20 Facts About Mikael Damberg

Lars Mikael Damberg is a Swedish politician of the Social Democratic Party.

Mikael Damberg served as Minister for Finance from 2021 to 2022.

Mikael Damberg previously served as Minister for Enterprise from October 2014 to January 2019 and as minister for home affairs from January 2019 to November 2021.

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

Mikael Damberg's father is the former Swedish Social Democratic party treasurer Nils-Gosta Damberg and his mother a former district chairwoman of the Finnish Social Democratic Youth Riita-Liisa Damberg.

Between 1995 and 1997, Damberg worked as a political assistant to Minister for Defence Thage G Peterson, and between 1997 and 1999 as political assistant and speechwriter to Prime Minister Goran Persson.

Mikael Damberg joined the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League in the late 1980s and served as a member of the board of the organization between 1993 and 1997.

Mikael Damberg served as a member of the municipal council in Solna Municipality between 1991 and 2002.

Mikael Damberg is chairman of the Social Democratic party district in Stockholm County since 2004.

Mikael Damberg has served as a member of the Swedish parliament since 2002, representing the Stockholm County constituency.

Mikael Damberg has served as a member of the Committee on Education since 2002.

Mikael Damberg previously served as a deputy member of the Committee on Defence between 2002 and 2006, and as a deputy member of the Committee on Finance between 2006 and 2010.

Mikael Damberg was appointed Minister for Enterprise on 3 October 2014, serving in the cabinet of Prime Minister Stefan Lofven.

Also in 2016, Mikael Damberg approved Vattenfall's decision to sell its loss-making lignite coal mines and associated power plants in Germany to Czech investor EPH.

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

Mikael Damberg was later appointed minister for home affairs on 21 January 2019 in the second Lofven Cabinet.

Early in his tenure, Mikael 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.

When Dan Eliasson, the head of Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, 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, Mikael Damberg asked for his resignation.

Also during his time in office, Mikael Damberg led efforts in 2021 to give police greater powers to access mobile communications data, including conversations using apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.

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