After the rejection of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe by French and Dutch voters, Wallström pushed forward her "plan D" (for democracy, dialogue and debate) to reconnect Citizens with the Union.

[11] Following Sweden's 2006 election, in which the Social Democratic Party lost power, former Prime Minister Göran Persson announced his withdrawal from politics in March 2007.

Wallström was regarded as the favourite candidate to succeed Persson as Social Democratic party leader,[12] but made clear that she did not wish to be considered for the position.

In August 2010, Ban sent Wallström to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to help investigate claims that rebel fighters raped more than 150 women and baby boys over four days within miles of a UN base in the country.

[20] Wallström later addressed the United Nations Security Council in a September 2010 session on the use of sexual violence as a weapon by both rebel militias and government troops in the eastern provinces of the DRC.

[23] On 30 October 2014, Wallström became the first EU foreign minister to recognise the State of Palestine, with a view to "facilitate a peace agreement by making the parties less unequal";[24] as a result, Israel the same day recalled its ambassador for consultations.

[28] On 11 September 2015, she again summoned Russia's ambassador to explain comments from the Russian foreign ministry warning of "consequences" if Sweden joins NATO.

[29] In January 2015, Wallström tweeted criticism of Saudi Arabia's flogging of human rights activist blogger Raif Badawi, calling it a "cruel attempt to silence modern forms of expression".

[33] In February 2018, Wallström cancelled her visit to Turkey that was due in two weeks to protest the Turkish invasion of northern Syria aimed at ousting U.S.-backed Syrian Kurds from the enclave of Afrin.

[37] The Spectator, the oldest continuously published magazine in the English language, wrote: The Swedish foreign minister denounced the subjugation of women in Saudi Arabia.

As the theocratic kingdom prevents women from travelling, conducting official business or marrying without the permission of male guardians, and as girls can be forced into child marriages where they are effectively raped by old men, she was telling no more than the truth.On 10 March 2015 Sweden announced it would revoke a weapons export agreement with Saudi Arabia that had been in place since 2005.

These have remained classified, but in a press conference on 28 March, Wallström said: "I am very pleased to announce that we can normalize our relations immediately, and that we are able to welcome the Saudi ambassador back to Sweden.

The original version of the speech, given to journalists ahead of Wallström's visit to Terezin in the Czech Republic to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp, suggested that scrapping the idea of a supranational Europe could put the continent back on the road to a holocaust.

[45] On 12 January 2016, Wallström called for an investigation into whether Israel was guilty of the extrajudicial killings of Palestinians during the violence, causing further anger in the Israeli political establishment.

[50] During Wallström's December 2016 visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority, many Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, refused to meet her, citing scheduling conflicts.

[51] Wallström welcomed the UN Security Council Resolution 2334 and said it confirms the position of both the EU and Sweden on the continued Israeli settlement of the occupied West Bank.

[52] On 15 January 2016, Aftonbladet published information that Wallström was one of several labour officials who rented apartment in Stockholm, owned by the Swedish Municipal Workers' Union, bypassing an average eight-year waiting list.