Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson has appointed a new foreign minister to replace Anna Lindh, who was stabbed to death last month.

Persson said Laila Freivalds, a lawyer who previously had been justice minister for nine years, was "an experienced politician."

"She is also the one who reconciled Swedish domestic politics with the European Union," he added.

Persson also said Deputy Prime Minister Margareta Winberg was leaving the government and would not be immediately replaced.

Winberg was one of five ministers who had opposed the government's pro-euro stance. In a September 14 referendum, Swedes rejected replacing the krona with the currency.

Aid and Migration Minister Jan O. Karlsson, who had been appointed acting foreign minister after Lindh was fatally stabbed in a Stockholm department store on September 10, was also leaving the government and would not immediately be replaced, Persson said.

Karlsson, who will lead a migration commission at the United Nations, will be replaced by two new junior ministers, Barbro Holmberg as migration minister and Carin Jaemtin as aid minister.

Winberg, the departing deputy prime minister, was to become Sweden's ambassador in Brazil. She will stay on in her current position until October 31.

Freivalds, who was born in Riga, Latvia, was justice minister from 1988-1991, then again from 1995-2000.

She was forced to step down after controversy over her purchase of a municipal apartment which she had been renting in Stockholm -- a deal which did not contravene the law but which went against her Social Democratic party guidelines.

Since then, she has worked with a Swedish music dance and theater organization.

Police have arrested 24-year-old man in connection with Lindh's killing. The suspect, Mijailo Mijailovic, maintains he is innocent, his lawyer has said.

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