Parental leave

TALMANNEN

Honorable members, dear relatives, ladies and gentlemen! Recently, we in the Riksdag were reached by the sad news that member Mats Nordberg has passed away after a period of illness. Our thoughts and our warm sympathy go to his family, friends, and closest colleagues.

To be a member of the Swedish Riksdag is to hold one of the finest assignments one can receive in our country. It states in the Instrument of Government that the Riksdag is the people's primary representative, and to be elected to represent one's party, one's voters, one's constituency, and our country in the Swedish Riksdag means receiving a trust that will involve people.

When a member of the Riksdag passes away, it is customary that we pause for a moment in the chamber's regular work to remember and convey the colleagues' and the Riksdag's gratitude for the deceased member's contributions to the Riksdag and for Sweden.

Being a member of Parliament is not always easy, and it certainly was not for Mats Nordberg, but I hope and believe that it always felt meaningful for him, just as I hope it does for you. The assignment involves sacrifices, also for loved ones, and I hope that you relatives who are with us in the audience today feel that the gratitude we now show Mats is also directed towards you who have been with him on the journey.

Parliamentary work is carried out together with others - in the party groups, the committees and other contexts - but every member puts their own mark on their mandate. What Mats Nordberg has just done, no one else could have done. His initiative, his choices, his priorities were his own.

Honorable members, ladies and gentlemen! Mats Nordberg was born in 1958 in Örnsköldsvik and grew up in Ljungaverk in Medelpad. He was elected to the Riksdag in 2018 as a representative for Sverigedemokraterna and the Dalarnas län constituency. In the Riksdag, he has, among other things, been a member of the Committee on Environment and Agriculture and the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and has been his party's representative in the Riksdag's steering group for bilateral democracy-promoting cooperation.

Mats Nordberg was involved in the Sweden Democrats at both the municipal and regional levels as well as nationally. He was his party's responsible member for forestry issues, even before he was elected to the Riksdag, but he also worked actively with aid and development policy.

He managed the forestry issues well, and he was naturally well-acquainted with them given his solid background in the field. I have understood that he has had these issues with him since childhood and has since worked with them through a 40-year professional and research career that has brought him to, among other places, the forestry industry, the Ikea Group, and the UN's organ for food and agriculture, FAO, in Rome. He has held a number of different positions, primarily in Sweden but also internationally.

I would also like to mention that he defended a doctoral thesis in 2007 on reforms in state forestry in Latvia, Russia, and Ukraine.

Mats Nordberg had both knowledge of and a witnessed commitment to countries in the east, not least Ukraine, something that began already during his time within the forestry industry. He had many contacts and friends in Ukraine, which naturally meant that he followed the reporting closely during the last difficult year of war. He was also engaged in work so that one can undertake the reconstruction of forestry in Ukraine when the war is over.

He possessed great knowledge in many matters, good analytical skills, and a fine ability to cooperate. He was a person with rich linguistic skills and broad interests, from history, geography, and politics to hunting, fishing, and outdoor life.

Many testify that Mats was a very well-liked person and parliamentary colleague - yes, a kind and honest man, which is one of the finest things I think one can say about a person.

He was hardworking and loyal and never asserted himself at the expense of others. On the contrary, he was happy to highlight others. At the same time, his generosity, humor, and uplifting manner were always there.

Mats Nordberg's colleagues speak of him as an educated, imaginative, and committed politician, and he himself is said to have said that the parliamentary mandate was the best assignment he had ever had. I have also heard that he, despite the marks that the illness and the treatment left, was always very mindful of fulfilling his mandate here in the Swedish Riksdag.

Mats Nordberg was - until the very end - a responsible and hardworking politician, a fine team player and a good friend and colleague.

Above all, Mats Nordberg is, of course, mourned by his family and those closest to him. Several of you are here today. I hope that we have succeeded in conveying to you some of the impact that Mats Nordberg made through his work in the Riksdag.

I would like to conclude by reading a few words by Bo Setterlind, words that I think frame what we humans feel in the forest that Mats Nordberg was so engaged in.

Have you forgotten that the forest is your home, That the great deep quiet forest Stands and waits for you like a friend? Leave the city's unrest, come to the forest again, Only then can you be whole again

A kind, knowledgeable and committed person and politician has left us all too soon. I want to express my and the Riksdag's thanks for his contributions to the Riksdag, for democracy and for Sweden.

We now honor the memory of Mats Nordberg with a minute of silence.

The speech at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)