Urban Ahlin
MP
Ahlin in 2014
Ambassador of Sweden to the United States
Assumed office
15 August 2023
MonarchCarl XVI Gustaf
Preceded byKarin Olofsdotter
Ambassador of Sweden to Canada
In office
February 2019 – 14 August 2023
MonarchCarl XVI Gustaf
Preceded byPer Sjögren
Succeeded bySigne Burgstaller
Speaker of the Riksdag
In office
29 September 2014 – 24 September 2018
MonarchCarl XVI Gustaf
Preceded byPer Westerberg
Succeeded byAndreas Norlén
Member of the Riksdag
In office
3 October 1994 – 24 September 2018
ConstituencyVästra Götaland County East
Personal details
Born
Urban Christian Ahlin

(1964-11-13) 13 November 1964
Mariestad, Sweden
Political partySocial Democrats
Spouse
Jenni Ahlin
​
(m. 1999)​
Children1
Alma materKarlstad University

Urban Christian Ahlin (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈɵ̌rːban aˈliːn]; born 13 November 1964) is a Swedish Social Democratic Party politician who was Speaker of the Riksdag from September 2014 to September 2018. He served as a Member of the Riksdag (MP) for the Västra Götaland County East constituency from 1994 to 2018. He was formerly Foreign Policy spokesman for the Social Democrats.

Education and career

Ahlin was born in Mariestad, Skaraborg County, Sweden. From 1981 to 1982, and again from 1984 to 1985, he was chairman of the local branch of the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League in Mariestad.[1] Between 1985 and 1990 he was chairman of the Social Democratic Youth League in Skaraborg County.[1] Between 1991 and 1998 he was chairman of the Social Democratic Party in Mariestad, Skaraborg County, and between 1999 and 2002 he was the deputy secretary general of the Social Democratic Party.[1] Since 2005 he is chairman of the Social Democratic Party in Skaraborg County.[1]

Between 1985 and 1990 Ahlin studied at the specialist teacher-training course at Karlstad University.[1] He then worked as a teacher at an upper level elementary school in Mariestad, teaching mathematics and general science, until being elected to the Swedish parliament in 1994.

Official portrait of the Speaker of the Riksdag for Urban Ahlin. He became the first speaker include the three deputy speakers of his term in his portrait. Ewa Thalén Finné, Björn Söder, Esabelle Dingizian

Between 2002 and 2006 Ahlin was chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the Swedish parliament.[2] From 2006 to 2014, after the Social Democrats lost power in the 2006 election, he was deputy chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. During this time, Urban Ahlin was the Foreign Policy spokesperson for the Social Democrats in the Swedish Parliament.[2] In Parliament he held a number of different positions. He was a member of the Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs, a member of the War Delegation, and a deputy member of the Committee on European Union Affairs.[2] He was also a member of the party board of the Social Democratic Party.

He has been the chair of the Socialist group in the OSCE PA, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. He is at the moment the deputy chair of the Swedish delegation to NATO Parliamentary Assembly

Following the 2014 election, on 29 September 2014 Ahlin was elected Speaker of the Riksdag for the period 2014-2018.[3] He succeeded Per Westerberg in that post.

Successful mediator

Urban Ahlin has been engaged in many mediations and negotiations. In 2007 he managed after extensive meetings and talks to get two Swedish construction workers out from the Iranian prison, Evin, in Tehran.[4] He was the backchannel between Belarus and United States in negotiating the release of the imprisoned presidential candidate in Belarus, Alexander Kozulin. Kozulin was eventually released.[5] Urban Ahlin was also the person behind the scene in the work to release the hostage at the headquarters of the Social Democratic Party in Stockholm. The staff had been taken hostage by a group of young members of PKK as a protest after the arrest of their leader Öcalan. Urban Ahlin was the channel talking directly to the youngsters making them to give up after Ahlin gave a promise to attend the court hearings in Turkey. Which he later did together with the former Swedish minister Carl Lidbom.[6]

Other organisations

Urban Ahlin is and has been a member of many different non-profit organisations. He is a founding member of the European Council on Foreign Relations ECFR. He is also a member of the Swedish group of Trilateral Commission. He has been a director of the influential American "think and do tank" EastWest Institute. Urban Ahlin regularly participates in programs and seminars organised by The Aspen Institute, German Marshall Fund GMF and Council on Foreign Relationsin Washington DC. Urban Ahlin is also a member of the International Advisory Board of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferations Studies, CSN at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in Monterey, CA.

State orders

Urban Ahlin received the state Order for Merits to Lithuania from President Adamkus in 2005 for his work to extend the international relationship.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "CURRICULUM VITAE – URBAN AHLIN, RIKSDAGSLEDAMOT (S)" (in Swedish). Swedish Social Democratic Party. 13 January 2010. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 "Urban Ahlin (S)". Parliament of Sweden. 19 October 2010. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
  3. ↑ New Speaker for Sweden's Parliament, The Local 2014-09-29
  4. ↑ "426 dagar i Iran : Berättelsen om de fängslade svenska byggnadsarbetarna av Jesper Bengtsson (Bok)".
  5. ↑ Holmström, Mikael (15 February 2009). "Vitrysk politiker fri genom svensk insats". Svenska Dagbladet. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
  6. ↑ "Aftonbladet nyheter: Brevet som fick ockupanterna att ge upp". wwwc.AftonBladet.se. Retrieved 9 December 2017.
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  1. ↑ "Embassy of Sweden in USA". Today, we bid farewell to Karin... 16 September 2023. Archived from the original on 16 September 2023. Retrieved 16 September 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
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