Swedish PM forgets name at Nordic summit
The Local/ms - [email protected]
Published: 28 Oct, 2014 CET.
Updated: Tue 28 Oct 2014 16:09 CET
Prime Minister Stefan Löfven's first press conference as the host of an international political summit made painful viewing as he stumbled over the name of one of his guests.
Sweden's Social Democrat leader was meeting officials from the five Nordic countries and the three Baltic states at a Nordic-Baltic summit in Stockholm. The Prime Minister introduced Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, before falling silent, fumbling with his notes and then saying in English "I have received the wrong papers". After speaking with a press officer he recovered his composure and presented Estonia's Foreign Trade Minister Anne Sulling and the other international attendees. But the mistake was slammed by social media users across the region after footage of the event was shown on Swedish news website Dagens Nyheter and other news sources. At next week's #NFFHelsinki let's hope the new PM from #Sweden has done his homework on the names of other PMs... http://t.co/fOmC6EwGcl
— David Mac Dougall (@davidmacdougall) October 28, 2014
Our new confused Prime Minister...... http://t.co/l2IbJdeb31
— Lars Westman (@larswestman) October 28, 2014
#Sweden's new PM forgets names of Nordic colleagues on live presser. This kind of (Swedish) embarrassment is art. http://t.co/Dnd7D4hgXO
— Erik Meyersson (@emeyersson) October 28, 2014
Stefan Löfven, a former welder, had no previous experience in local or national government before he was appointed as Prime Minister following September's general election in Sweden.
During the Nordic-Baltic summit, politicians discussed Russia's growing military presence in the Baltic and Sweden's controversial decision to recognize Palestine as a state.
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Sweden's Social Democrat leader was meeting officials from the five Nordic countries and the three Baltic states at a Nordic-Baltic summit in Stockholm.
The Prime Minister introduced Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, before falling silent, fumbling with his notes and then saying in English "I have received the wrong papers".
After speaking with a press officer he recovered his composure and presented Estonia's Foreign Trade Minister Anne Sulling and the other international attendees.
But the mistake was slammed by social media users across the region after footage of the event was shown on Swedish news website Dagens Nyheter and other news sources.
At next week's #NFFHelsinki let's hope the new PM from #Sweden has done his homework on the names of other PMs... http://t.co/fOmC6EwGcl
— David Mac Dougall (@davidmacdougall) October 28, 2014 Our new confused Prime Minister...... http://t.co/l2IbJdeb31
— Lars Westman (@larswestman) October 28, 2014 #Sweden's new PM forgets names of Nordic colleagues on live presser. This kind of (Swedish) embarrassment is art. http://t.co/Dnd7D4hgXO
— Erik Meyersson (@emeyersson) October 28, 2014 Stefan Löfven, a former welder, had no previous experience in local or national government before he was appointed as Prime Minister following September's general election in Sweden.
During the Nordic-Baltic summit, politicians discussed Russia's growing military presence in the Baltic and Sweden's controversial decision to recognize Palestine as a state.
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