Ibrahim Baylan (born 15 March 1972) is a Swedish

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

who served as minister for schools from 2004 to 2006, as minister for energy from 2014 to 2019, minister for government coordination from 2016 to 2019 and as minister for business, industry and innovation from 2019 to 2021. He has been a

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the

Swedish Riksdag The Riksdag ( , ; also or , ) is the parliament and the supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members (), elected proportionally and serving, since 1994, f ...

since 2006, and was deputy chairman in the education committée and spokesperson of educational issues for the

Swedish Social Democratic Party The Swedish Social Democratic Party, formally the Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party ( , S or SAP), usually referred to as The Social Democrats ( ), is a social democratic political party in Sweden. The party is member of the Progressiv ...

from 2012 to 2014.

Early life and career

Ibrahim Baylan was born in Salah, a village in the

Mardin Province Mardin Province (; ; ; ) is a province and metropolitan municipality in Turkey. Its area is 8,780 km2, and its population is 870,374 (2022). The largest city in the province is Kızıltepe, while the capital Mardin is the second largest ci ...

of Southeast Turkey, and his family belongs to the Assyrian

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

people group in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. He studied

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

Umeå University Umeå University (; Ume Sami language, Ume Sami: ) is a public university, public research university located in Umeå, in the mid-northern region of Sweden. The university was founded in 1965 and is the fifth oldest within Sweden's present bord ...

and was engaged in student politics. In 1997 he became the chair of the

Swedish Social Democratic Youth League The Swedish Social Democratic Youth League ( ; 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 August 2021. Organization The members form loc ...

Umeå Umeå ( , , , locally ; ; ; ; ) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County. Situated on the Ume River, Umeå is the largest Urban areas in Sweden, locality in Norrland and the t ...

. The same year, he was elected chair of the Umeå Union of Students and also became a member of the municipal school board. From 2000 Baylan worked as an ombudsman for the Swedish Union of Commercial Salaried Employees. He ran unsuccessfully on the Social Democratic ballot for the

2004 European Parliament election The 2004 European Parliament election was held between 10 and 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom. The European Parliamental parties could not be voted for, but elect ...

. Later in the same year, he was appointed to be minister for schools by Prime Minister

Göran Persson Hans Göran Persson (; born 20 January 1949) is a Swedish politician who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1996 to 2006 and leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1996 to 2007. Persson was first elected to the Swedish Parliame ...

, becoming the first non-European immigrant to become a member of a Swedish government cabinet. 2007 he was elected chairman of the Swedish parliamentary committee of transportation and communication. 2009 he became secretary general of the Swedish Social Democratic party. He resigned in March 2011. As school minister he was involved in a controversy about a report from the

Swedish National Agency for Education The Swedish National Agency for Education (, commonly known as ''Skolverket'') is a Government agency in Sweden that oversees the Swedish public school system for children and adults. Formed in 1991, The Swedish National Agency for Education is ...

that was withdrawn after criticism from minister Baylan. He was reported to the Swedish Committee on the Constitution and called to a hearing on 12 April 2005. Baylan was appointed energy minister with placement in the Ministry of the Environment at the change of government after the parliamentary elections 2014. In June 2016, he presented an agreement between the government,

Moderate Party The Moderate Party ( , , M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative* * * * * List of political parties in Sweden, political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free ma ...

, Centre Party and the

Christian Democrats Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well a ...

on Sweden's long-term energy policy. In a government reshuffle in 2016, Baylan was also appointed coordination minister. In September 2021, Baylan announced that he would be stepping down as minister in the autumn. He expressed it was time to try something else.

Personal life

Baylan married Anna Nilsson in Luleå in June 2006. He has two children.

References

External links

Riksdagen: Ibrahim Baylan (s)Ibrahim Baylan – www.socialdemokraterna.se
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baylan, Ibrahim 1972 births Living people People from Mardin Swedish people of Assyrian descent Syriac Orthodox Christians Ministers for industry of Sweden Members of the Riksdag from the Social Democrats Umeå University alumni Ministers for energy of Sweden Ministers for schools of Sweden Swedish politicians of Assyrian descent