was strengthened with the criticized hug between Mohamsson and Jimmie Åkesson (SD).
This has caused some party members to turn their backs on Romina Pourmokhtari out of disappointment, as she was previously seen as the party’s fiercest SD critic.
– I think the same thing about the Sweden Democrats as I did before. It differs from the way other politicians talk. Many say they see a new party, but I don’t, she says.
– I see the same SD as always and I have big problems with their view of Sweden.
But sitting on the substitutes’ bench with arms crossed and accusing SD of racism is not relevant, she says.
Instead, she intends to try to understand why so many people vote for SD. And roll up your sleeves and tackle the societal problems.
– Get some shit under your nails and make sure the job gets done.
“Our focus is to make the party survive,” says Romina Pourmokhtari.
Photo: SVEN LINDWALL
Focuses on L’s survival
If it means that today she can imagine governing together with SD, which she previously said no to, she does not answer.
The party leader decides who will be ministers, she says evasively.
– These hypothetical scenarios about what future governments look like, nobody knows. And that is not our focus now. Our focus is to make the party survive.
After Luxembourg, a little holiday awaits. Among other things, a trip to Denmark.
Then there will be an election campaign.
For the Liberals, it’s about getting voters to understand why they should vote for L, emphasizes Pourmokhtari.
– The liberals are the guarantor that Sweden does not get stuck with a socialist left or a conservative right.
Follow all Expressen’s reporting from Almedalen here
Expressen’s Anette Holmqvist interviews Romina Pourmokhtari in Almedalen.
Photo: SVEN LINDWALL
