Aida Hadzialic, Sweden’s minister for schools and continuing education, has resigned after failing a test for alcohol consumption exiting the Øresund Bridge. She was found to have a blood alcohol level just above 0.2 per mille.
The stop followed a visit to Copenhagen last Thursday.
“I understand that many are disappointed in me,” Hadzialic told the Swedish news agency TT. “I’m furious with myself. Above all I am deeply repentant.”
The legal driving limit in Sweden is just 0.2 per mille. In Denmark, the limit is 0.5 per mille.
“I had a few glasses of wine earlier in the day before I left Copenhagen for Malmö,” she said. “I made my life’s biggest mistake.”
A good person, a bad call
Swedish PM Stefan Löfven said he regretted Hadzialic’s departure, calling her a valued colleague.
“I share her assessment of the gravity of the situation,” Löfven said in a written statement.
“But this is not the first or last time that a good person has made a mistake. I am very sorry to lose a valued colleague and a successful minister.”
