Urban Christian Ahlin (; born 13 November 1964) is a Swedish

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

politician who was

Speaker of the Riksdag The speaker of the Riksdag ( sv, Riksdagens talman) is the speaker (politics), presiding officer of the national unicameral legislature in Sweden. The Riksdag underwent profound changes in 1867, when the medieval Riksdag of the Estates was abolis ...

from September 2014 to September 2018. He served as a

Member of the Riksdag Members of Parliament (Swedish language, Swedish: ''riksdagsledamöter'', singular: ''riksdagsledamot'') in Sweden sit in the Riksdag. Description ''Members of Parliament'' refers to the elected List of members of the Swedish Riksdag, members ...

(MP) for the Västra Götaland County East constituency from 1994 to 2018. He was formerly

Foreign Policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...

spokesman for the Social Democrats.

Education and career

Ahlin was born in

Mariestad Mariestad () is a locality and the seat of Mariestad Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 16,611 inhabitants in 2019. Until 1997 it was the capital of the former Skaraborg County and an episcopal see in the Church of Sweden betw ...

Skaraborg County Skaraborg County ( sv, Skaraborgs län ) was a county of Sweden from 1634 until 1997. It was disestablished at the end of 1997 when it was merged with the counties of Gothenburg and Bohus and Älvsborg to form Västra Götaland County. The count ...

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 ...

. From 1981 to 1982, and again from 1984 to 1985, he was chairman of the local branch of the

Swedish Social Democratic Youth League The Swedish Social Democratic Youth League ( sv, Sveriges Socialdemokratiska Ungdomsförbund ; SSU) is a branch of the Swedish Social Democratic Party and the Swedish Trade Union Confederation in Sweden. The president has been Lisa Nåbo, since ...

in Mariestad. Between 1985 and 1990 he was chairman of the Social Democratic Youth League in

. Between 1991 and 1998 he was chairman of the

in Mariestad, Skaraborg County, and between 1999 and 2002 he was the deputy secretary general of the Social Democratic Party. Since 2005 he is chairman of the Social Democratic Party in Skaraborg County. Between 1985 and 1990 Ahlin studied at the specialist

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

-training course at

Karlstad University Karlstad University (Swedish ''Karlstads universitet'') is a state university in Karlstad, Sweden. It was originally established as the Karlstad campus of the University of Gothenburg in 1967, and this campus became an independent university col ...

. He then worked as a teacher at an upper level elementary school in

, teaching mathematics and general science, until being elected to 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 ...

in 1994. Between 2002 and 2006 Ahlin was chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the Swedish parliament. 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. 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 The War Delegation ( sv, krigsdelegationen, or ''KD'') is a standing committee of the Riksdag, with its functions enumerated in the Instrument of Government and the Riksdag Act, with the purpose of replacing the Riksdag as a whole whenever Sweden i ...

, and a deputy member of Committee on European Union Affairs. 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 The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, prom ...

. He is at the moment the deputy chair of the Swedish delegation to

NATO Parliamentary Assembly Founded in 1955, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA) serves as the consultative interparliamentary organisation for the North Atlantic Alliance. Its current President is Gerald E. Connolly from the United States, elected in 2019. Its curre ...

Following the 2014 election, on 29 September 2014 Ahlin was elected

for the period 2014-2018. He succeeded

Per Westerberg Per Erik Gunnar Westerberg (; born 2 August 1951) is a Swedish politician who was Speaker of the Riksdag from 2006 to 2014. He was a Member of the Riksdag from 1979 to 2014, its most senior member from 2006 to his resignation (see Father of the ...

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. 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. 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.

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 The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) is a pan-European think tank with offices in seven European capitals. Launched in October 2007, it conducts research on European foreign and security policy and provides a meeting space for decisi ...

ECFR. He is also a member of the Swedish group of

Trilateral Commission The Trilateral Commission is a nongovernmental international organization aimed at fostering closer cooperation between Japan, Western Europe and North America. It was founded in July 1973 principally by American banker and philanthropist David ...

. He has been a director of the influential American "think and do tank"

EastWest Institute The EastWest Institute (EWI), originally known as the Institute for East-West Security Studies and officially the Institute for EastWest Studies, Inc., was an international not-for-profit, non-partisan think tank focusing on international confli ...

. Urban Ahlin regularly participates in programs and seminars organised by

The Aspen Institute The Aspen Institute is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1949 as the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies. The institute's stated aim is the realization of "a free, just, and equitable society" through seminars, policy programs ...

German Marshall Fund The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) is a nonpartisan American public policy think tank that seeks to promote cooperation and understanding between North America and the European Union. Founded in 1972 through a gift from the We ...

GMF and

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, mi ...

in 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 The Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS), formerly known as the Monterey Institute of International Studies, is an American graduate school of Middlebury College, a private college in Middlebury, Vermont. Established ...

in Monterey, CA.

State orders

Urban Ahlin received the state

Order for Merits to Lithuania The Order for Merits to Lithuania ( lt, Ordinas Už nuopelnus Lietuvai) is an award, presented by the President of Lithuania, which may be conferred on the citizens of Lithuania and foreign nationals for distinguished services promoting name of Lit ...

from President Adamkus in 2005 for his work to extend the international relationship.

References

External links

*
Urban Ahlin
at the

's website , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Ahlin, Urban 1964 births Living people People from Mariestad Municipality Members of the Riksdag from the Social Democrats Speakers of the Riksdag Recipients of the Order for Merits to Lithuania Ambassadors of Sweden to Canada Members of the Riksdag 1994–1998 Members of the Riksdag 1998–2002 Members of the Riksdag 2002–2006 Members of the Riksdag 2006–2010