Mikael Damberg

Lars Mikael Damberg ( born 13 October 1971) is a Swedish politician of the Social Democratic Party. He served as Minister for Finance from 2021 to 2022. He previously served as Minister for Enterprise from October 2014 to January 2019 and as minister for home affairs from January 2019 to November 2021.

He has been a Member of the Riksdag since 2002, representing Stockholm County, and was leader of the Social Democrats in the Riksdag from 2012 to 2014.

Political career and education Damberg was born in Solna, Stockholm County, Sweden. His father is the former Swedish Social Democratic party treasurer Nils-Gösta Damberg and his mother a former district chairwoman of the Finnish Social Democratic Youth Riita-Liisa Damberg. Damberg earned a degree in public administration from Stockholm University in 2000. He also served as a member of the municipal council in Solna Municipality between 1991 and 2002.

In this capacity, Damberg put forward a 2016 bill stipulating at least 40 percent of board members of listed firms should be women by 2019 at the latest; however, the government later decided to not go ahead with the proposal.

Also in 2016, Damberg approved Vattenfall’s decision to sell its loss-making lignite coal mines and associated power plants in Germany to Czech investor EPH. In 2018, he approved an application from Nord Stream 2 to lay two gas pipelines through its economic zone in the Baltic Sea. In August 2018, Damberg visited the crime scene where Karolin Hakim was killed by a gang member.

Damberg also attended the Bilderberg Meeting in 2015 in Telfs-Buchen, Austria.

Minister for Home Affairs Damberg was later appointed minister for home affairs on 21 January 2019 in the second Löfven Cabinet.

Early in his tenure, Damberg coordinated the Swedish government’s efforts seeking support from European allies for a new international tribunal to prosecute Islamic State fighters and military personnel for war crimes perpetrated in Iraq and Syria, modelled on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Among others, he visited counterparts in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands to lobby support for the proposal.

When Dan Eliasson, the head of Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB), was reported to have holidayed with family on Gran Canaria in violation of guidelines propagated by his own agency against unnecessary travel amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Sweden, Damberg asked for his resignation.

Also during his time in office, Damberg led efforts in 2021 to give police greater powers to access mobile communications data, including conversations using apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. That same year, he appointed a commission to look at measures including the expansion of secret, preventative surveillance of suspects, currently only allowed in cases related to national security.

Minister of Finance Damberg was appointed Minister of Finance on 30 November 2021 after Magdalena Andersson became prime minister.

Other activities Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2021–2022) European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2021–2022) European Investment Bank (EIB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2021–2022) Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), World Bank Group, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2021–2022) Nordic Investment Bank (NIB), Ex-Officio Chairwoman of the Board of Governors (2021–2022) World Bank, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2021–2022)