The term was coined by Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt in a debate against the opposition leader Ingvar Carlsson 1994.

Nils Daniel Carl Bildt KCMG ( born 15 July 1949 ) is a Swedish politician and diplomat who was Prime Minister of Sweden from 1991 to 1994 and leader of the liberal conservative Moderate Party from 1986 to 1999.

Bildt was born in Halmstad, Halland, and belongs to an old Norwegian-Danish-Swedish noble family traditionally domiciled in Bohus county.

His great-grandfather, General Knut Bildt, was chief of the Swedish General Staff.

His great-grandfather's brother Carl Bildt served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Cabinet-Secretary ( Under secretary of state of foreign affairs, in Swedish kabinettssekreterare ) and was a renowned diplomat and member of the Swedish Academy.

Bildt's grandfather Nils Bildt was a colonel and chief of the Halland Regiment.

Bildt's father Daniel Bildt ( 1920 – 2010 ) was a former major in the reserves of the now defunct Halland Regiment ( Hallands regemente ) and a former bureau director in the now defunct Civil Defense Board's Education Bureau.

Bildt himself was married to Kerstin Zetterberg 1974 – 1975, Mia Bohman ( daughter of former Moderate party leader and Minister of Economy, Gösta Bohman ) 1984 – 1997 and is currently married to Anna Maria Corazza since 1998.

While studying at Stockholm University, Bildt was against the occupation of the Student Union Building in 1968 and was one of the co-founders of Borgerliga Studenter – Opposition ' 68 later the same year.

The Social Democrats ' volte face on possible accession to the EEC was most likely a prerequisite for the positive referendum result ) and Bildt signed the accession treaty at the European Union summit of Corfu, Greece, on 23 June 1994.

Bildt and Richard Holbrooke before peace talks in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina in October 1995. After his term as Prime Minister, Bildt was active as a mediator in the Balkans conflict, serving as the European Union Special Envoy to Former Yugoslavia from June 1995, Co-Chairman of the Dayton Peace Conference in November 1995, and High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina from December 1995 to June 1997 immediately after the Bosnian War.

Bildt is or has been considered persona non grata in several countries for remarks he has made against various governments, including Croatia, where he " lost the credibility necessary for the role of a peace mediator " by suggesting that the former President of Croatia, Franjo Tuđman, was as guilty of war crimes as the Krajina Serb leader Milan Martić.

On 6 October 2006, Bildt was appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the newly formed government led by Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt.

This was seen by many as a somewhat surprising move, because Bildt had already served both as Prime Minister and as leader of the Moderate Party and the previous conflict between Bildt and Reinfeldt.

Carl Bildt joined the Board of Directors of Lundin Oil AB in 2000, after serious concerns had surfaced that the oil industry was exacerbating the war in Sudan.

Bildt was also a member of the board of independent oil company Lundin Petroleum.

Bildt was also criticized for not mentioning the Srebrenica massacre during a lunch meeting on 15 July 1995 in Belgrade with the Serbian President, Slobodan Milošević and the commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, Ratko Mladić, even though he had received reports about the ongoing massacre.

Following the early release of convicted war criminal Biljana Plavšić from Swedish prison in 2009, Bildt was reported to Swedens Committee on the Constitution for being disqualified to take part in such a decision.

Bildt was accused of being personally involved in the case and being personally close to Plavšić.

The Russian reaction was strong, and the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Bildt was no longer considered welcome in Moscow.

He was elected party leader by the 1999 party congress, succeeding Carl Bildt, but resigned only four years later in 2003, following poor results in the Swedish parliamentary election in 2002.

In 1986, Carl Bildt was elected leader of the party.

When the non-socialist formed government in 1976, Bildt came to serve as the Moderate party coordinator in his capacity as close collaborator of the then party leader and Minister of Economy Gösta Bohman.

After having left his political position as leader of the Moderate Party in 1999, apart from being engaged on international issues, Bildt took up a number of private sector positions as well as with international think-tanks.

Carl Bildt, leader of the party between 1986 and 1999.

Bildt stayed on as the Moderate party leader, failing to unite themselves with the Greens the non-socialist parties failed to return to government after the election in 1998 as well.

* 1991 – 94: Part of four-party coalition government under Moderate Party leader Carl Bildt.

The Centre Party joined a centre-right government once again following the 1991 election, however, this government was led by the Moderate Party leader Carl Bildt.

In the Swedish general election of 1991, the Moderate Party and its allies had considerable success, leading to the formation of a centre-right coalition government under Moderate Party leader and Prime Minister Carl Bildt.

At the beginning of his term as leader of the Moderate Youth League, Reinfeldt supported the government of Prime Minister Bildt, but Reinfeldt gradually changed his views and became more critical of the party leadership.

Following the defeat of the Bildt government in the Swedish general election of 1994, Reinfeldt publicly criticized the Moderate Party leader, whom he believed had gotten too much dominance in the party.

" Bildt was described as being the perfect leader for the opposition to satirize ; a nobleman living in the affluent Östermalm with a boyish expression and a better-than-you attitude.

Prime minister Carl Bildt relied at the time on a fragile coalition between the Moderate Party and three other liberal or conservative parties with a strained degree of cooperation.

The Moderate Party led a non-socialist coalition between 1991 and 1994 with Carl Bildt as Prime Minister.

On 14 February 1995, Reinfeldt was called to a meeting of the Moderate Party's Riksdag group, which took place in the former second chamber () of the Swedish parliament building, a meeting where Bildt apparently scolded him for hours.

After this, Reinfeldt toned down his criticism, but was ostracized within the Moderate Party and not given any important posts until after the change of leadership when Lundgren succeeded Bildt in 1999.

In Sweden, the 1991-1994 centre-right government under Carl Bildt introduced a voucher system at primary and secondary school level, enabling free choice among public and charter schools ( friskolor ) in the community.

Bildt has also been noted internationally as a mediator in the Balkan conflict, serving as the European Union's Special Envoy to the Former Yugoslavia from June 1995, co-chairman of the Dayton Peace Conference in November 1995 and as High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina from December 1995 to June 1997 immediately after the Bosnian War.

Bildt attended Stockholm University but never graduated.

Colonel Bildt and his family were neighbours to the Palme family.

Carl Bildt also shown his commitment with the European Union project by joining the Young European Federalistsand later becoming vice president of the Swedish section.

Bildt became a Member of Parliament in 1979, although he instead served as State Secretary for Policy Coordination in the non-socialist government reformed after that election.

Bildt in a meeting with former President of the United States | U. S. President Bill Clinton at Grand Hôtel ( Stockholm ) | Grand Hotel in Stockholm ( 15 May 2001 ).