Thomas Östros

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Thomas Östros

Born	January 26, 1965 (1965-01-26) (age 43) Gällivare, Norrbotten
Nationality	Swedish
Occupation	politician

Thomas Östros (born January 26, 1965 in Gällivare, Norrbotten) is a Swedish Social Democratic politician. He was Minister for Industry and Trade 2004-2006 and Minister for Education 1998-2004. Since October 2006 he is the deputy chairman of the Riksdags committee for Industry and Trade.

Östros has a licentiate degree (a graduate degree in the Swedish university system) in economics from Uppsala University. During his time at university, he was an active member of the local branch of Social Democratic Students of Sweden. He also served as a councillor in the Uppsala Municipal Council.

In 1994 he was elected to the Riksdag as a Member of Parliament. In 1996 he became Minister for Taxation in the Ministry of Finance, and in 1998 Minister for Education and Science. November 1, 2004 he switched posts with former Minister for Industry and Trade Leif Pagrotsky.

It has regularly been stated that former Prime Minister Göran Persson has a lot of confidence in Thomas Östros, and Östros was often mentioned in speculations about possible successors to Persson.

Since early 2008, he is the economic spokesman, de facto running for Finance Minister in the upcoming election, succeding Pär Nuder who got in troubles with party leader and prime minister alternate Mona Sahlin. If the Social Democrats win the election in 2010, it is strongly believed Östros will make Finance Minister, which is considered the second most powerful office in Sweden.