Tomas Gunnar Tobé (born 16 February 1978) 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 and who has been serving as a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

since the 2019 European Parliament election in Sweden. He was the party secretary of the

Moderate Party The Moderate Party ( sv, Moderata samlingspartiet , ; M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a liberal-conservative political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free market, civil liberties and economic liber ...

from 10 January 2015 to 2 June 2017.

Political career

Career in national politics

Tobé was elected to the

Swedish Riksdag 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 se ...

in the 2006 general election. During his parliament, he served as chair of its Committee on Employment from 2010 to 2012; the Committee on Education from 2012 to 2014; and the Committee on Legal Affairs from 2018 to 2019. He was mentioned as possible successor for the

party leader In a governmental system, a party leader acts as the official representative of their political party, either to a legislature or to the electorate. Depending on the country, the individual colloquially referred to as the "leader" of a political ...

ship after

Fredrik Reinfeldt John Fredrik Reinfeldt (pronounced ; born 4 August 1965) is a Swedish economist, lecturer, and former politician who was Prime Minister of Sweden from 2006 to 2014, and chairman of the liberal conservative Moderate Party from 2003 to 2015. He wa ...

, but declined and supported

Anna Kinberg Batra Anna Maria Kinberg Batra (; ; born 14 April 1970) is a Sweden, Swedish politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Moderate Party from January 2015 to October 2017. She was a Riksdag, Member of the Riksdag for Stockholm Co ...

. In March 2017 there was controversy around Tobé after it was revealed that he had used public funds for wine purchases and personal trips. On 2 June 2017, he was removed from his position as party secretary by

and appointed Shadow Minister for Justice and Chairman of the Parliament's Committee on Justice.

Member of the European Parliament

Since the

2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held between 23 and 26 May 2019, the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) represent more than 512 million peopl ...

, Tobé has been serving as chairman of the

Committee on Development The Committee on Development (Commission du développement, DEVE) is a committee of the European Parliament responsible for promoting, implementing and monitoring the development and cooperation policy of the European Union, notably talks with deve ...

. In this capacity, he co-chairs (alongside

David McAllister David James McAllister (born 12 January 1971) is a German politician who has been a member of the European Parliament since 2014. He is a member of the Christian Democratic Union, part of the European People's Party. He is the current Vice Pre ...

) the Democracy Support and Election Coordination Group (DEG), which oversees the Parliament’s election observation missions. Tobé is also a member of the

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) is a committee of the European Parliament that is responsible for protecting civil liberties and human rights, as listed in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. ...

. On the committee, he has been serving as

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Euro ...

on asylum and migration since 2020. In addition to his committee assignments, Tobé is part of the Parliament’s delegations for relations to

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and to the Parliamentary Assembly of the

Union for the Mediterranean The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM; french: Union pour la Méditerranée, ar, الإتحاد من أجل المتوسط ''Al-Ittiḥād min ajl al-Mutawasseṭ'') is an intergovernmental organization of 43 member states from Europe and the M ...

. He also belongs to the

European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights The European Parliament Intergroup on LGBTI Rights is an intergroup Intergroups are formed of Members of the European Parliament from any political group and any committee, with a view to holding informal exchanges of views on particular subjects ...

and the European Parliament Intergroup on Children’s Rights. After the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

, Tobé supported Swedish membership in

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

Personal life

Tobé is married to Markus Tobé with whom he has twins born via

surrogacy Surrogacy is an arrangement, often supported by a legal agreement, whereby a woman agrees to delivery/labour for another person or people, who will become the child's parent(s) after birth. People may seek a surrogacy arrangement when pregnan ...

.Tomas Tobé become father to twins
Revived 19 December 2014

References

External links

Tomas Tobé – www.moderat.se
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tobe, Tomas Members of the Riksdag from the Moderate Party Living people 1978 births LGBT politicians from Sweden Gay politicians People from Gävle MEPs for Sweden 2019–2024 Moderate Party MEPs LGBT members of the European Parliament