Stockholm -- One is a calculating tactician new to the global stage, the other an impulsive veteran passionate about EU expansion: Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and Foreign Minister Carl Bildt are Sweden's tag team for the upcoming EU presidency.

Reinfeldt, who has served as prime minister since October 2006, has during his three years in power proven himself as a solid, capable and popular statesman, according to observers.

"He is an incredibly thorough politician, who is always well-prepared and who leaves nothing to chance. He thinks everything through, and never acts on gut instinct," Henrik Brors, editorialist at leading daily Dagens Nyheter, told AFP.

Reinfeldt used those skills to methodically shift his Moderate Party away from its right-wing upper class roots to appeal to a larger swathe of voters near the centre, making his party electable by convincing Swedes he wanted to fix their cherished welfare state, not destroy it.

That helped him wrest power away from the Social Democrats, who have governed Sweden for all but 12 of the past 77 years.

He has since implemented a slew of reforms, including reducing jobless benefits to boost employment and launching a major privatisation programme.

While the changes have been hard pills to swallow for some Swedes, Reinfeldt has consistently topped the polls as the country's most viable leader -- a position he has cemented during the global financial crisis.

"He has gained more self-confidence during the crisis, since the Swedish measures have been so well received by voters," Brors said.

Reinfeldt, 43, is known for his cool, soft-spoken temperament and casual style. With his run-of-the-mill looks, he comes across as an ordinary Swede: he admits to enjoying housework and Swedish disco sensation ABBA.

Married to Filippa, a municipal politician with whom he has three children, Reinfeldt readily admits that neither he nor his party are visionaries, but rather pragmatists.

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