The year is 2009 and Emilia Bjuggren writes in an SSU article about "refusing to act as an object". She is 22 years old and after several years in the youth association has been elected district chairperson in Stockholm.
Even then, she describes her heart issue as breaking segregation, and attributes it to her upbringing in Tensta.
- She has this classic social democratic background, says political scientist Jenny Madestam about the future council of financial citizens.
In SSU, she questions why the party does not dare to address class rhetoric, and she is strongly critical of the construction of Förbifart Stockholm and the lack of cheap rental properties.
As early as 2011, she is running to become a city councilor in City Hall after Carin Jämtin, then leader of the opposition, left the post. Bjuggren campaigns on Facebook and describes herself as both a socialist and a feminist. But Karin Wanngård (S) wins the vote and eventually becomes the city's new S-top.
That same year, however, Bjuggren gets a full-time job in the city as chairman of the sports committee.
During the next mandate, she sits as an opposition councilor with responsibility for culture - and at the same time becomes Stockholm's youngest councilor of all time.
- Reducing the gaps is the most important political issue in Stockholm, she told DN in 2014 about her new assignment.
In the most recent mandate, she has been openly critical of the country's independent school system as a school, labor market and personnel citizen council. After the city decided not to give the free schools as much compensation as the municipal ones, the company Academedia took the case all the way to the Supreme Administrative Court, where the city was right.
After the then finance councilor Wanngård announced his resignation in 2025, after 15 years as a full-time politician, "to have more time in life", Bjuggren is nominated as S's new top name in the city. Among the associations that nominate her is the left-leaning S-association Reformisterna.
Political scientist Jenny Madestam says that the nomination from the Reformists, which according to her is closer to the Left Party in its economic policy than the party in the Riksdag does, can actually give signals about Bjuggren's policy:
- Then it is about a person who is perceived as a little more radical and to the left, primarily in economic policy, says Madestam.
She also sees that Bjuggren may have been used to make the party leadership appear more balanced. For example, she participated in Magdalena Andersson's speech on May Day in Stockholm.
- It was the same now when Andersson campaigned with Håkan Juholt. I interpret it a bit as wanting to signal to the left part of the party that: "I'm not just a right-winger at all".
Madestam says that the capital also acts as a showcase for the rest of the party. What happens there can "get wing beats in national politics".
After the resignation announcement, information was spread in the media that the Reformists had worked to bring about a change in the financial councilor position, and that a power struggle within the party led to Wanngård's resignation. According to sources for Mitt i and Expressen, Bjuggren would also have made himself available for the post even before the notice of resignation came. The information was not commented on at the time, but Bjuggren says today that it is obvious that Wanngård resigned voluntarily.
The opposition usually claims that Bjuggren has more or less been "appointed by the Reformists".
Annie Ross, chairman of the Reformists, comments on the accusations that the association carried out some kind of coup by saying that they, like many others, nominated Bjuggren. Ross describes the new financial council as a progressive social democrat.
- In Stockholm's workers' municipality, we social democrats are very much in agreement: we need to strengthen welfare and do away with profiteering, says Annie Ross.
She says that Bjuggren shares the association's view of what the major societal challenges are, and that "a courageous and powerful social democracy" is the solution.
What drives her to take this top role then?
- I know Emilia quite well and I know that she is driven by a genuine legal pathos. Her upbringing in Tensta and that she has seen that children in Stockholm have very unequal conditions. For her, it is probably very personal to really break the new recruitment to the gangs, says Ross.
According to the political scientist Erik Wångmar, the financial council has a lot of power. The position means great influence over which matters are taken up in the municipal board - which is usually what goes on to the council.
But the role also entails overall responsibility for basically everything that happens within the city of Stockholm:
- The organization is extensive, with several boards, committees and municipal companies. If something goes wrong, the Financial Citizens Council is in a bad place, says Wångmar.
Emilia Bjuggren feels honored by the trust. Basically, she says, she has the same ideological beliefs as when she joined SSU:
- I am passionate about all children having the right to dream about their future, and for that a more equal society is required. I am definitely a feminist. But you also become more pragmatic in how best to change society.
Today, she neither accepts nor feels particularly concerned about being called a "leftist". She doesn't come up with any issues outright where she and the left-leaning phalanx of the party differ.
- I have talked about the issues and the direction I want to pursue long before the Reformists existed as an association.
During the election campaign, Bjuggren received criticism from the opposition for hiding. The most talk was when she canceled the Vasaparks duel, the debate between the financial council candidates that has been held every election since 1940.
She does not share the image that she has not taken debates, but at the same time sees the need to actually be seen more.
- Being even closer to Stockholmers' everyday life is something we work on every day.
