Linde worked as international secretary at the Social Democratic Party in Sweden from 2000 to 2013. From 2013 to 2014, she was the head of the International Department of the European Socialist Party (PES) in Brussels, an umbrella organization for all social-democratic parties in the EU.[3]
Linde with Austrian foreign minister Alexander Schallenberg on 31 August 2021Linde with Greek foreign minister Nikos Dendias on 2 December 2021Linde with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in May 2022
Linde was appointed minister for foreign affairs following Margot Wallström's resignation on 10 September 2019.
Under Linde's leadership, Sweden's government decided in March 2020 to send a rapid reaction force of up to 150 troops and helicopters to Mali to join French-led Takuba task force in fighting militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State in the Sahel region of North Africa.[8] By early 2022, Linde announced that Sweden would withdraw troops from a European special forces mission to the Sahel region and will review its participation in the Takuba task force over the presence of private Russian military contractors.[9]
On 1 May 2022, she expressed that it was "almost certain" that Finland would join NATO.[12] While most current NATO members responded positively to the application, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan voiced his opposition, accusing both Sweden and Finland of tolerating Kurdish militant groups PKK, PYD and the YPG, which Turkey classifies as terrorist organizations,[13] and followers of Fethullah Gülen, whom Turkey accuses of orchestrating a failed 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt.[14] On 20 May, Linde pushed back against Erdoğan's claim they support PKK, calling it "disinformation", and pointing out Sweden listed PKK as a terrorist organization in 1984, while the EU followed suit in 2002.[15]
On 29 July, Linde announced that the ministry of foreign affairs would call in the Russian ambassador to explain himself in the wake of him mocking a Swedish volunteer soldier who died in a grenade attack in the Donbas region in Ukraine. She called his words "reprehensible and tasteless", with her full statement saying: "The text his reprehensible and tasteless. The ambassador doesn't mention at all that it was Russia who started the war, but only Russia can stop it".[16]
Political positions
When a parliamentary majority in favour of Sweden expressing the option of joining NATO emerged in 2020, Linde rejected such plans and reiterated her conviction that the country was best served by independence from alliances.[17]
Controversies
Headscarf controversy
Linde attracted criticism for wearing a headscarf during a visit by a government delegation to Tehran in 2017 when she met president Hassan Rouhani.[18]
Transport Agency security breaches
Being State Secretary at the Ministry of Justice, Linde was one of the first politicians in the Government Offices who received information from the Security Department that there was a potential leak of sensitive information from the Transport Agency. The agency had outsourced parts of its IT services, including a data base with information about holders of driving licences, as well as about the Swedish road infrastructure.[19]