Marie Cecilia Stegö Chilò (Swedish pronunciation:[kɪˈloː]; (25 March 1959 – 15 February 2025) was a Swedish politician who served as theMinister for Culture for ten days, from 6 to 16 October 2006. Prior to her appointment as a cabinet member she was Chief executive officer of theSwedish Free Enterprise Foundation [sv], and Director ofTimbro, aneoliberal,free-marketthink-tank. A former journalist and editorialist, she was a member of theModerate Party. From 2007 she was Chairman of the Advisory Board of thePermanent Platform ofAtomium Culture.
Cecilia Stegö was born inLinköping inÖstergötland County. She studiedpolitical science,economics,law andlanguage. Cecilia Stegö Chilò lived with her husband and two children inBromma in western Stockholm. She died on 15 February 2025, at the age of 65.[1]
In 1982 she was Secretary General of theEuropean Democrat Students inBonn andLondon. From 1982 to 1983 she was Vice chairperson of theConfederation of Swedish Conservative and Liberal Students. She worked as a reporter atNorrköpings Tidningar from 1982 to 1984, served as a secretary in theStockholm County Council from 1984 to 1985, press secretary in the Moderate Party'sparliamentary group from 1985 to 1987, speech writer for the Moderate Party leadership from 1987 to 1988 and as a reporter and editorial journalist for the newspaperSvenska Dagbladet from 1989 to 1999. From 2001 to 2002 she was a political commentator atSveriges Radio.
Cecilia Stegö Chilò left theModerate Party in 1995 in protest after the expulsion of theEU-criticBjörn von der Esch - this happened in connection with his being against theEMU and against the vision of a tighter federalism in EU affairs. She rejoined theModerate Party in 2005. Following the2006 general election on 17 September 2006 the Moderate Party together with three other parties in theAlliance for Sweden gained a majority of the seats in the parliament and were able to form a coalition government. On 6 October 2006 Stegö Chilò was selected by the newly elected Prime MinisterFredrik Reinfeldt to hold the post of Minister for Culture with responsibility for culture, the media and sports in hiscabinet. However, during the period 7 to 16 October 2006, a series of media revelations into the newly appointed minister led to her resignation after ten days in office.[2]
On 7 October 2006, the day after theCabinet of Fredrik Reinfeldt was announced two of the ministers, Cecilia Stegö Chilò andMaria Borelius, admitted that they had previously employed persons to take care of their children without paying the appropriate taxes. Stegö Chilò stated: "It's just as well that I say this right away. If you want to remove me because of that, go ahead." Neither Stegö Chilò nor Borelius faced any criminal or administrative consequences since the events took place more than five years ago, outside of thestatute of limitations.[3]
On 11 October 2006, it came to light that Stegö Chilò and her husband had not paid theirtelevision licence (Swedish:TV-avgift,lit. 'TV fee') for at least 16 years (since records began being kept), withholding more than 16,000kronor from the public service broadcasters. In Sweden it is a crime for the owner of a television not to pay the TV-licence, and punishable by a fine. However, it is possible to come to an agreement and pay the fee retroactively. Her husband registered ownership of a television five days before her appointment as minister. As Minister for Culture Stegö Chilò's responsibilities include oversight of the Swedish public service corporations.[4] Stegö Chilò expressed an ambition to repay what she owed with interest. However, on 12 October 2006Radiotjänst i Kiruna AB, a private agency tasked with collecting the licence fees, filed criminal charges against Stegö Chilò together with two other ministers in the Reinfeldt Cabinet:Tobias Billström andMaria Borelius.[5]
In November 2006, she sent a letter to Radiotjänst[6] saying that she had just paid in SEK 22.656. In the letter she refers to an agreement made with the MD of Radiotjänst before the criminal charges were filed. According to the agreement the amount should equal unpaid license fees plus interest and that paying would close the issue.
On 16 October 2006, Stegö Chilò tendered her resignation to Prime Minister Reinfeldt.[7]Lars Leijonborg, Minister for Education and Research in theCabinet of Fredrik Reinfeldt, took over the responsibilities for Stegö Chilò's portfolio until her successorLena Adelsohn Liljeroth was appointed on 24 October 2006.[8]
In November 2006, she sent a letter[9] to the salary unit within the government. She clarified that even though she might be entitled to keep her salary for some time after her resignation, she did not wish to receive any money.
| Preceded by Leif Pagrotsky Minister for Education and Culture | Minister for Culture 6 October 2006 - 16 October 2006 | Succeeded by Lars Leijonborg Acting Minister for Culture |
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