Göran Persson

Hans Göran Persson (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈjœ̂ːran ˈpæ̌ːʂɔn]; 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 Parliament in 1979, representing Södermanland County but left in 1985 to serve as Municipal Commissioner of Katrineholm, which he did from 1985 to 1989. In 1991, he was re-elected to the Parliament and represented the same constituency. He served as Minister for Schools from 1989 to 1991 in Ingvar Carlsson's first and second cabinets. From 1994 to 1996, Persson served as Minister for Finance in Carlsson's third cabinet.

After Ingvar Carlsson announced his retirement from the position of prime minister, Persson was chosen to become the new prime minister. Persson began as prime minister where he left office as minister for finance – by continuing to spearhead government efforts to alleviate Sweden's chronic budget deficit. In 1994, the annual shortfall was about 13 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). But after implementing welfare cuts and tax increases, it fell to a projected 2.6 per cent of GDP in 1997, which placed Sweden in a position to qualify for the European Economic and Monetary Union. However, the cost was high: unemployment rose, hovering persistently around 13 per cent, then suddenly fell to about 6.5 per cent the same year. In the 1998 general election, the Social Democrats gained even fewer votes than in the 1991 general election, when they got voted out of office. Persson could remain as prime minister with the support of the Green Party and the Left Party. In the 2002 general election the Social Democrats increased their number of seats in the parliament. After the defeat at the general elections of 17 September 2006, Persson immediately filed a request for resignation, and declared his intentions to resign as party leader after the party congress in March 2007.

Since leaving office, Persson has been a consultant for the Stockholm-based PR firm JKL. He published a book in October 2007, "Min väg, mina val" (My path, my choices). In 2008 he was appointed Chairman of the Board of Sveaskog by the Swedish Government. He has been a member of the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation since 2007, and a member of the board of World Resources Institute since 2010.