Goran persson

Hans Göran Persson (January 20, 1949) was Prime Minister of Sweden from March 1996 to October 2006. He was the leader of the Social Democratic Party from March 1996 to March 2007.

Since 2012, Persson has been leading a forum for high-level discussion and dissemination of information on the future of European forests: ThinkForest, organized by the European Forestry Institute.

Biography

He was born in Södermanland, 180 km southwest of Stockholm, to a working-class family. He studied Social Sciences at the University of Örebro but didn't even get a bachelor's degree. In February 2005 he received the honorary distinction of doctor of medicine, which was the cause of a little controversy.

Göran Persson has been married three times: in 1978 he married Gunnel Claesson, with whom he had two daughters; they divorced in 1995. On March 10, 1995 he remarried Annika Barthine and they divorced in December 2002. Since December 6, 2003 he has been married to Anitra Steen.

Political career

In the early 1970s he was a member of the Swedish Social Democratic Youth Section. He obtained the position of councilor in Katrineholm.

In 1979 he obtained his first term as a deputy in the Riksdag. After five years of deputation he is once again a councilor in Katrineholm.

After a few years of local politics he returned to Stockholm to become Minister of Education and Science in 1989 during the government of Ingvar Carlsson. From 1989 to 1991 he deals with issues related to public and secondary education.

In 1994 Carlsson appointed Persson as finance minister, after the new victory of his party to the detriment of the outgoing liberal government of Carl Bildt. His main objective was to stabilize the budget and preach the budgetary rigor necessary for entry into the European Union.

Prime Minister (1996-2006)

Göran Persson (in the middle) with George W. Bush and Romano Prodi at Gunnebo Slott near Gothenburg, Sweden, June 14, 2001.

In 1996, he was elected president of the Social Democratic Party to the detriment of Mona Sahlin and completed the term of Ingvar Carlsson until 1998. He was reinstated to the post of prime minister after his party's victory in 1998 in coalition with the ecologists and the ex-communists. His first term is marked by a budget surplus, a strong economy, as well as a drop in unemployment.

He is re-elected in 2002, and heads a minority government made up of his own allies. However, the end of his second term is more difficult. The slow management of the tsunami of December 2004, where numerous Swedes died (more than 500) caused a drop in his popularity. Finding no successors after the death of his foreign minister Anna Lindh, he was forced to run as leader of his party in the 2006 elections.

Legislative elections of 2006

In the legislative elections of September 17, 2006, the Left coalition, led by Persson, won only 46.2% of the vote (including 35.2% for the Social Democratic Party) against the 48.1% for the Right-wing coalition dominated by Fredrik Reinfeldt's conservative party. Göran Persson stepped down as Prime Minister. Subsequently, he announced his departure from the leadership of the Social Democratic Party and was replaced by Mona Sahlin.