Nils Daniel Carl Bildt KCMG[1] (born 15 July 1949) is a Swedish politician and diplomat who was Prime Minister of Sweden from 1991 to 1994 and leader of the liberal conservative Moderate Party from 1986 to 1999. He has served as Sweden's Minister for Foreign Affairs since 6 October 2006.
Bildt has also been noted internationally as a mediator in the Balkan conflict, serving as the European Union's Special Envoy to the Former Yugoslavia from June 1995, co-chairman of the Dayton Peace Conference in November 1995 and as High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina from December 1995 to June 1997 immediately after the Bosnian War. From 1999 to 2001, he served as the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Balkans.
Bildt was born in Halmstad, Halland, and belongs to an old Norwegian-Danish-Swedish noble family traditionally domiciled in Bohus county. Bildt attended Stockholm University but never graduated. His great-great-grandfather, Baron Gillis Bildt, served as Prime Minister a century earlier and as a diplomat as well as Marshal of the Realm of Sweden (riksmarskalk). His great-grandfather, General Knut Bildt, was chief of the general staff. His great-grandfather's brother Carl Bildt served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Cabinet - Secretary (Under secretary of state of foreign affairs, in Swedish kabinettssekreterare) and was a renowned diplomat and member of the Swedish Academy. Bildt's grandfather Nils Bildt was a colonel and chief of the Halland Regiment. Colonel Bildt and his family were neighbours to the Palme family. Bildt's father Daniel Bildt (1920–2010) was a former major in the reserves of the now defunct Halland Regiment (Hallands regemente) and a former bureau director in the now defunct Civil Defense Board's Education Bureau. He married Kerstin Andersson-Alwå in 1947.
Bildt's brother Nils, was born in 1952. Bildt himself was married to Kerstin Zetterberg 1974–1975, Mia Bohman (daughter of former Moderate party leader and Minister of Economy, Gösta Bohman) 1984–1997 and is currently married to Anna Maria Corazza since 1998. From his second marriage he has the children Gunnel (born 1989) and Nils (born 1991). From his third marriage he has the son Gustaf (born 2004). The family's perhaps most prominent lineage comes from Norway, where at least three of his ancestors have been that country's leaders in a position comparable with a modern prime minister: in 16th century, his ancestor Nils Henriksson av Østråt (Gyldenløve) served as Lord High Steward of Norway and another ancestor, Vincents Vincentson Lunge, as Viceroy of the kingdom of Norway; and then in 17th century, yet another ancestor, Jens Ovesonn Bjelke served as Lord High Chancellor of Norway, and was himself descended from king Haakon V of Norway (the king and his forefathers thus also being Bildt's ancestors) through his daughter Agnes Hakonardottir, Dame of Borgarsyssel.
While studying at Stockholm University, Bildt was against the occupation of the Student Union Building in 1968 and was one of the co-founders of Borgerliga Studenter – Opposition '68 later the same year. He served as chairman of the FMSF Confederation of Swedish Conservative and Liberal Students, a centre-right student organisation, in the early 1970s. When the non-socialist formed government in 1976, Bildt came to serve as the Moderate party coordinator in his capacity as close collaborator of the then party leader and Minister of Economy Gösta Bohman. Bildt became a Member of Parliament in 1979, although he instead served as State Secretary for Policy Coordination in the non-socialist government reformed after that election. As an MP in the early eighties, he became noted as an incisive and combative debater on foreign affairs, and found himself pitted against Prime Minister Olof Palme. Bildt was elected leader of the Moderate Party in 1986, succeeding Ulf Adelsohn. In 1991 the Social Democrats were defeated by a four-party coalition led by Bildt's Moderates.
His government policies focused on liberalizing and reforming the Swedish economy as well as making Sweden a member of the European Union. It initiated the negotiations for Sweden's accession to the European Union (though the work to prepare the ground, at home and versus the EEC/EU, had already started during the final year of the Social Democratic government. The Social Democrats' volte face on possible accession to the EEC was most likely a prerequisite for the positive referendum result) and Bildt signed the accession treaty at the European Union summit of Corfu, Greece, on 23 June 1994.
Economic reforms were enacted, including voucher schools, liberalized markets for telecommunications and energy as well as the privatization of publicly owned companies, privatization of health care, contributing to liberalizing the Swedish economy. Arguably, the subsequent budget cut-backs with the Social Democrats, and after 1994, continued spending cuts by the Social Democratic government, did more to reform the Swedish economy and the Swedish model, than Bildt's governments programme as such. The government's effectiveness was furthermore hampered as it was plagued by in-fighting, most memorably over the construction of the Oresund Bridge.
The period was also marked by a severe economic crisis.[2] In November 1992, the crisis reached its climax as Sweden left the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (the ERM) and let the Krona float, after having defended the fixed exchange rate at tremendous cost. In some people's opinion, single-minded defense of the Krona led to and continues to draw heavy criticism. At the peak of the crisis and amid run-away budget deficits, a number of emergency cut-backs were negotiated with the Social Democrats. The different measures did contribute to a reduction in the public deficit in 1994 and 1995, and allegedly to revived growth in subsequent years. There is still some debate on whether the current (2006) growth levels are in part due to the devaluation of the Krona. Some see the increased importance of the export industry as testament to this.[citation needed]
The Social Democrats returned to power in September 1994, although Bildt's Moderate Party scored a slight gain.
In 1999 he was succeeded as party leader by Bo Lundgren.
Bildt and
Richard Holbrooke before peace talks in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina in October 1995.
After his term as Prime Minister, Bildt was active as a mediator in the Balkans conflict, serving as the European Union Special Envoy to Former Yugoslavia from June 1995, Co-Chairman of the Dayton Peace Conference in November 1995, and High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina from December 1995 to June 1997 immediately after the Bosnian War. From 1999 to 2001, he served as the United Nations Secretary General's Special Envoy for the Balkans.
Bildt is or has been considered persona non grata in several countries for remarks he has made against various governments, including Croatia, where he "lost the credibility necessary for the role of a peace mediator" by suggesting that the former President of Croatia, Franjo Tuđman, was as guilty of war crimes as the Krajina Serb leader Milan Martić.[3][4] He was also considered unwelcome in Russia after comparing their handling of the 2008 South Ossetia War to Nazi Germany under Hitler, and he was recently prevented from visiting Sri Lanka.[3][4][5]
During Operation Flash and Operation Storm in Croatia he demanded military operations by OUN and/or NATO against Croatian army.[citation needed]
On 6 October 2006, Bildt was appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the newly formed government led by Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt. This was seen by many as a somewhat surprising move, because Bildt had already served both as Prime Minister and as leader of the Moderate Party and the previous conflict between Bildt and Reinfeldt.[6]
The opposition parties and other politicians as well as newspaper columnists have questioned Carl Bildt’s suitability as Sweden’s Foreign Minister for his private stance on international issues as well as his private affairs as a businessman with interest in Russian gas giant Gazprom, and Lundin Petroleum, an oil company with activities in war-torn Sudan.[7][8]
Carl Bildt joined the Board of Directors of Lundin Oil AB in 2000[citation needed], after serious concerns had surfaced that the oil industry was exacerbating the war in Sudan. Lundin Oil was the lead operator of a consortium that worked in an area that had become the centre stage of Sudan's civil war. Despite the fact that the allegations were backed by successive UN Special Rapporteurs [3] and a Canadian Government investigation [4], Bildt succeeded in winning the public controversy in Sweden, allowing Lundin Oil to pursue its activities in Sudan. In June 2010, the European Coalition on Oil in Sudan published the report 'Unpaid Debt', arguing why Lundin may have been complicit in war crimes and crimes against humanity. The company has denied any wrongdoing, but after studying the report, the Swedish Public Prosecutor opened a criminal investigation. Following the decision by the public prosecutor, Members of Parliament in Sweden requested Bildt to step down, which he has refused to do. Human Rights Watch has in their report also put a large portion of the blame of what happened in Block 5A in Sudan on Lundin Oil saying that "no war-related displacement at all took place there until 1998 [the year when Lundin Oil established themselves in Sudan]".[9]
After having left his political position as leader of the Moderate Party in 1999, apart from being engaged on international issues, Bildt took up a number of private sector positions as well as with international think-tanks.
In the later category, he served as the first non-US member ever of the Board of Trustees of the RAND Corporation (Santa Monica) and on the Advisory Board of the Centre for European Reform (London). He was also a member of the board of the European Policy Center (Brussels) as well as the International Institute for Strategic Studies (London) and the International Advisory Board of the Council on Foreign Affairs (New York).
In the corporate sector in the US, he served as non-executive director of the Baltimore-based US assets management company Legg Mason, Inc.
Among Swedish-dominated companies, he served as Chairman of the Board of Teleopti as well as of the public affairs consultancy Kreab AB, and Board member of the IT consultancy HiQ AB. He was also Chairman of Nordic Venture Network, bringing Nordic high-tech VC firms together in an informal network.
In 2002 Bildt joined the board of directors of Vostok Nafta, a financial company primarily with holdings in Gazprom. Bildt was also a member of the board of independent oil company Lundin Petroleum.
He left the board of directors of all these functions upon becoming Foreign Minister in October 2006.[citation needed]
Bildt has been criticized due to the potential conflict of interest due to his previous position in Vostok Nafta, although Bildt could not divest the stock options he has until the first two weeks of December 2006. Among other things the Swedish government has to decide whether or not to lend its support to the construction of a Russian gas pipeline in the Baltic sea near the Swedish island of Gotland. This conflict of interest might also affect relations between Sweden, other European Union countries and Russia, since many EU countries are dependent on Russian oil and gas for their energy needs.[10][11] On 20 October 2006, Ulf Holm, a Member of Parliament for the Green Party, reported the Foreign Minister to the Riksdag Constitutional Committee in order to determine whether Bildt's private economic affairs might represent a conflict of interest. Carl Söderbergh, Secretary General for the Swedish section of Amnesty International, has also criticized Bildt since Human Rights issues are within the portfolio of the Minister for Foreign Affairs.[12] However, the criticism against Bildt for his interests subsided after he announced his intentions of divesting himself of all financial ties with the company as soon as is possible. The work by the Constitutional Committee of the Parliament could not find any grounds for questioning the activities of Bildt in these regards. It also came to light that the Swedish state pension funds (Swedish: AP-fonderna) together had invested more than a billion Swedish krona (140 million USD or 75 million GBP) in Vostok Nafta.[13]
Carl Bildt has been criticized for his role as mediator in the Bosnian war. Among others, he was accused, as prime minister, of indifference to the ethnic cleansing and genocide committed by the Bosnian Serb forces against Muslim and Croat civilians.[14][15] Bildt opposed any military intervention and criticized the former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1993 for calling NATO to intervene against the Bosnian Serb forces, which led to the Sunday Times calling Bildt and other EU leaders "robotic political pygmies" and their acceptance of the ongoing genocide "shameful".[15]
Following Bildt's appointment as EU's special envoy to Yugoslavia, Tom Warrick from the Coalition for International Justice described Bildt as "dangerously misinformed about his own job description" and largely ignorant about the region.[14][16] The New York Times criticized Bildt for a nonchalant attitude towards the Srebrenica massacre where over 8,000 Bosniaks were killed,[14] and described him as being burdened with a reputation for accepting Bosnian Serb claims of good behavior at face value and overlooking evidence of atrocities against civilians.[17] Several international governments criticized Bildt for having been ineffective and too closely affiliated with the Serbs in Bosnia and Serbia.[18] British historian Marko Attila Hoare accused Bildt of downplaying the number of victims killed in the Srebrenica massacre and ignoring Serbian war crimes.[19] Bildt was also criticized for not mentioning the Srebrenica massacre during a lunch meeting on 15 July 1995 in Belgrade with the Serbian President, Slobodan Milošević and the commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, Ratko Mladić, even though he had received reports about the ongoing massacre.[20]
Following the early release of convicted war criminal Biljana Plavšić from Swedish prison in 2009, Bildt was reported to Swedens Committee on the Constitution for being disqualified to take part in such a decision. Bildt was accused of being personally involved in the case and being personally close to Plavšić.[21][22] Bildt testified at Plavšićs trial in 2002 at the Hague praising her, calling her post-war actions "brave" and "courageous".[23]
Bildt has also been questioned for his role as a member of the International Advisory Council of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, a group with ties to the Bush administration pushing for an invasion of Iraq in 2003.[24][25]
On 8 April 2008, during his visit in Israel and Palestinian Authority, Bildt gave an interview to Swedish state radio, where he responded to a question on whether or not it would be possible to strike a peace deal without the involvement of the Palestinian group Hamas, which remained under international boycott. He responded that the Palestinian Fatah-backed government could deal with Israel, in the same way that it was possible for the Israeli government to make peace with Fatah over the objections of the former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who, similarly to Hamas opposed a two-state deal. Israeli officials issued very strongly worded condemnations of this (calling it "horrible and stupid", saying it was an example of "chutzpah" and "complete ignorance of the Middle East"), on the grounds that they saw it as a way of comparing Hamas and Netanyahu as equals.[26]
After the South Ossetian War, Bildt wrote on his blog that the Russian rationale for its intervention, i.e. concern for the welfare of its expatriates in the Near Abroad, had certain similarities with the rationale for the annexation of Sudetenland. The Russian reaction was strong, and the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Bildt was no longer considered welcome in Moscow.[27] Bildt also called South Ossetian independence "a joke", and said it would be supported only by a "miserable" lot of countries.[28]
It was revealed following the organization WikiLeaks release of classified diplomatic documents that US diplomats considered Bildt as "stubborn", "arrogant" and to have "limited political skills".[29] Bildt was also described as someone who thinks he has more power and influence than he really has and called him a "medium size dog with big dog attitude".[30] The then US president George W. Bush was advised before a meeting to "play on Bildt's desire to operate at a high level" and to pretend to be impressed by his previous international assignments.[31] Other US diplomats and politicians were also advised and to play on Bildt's self image to "keep him on a good mood".[30]
There have been reports that Wikileaks has documents proving Carl Bildt is a US spy, with various sources claiming Wikileaks is attempting Blackmail.[32]
Bildt was an early pioneer among politicians of using the Internet for communicating. On 4 February 1994 he sent an email message to US president Bill Clinton, which was the first (what is publicly known) ever electronic message sent between two heads of government. In the message he praised Clinton's decision to end the trade embargo on Vietnam.[33]
In the same year he also started a weekly electronic newsletter, which was active until 2005. He is also active as a blogger, starting his first blog in February 2005. His current blog, started in January 2007, is one of the most widely read political blogs in Sweden.
On 30 May 2007 he officially opened a "Swedish embassy" in the virtual world Second Life.[34] The embassy, called "Second House of Sweden", is a virtual replica of House of Sweden, the Swedish embassy building in Washington, D.C..
During Bildt's time as Foreign Minister the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has opened up a channel on YouTube which has been active since early 2008.
Bildt also maintains a personal Twitter feed in English with approximately 125,000 subscribed followers.
Carl Bildt is involved with the Institute for Information on the Crimes of Communism, of which he is an honorary member and contributor to its publications.[35]
Bildt was awarded H. M. The King's Medal of the 12th size in 2003. He is a Commander of the Légion d'honneur, and has an honorary doctorate from the University of St Andrews.
Bildt is also a member of the Club of Madrid,[36] an independent non-profit organization composed of 87 democratic former Presidents and Prime Ministers from 57 different countries.
- ^ [1]
- ^ Between 1990 and 1994, per capita income declined by approximately 10% – http://hdr.undp.org/docs/publications/ocational_papers/oc26c.htm.
- ^ a b http://www.asiantribune.com/node/17381
- ^ a b http://www.tititudorancea.com/z/persona_non_grata.htm
- ^ FLIGHT FROM CROATIA: Refugee column hit from the air
- ^ Kellberg, Christina (18 September 2006). "Berättelsen om Fredrik Reinfeldt" (in Swedish). Dagens Nyheter. http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=2390&a=573767. Retrieved 4 July 2009.
- ^ PM Nilsson, "Bildt måste gå", Expressen, 11 January 2007 (Swedish).
- ^ Fredrik Malm, "Bildt måste byta politik eller avgå", Expressen, 15 January 2007 (Swedish).
- ^ Human Rights Watch. "Sudan, Oil, and Human Rights". http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/sudan1103/12.htm. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
- ^ Bildt gör miljonklipp på ryska gasoptioner, Affärsvärlden, 11 October 2006 (Swedish).
- ^ Bildts aktieinnehav "omdömeslöst", Dagens Nyheter, October 19, 2006 (Swedish)
- ^ Bildt KU-anmäls för aktieinnehav, Svenska Dagbladet, 20 October 2006 (Swedish).
- ^ AP-fonder investerar i Vostok Nafta [2], Aftonbladet, 4 November 2006 (Swedish).
- ^ a b c Dilsa Demirbag-Sten, Oförebildtlig, Expressen, 16 October 2006 (Swedish).
- ^ a b Ahlmark, Per (October 24, 2006). "Du vet ju hur Carl är" (in Swedish). Dagens Nyheter. http://www.dn.se/ledare/kolumner/du-vet-ju-hur-carl-ar. Retrieved 2009-03-28.
- ^ http://www.hri.org/news/balkans/bosnet/1996/96-01-07_1.bos.html
- ^ Mr. Bildt's Responsibility in Bosnia, The New York Times, 17 December 1995
- ^ Cortright, David (1997). The Price of Peace: Incentives and International Conflict Prevention. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 166. ISBN 978-0-8476-8556-1.
- ^ http://greatersurbiton.wordpress.com/2009/07/21/swedish-foreign-minister-carl-bildt-denies-over-half-the-srebrenica-massacre/
- ^ Hvidfeldt, Anders (1 August 1998). "Bildt höll tyst om massakern" (in Swedish). Aftonbladet. http://wwwc.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/9808/01/bildt.html. Retrieved 2011-03-29.
- ^ Mikael Stengård, Thomas Bodström: Beslutet är jävigt, Aftonbladet, 22 October 2009 (Swedish).
- ^ On Biljana Plavsic's Early Release, SvD, 23 October 2009 (Swedish).
- ^ Bodström KU-anmäler Bildt, SvD, 23 October 2009 (Swedish).
- ^ "Bildt in hot water over Iraq war lobbying", The Local, 23 February 2007.
- ^ Vad Carl Bildt gjort för kriget, Aftonbladet, 27 October 2006 (Swedish).
- ^ Hoffman, Gil (10 April 2008). "Swedish FM likens Netanyahu to Hamas". Jerusalem Post (Jerusalem). http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1207649975283&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull. Retrieved 2009-03-28.
- ^ Sweden evokes Hitler in condemning Russian assault
- ^ Kremlin is told that move could backfire, Financial Times, 27 August 2008.
- ^ Holmström, Mikael (December 6, 2010). "Bildt ger USA problem" (in Swedish). Svenska Dagbladet. http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/bildt-ger-usa-problem_5780465.svd. Retrieved 2011-07-12.
- ^ a b Larsson, Thomas (December 5, 2010). "Bildt har begränsad politisk förmåga" (in Swedish). Sveriges Television. http://svt.se/2.22620/1.2257703/bildt_har_begransad_politisk_formaga. Retrieved 2011-07-12.
- ^ Stengård, Mikael (December 5, 2010). "Bildt har satt på sig en för stor kostym" (in Swedish). Aftonbladet. http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article8230586.ab. Retrieved 2011-07-12.
- ^ http://hbl.fi/nyheter/2012-02-22/expressen-bild-ar-usa-informator
- ^ "First Email Bildt to Clinton", bildt.net.
- ^ Simmons, Carl, Sweden opens virtual embassy 3D-style, Sweden.se, 2007-05-30.
- ^ "UOK - Upplysning om kommunismen". Institute for Information on the Crimes of Communism. http://www.upplysningomkommunismen.se/?page=english. Retrieved 2009-10-19.
- ^ The Club of Madrid is an independent non-profit organization composed of 81 democratic former Presidents and Prime Ministers from 57 different countries. It constitutes the world´s largest forum of former Heads of State and Government, who have come together to respond to a growing demand for support among leaders in democratic leadership, governance, crisis and post-crisis situations. All lines of work share the common goal of building functional and inclusive societies, where the leadership experience of our Members is most valuable.
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Bildt, Carl |
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15 July 1949 |
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Halmstad, Sweden |
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