Eva Birgitta Ohlsson Klamberg (born 20 July 1975) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

who was Minister for European Union Affairs in the Swedish government from 2010 to 2014. She is a member of the Liberals, formerly the Liberal People's Party. Birgitta Ohlsson serves as the National Democratic Institute’s director of political parties. In June 2017, Ohlsson challenged incumbent party leader

Jan Björklund Jan Arne Björklund (born 18 April 1962) is a Swedish Liberal politician. He was member of the Riksdag from 2006 to 2019, representing Stockholm County, and served as leader of the Liberals from 2007 to 2019. Björklund served as Minister for ...

to become the next leader at the congress i November 2017. On 15 september 2017, following results from the 'test election' in Stockholm County, Ohlsson announced she was to relinquish her leadership bid and to leave the political arena by the next general election in 2018.

Early life and education

Birgitta Ohlsson was born in

Linköping Linköping () is a city in southern Sweden, with around 105,000 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Church ...

Östergötland County Östergötland County ( sv, Östergötlands län) is a county or '' län'' in southeastern Sweden. It has land borders with the counties of Kalmar to the southeast, Jönköping to the southwest, Örebro to the northwest, and Södermanland to the ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. She received her upper secondary ('' gymnasium'') education at Katedralskolan in Linköping between 1991 and 1994. Between 1994 and 1997 she studied

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

international relations International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such as ...

and

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

studies at

Stockholm University Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, so ...

Career

Between 1997 and 1999 Ohlsson worked as an

editorial An editorial, or leading article (UK) or leader (UK) is an article written by the senior editorial people or publisher of a newspaper, magazine, or any other written document, often unsigned. Australian and major United States newspapers, suc ...

writer for several liberal newspapers in Sweden, such as ''

Sundsvalls Tidning Sundsvall Municipality ( sv, Sundsvalls kommun) is a municipality in Västernorrland County, northern Sweden, where the city Sundsvall is the seat. As most municipalities of Sweden, ''Sundsvalls kommun'' is a result of a series of amalgamation ...

'', ''

Vestmanlands Läns Tidning ''Vestmanlands Läns Tidning'' (''VLT'') is a Swedish liberal newspaper published in Västerås, Sweden. History and profile ''VLT'' was established in 1831. The paper was published in broadsheet format until 13 October 2004 when it was chang ...

'', ''

Västerbottens-Kuriren ''Västerbottens-Kuriren'' (also known as VK) is a Swedish newspaper founded in 1900. It is published in Umeå, Västerbotten, Sweden. The newspaper covers regional news from the region Västerbotten (with the exception of the municipalities Mala, ...

'' and ''

Dagens Nyheter ''Dagens Nyheter'' (, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record. History and profile ''Da ...

''. Between 1999 and 2002 she was chair of the

Liberal Youth of Sweden The Liberal Youth of Sweden ( sv, Liberala ungdomsförbundet, LUF) is the youth wing of the Swedish Liberals. The Liberal Youth of Sweden has a long tradition of international cooperation and is a full member of the International Federation of ...

, the youth wing of the Liberal People's Party. In the 2002 general election Ohlsson was elected a member of the

Swedish parliament The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and s ...

, representing the Stockholm Municipality constituency. In the parliament she served as a substitute to the Committee on the Labour Market (2002–2006) and the Committee on Foreign Affairs (2002–2004), and as a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (2006–2010). In the parliament she was also her party's spokesperson on foreign affairs. She has also held various voluntary assignments, such as chair of the Association of Liberal Students in Stockholm (1996–1998), deputy chair of Young European Federalists in Sweden (1998), member of the board of the Swedish International Liberal Centre (since 2001), chair of the Swedish Republican Association (2002–2005), deputy chair of the Sweden–Israel Friendship Association in Stockholm (2003–2005), member of the national board of the Liberal People's Party (since 2007) and chair of the Federation of Liberal Women (2007–2010). She is also part of the Elie Wiesel Network of Parliamentarians for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities and against Genocide Denial. On 2 February 2010 Ohlsson was appointed as new Minister for European Union Affairs in the Swedish government, succeeding Cecilia Malmström. From 2018 until 2019, Ohlsson served on an Independent Commission on Sexual Misconduct, Accountability and Culture Change at

Oxfam Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. History Founded at 17 Broad Street, Oxford, as the Oxford Co ...

, co-chaired by

Zainab Bangura Haja Zainab Hawa Bangura (; born 18 December 1959) is a Sierra Leonean politician and social activist who has been serving as the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON) since 2018, appointed by United Nations Secretary-Ge ...

and Katherine Sierra.

Personal life

Birgitta Ohlsson is married to Mark Klamberg, a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

and professor of

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

.Stockholm University
2019-06-24

References

External links

Birgitta Ohlsson
at the Swedish government's website
Birgitta Ohlsson
at the

's website
Birgitta Ohlsson
at the Liberal People's Party's website
Birgitta.nu
personal website and blog , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Ohlsson, Birgitta 1975 births Members of the Riksdag from the Liberals (Sweden) Living people People from Linköping Stockholm University alumni Swedish bloggers Swedish feminists Swedish republicans Women members of the Riksdag Swedish women bloggers Members of the Riksdag 2002–2006 21st-century Swedish women politicians Women government ministers of Sweden