Göran Persson

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Hans Göran Persson ([Göran Persson] ([Media helphelp]·[info]); born January 20, 1949) is a Swedish politician. He is the current Prime Minister of Sweden (since March 1996) and the leader of the Social Democratic Party.

Biography

Persson was born in Vingåker in Södermanland, Sweden, in a working-class home. He has in recent years revealed that he wanted to become a priest as a young man; however, he applied to the college in Örebro where he took courses in social science. He completed 80 college credits in the subject before he gave them up in 1971 without graduating. According to himself he had at the time almost completed an education in social and political sciences, something that has never been verified since he was never registered at the faculty of political science. As the college later received credentials as a full university, the renamed Örebro University gave him an honorary PhD in medicine in February of 2005, an award that has provoked some controversy and bribery claims.

In December 6, 2003 Persson married Anitra Steen, who was his third wife. He first married Gunnel (Claesson) in 1978 with whom he had two daughters. They divorced in 1995. On March 10 1995 he married Annika Barthine whom he divorced in December 2002.

He has maintained his Christian belief and in contrast to many other Social Democratic leaders he has underlined his faith on several occasions. In a debate between the political leaders broadcasted live by TV4 in 2006 he expressed how he shared a strong commitment to the Church with the Christian Democratic leader Göran Hägglund.

Political career

Persson has been in office for more than ten years, and is about to become the second-longest continuously-governing prime minister of Sweden, exceeded only by Tage Erlander. He is known for his oratorical prowess, often dispensing with prepared speeches or preparing them without the aid of his staff. This has been a useful talent since his career has periodically been lined with immense criticism, scandals, accusations of dictatorial rule, and concentration of power. He has had to face shocking incidents, such as the 2003 murder of the minister of foreign affairs, Anna Lindh, the tsunami disaster in 2004, and the Gothenburg riots in 2001.

In the early seventies he worked for the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League (SSU), and was a member of the national board from 1972 to 1975. Later, he served as a city council politician at the small municipality of Katrineholm. In 1979 he was elected Member of Parliament, but went back to local politics to serve as mayor (kommunalråd) of Katrineholm from 1985 to 1989. During his time as mayor of Katrineholm Persson he became notorious for his harsh leadership and was nicknamed HSB, an acronym for "He who rules."

In 1989 he was made Minister of Schools in the Ministry of Education during the first Ingvar Carlsson cabinet, until the election in 1991 when the Social Democrats were voted out of office. Persson was one of the brains behind the "Persson-plan" which was presented in 1994 targeting the prevailing economic situation. Sweden at the time still suffered from the recession which began during the early nineties, high unemployment rates and a huge budget deficit. Prime minister Carl Bildt relied at the time on a fragile coalition between the Moderate Party and three other liberal or conservative parties with a strained degree of cooperation. The outcome of the 1994 election proved a success for the Social Democrats when they gained more than 45% of the votes.

Upon returning to government in 1994, Persson was made Minister of Finance, a post he held until 1996. As Minister of Finance much of his job was focused on attaining a sound financial balance in the economy. Persson often emphasizes that he "cleaned up" after the Bildt government.

In 1996 Persson was chosen over Mona Sahlin, the Deputy Prime Minister, to lead the country after Carlsson retired. Persson began where he left off as finance minister--by continuing to spearhead government efforts to alleviate Sweden's chronic budget deficit. In 1994, the annual shortfall was about 13% of GDP. But, after implementing welfare cuts and tax increases, it fell to a projected 2.6% of GDP in 1997, which put Sweden in a position to qualify for the European economic and monetary union. However, the cost was high: unemployment rose, hovering persistently around 13%, then suddenly fell to about 6.5% the same year.

Persson first hit the rocks in 1997: in August the country was rocked by allegations that some 60,000 people, mostly women, were forcibly sterilized as part of a government-sponsored eugenics program between 1935-1976. The Health and Social Affairs Ministry ordered an independent inquiry into the role played by politicians and medical officials in regard to the sterilization of the mentally retarded and of Swedes from non-Nordic ethnic backgrounds, under laws that were not repealed until 1976.

In the 1998 election the Social Democrats gained even fewer votes than in the 1991 election, when they got voted out of office. Thanks to support that came primarily from the Green and Left parties, he managed to retain office but had to rely on support from at least two parties in the parliament. Two weeks after the election, one of the most sweeping Cabinet reshuffles in Swedish history took place, with eight ministers leaving their posts. Later the same year, the government announnced proposals for far-reaching cutbacks in Sweden's military spending.

The year 1999 was seen by the SAP as the vindication for the tough fiscal policies pursued since they came to office in 1994: GDP growth was estimated at about 3.6%, well above the European average, inflation remained subdued, and the budget was in surplus for the first time in the 1990s. The party proposed income tax cuts for 2000, but became bogged down in controversy again: in April the respected finance minister, Erik Åsbrink, resigned only two days before the spring budget. Asbrink had argued that the government should wait with tax cuts, only to see Göran Persson contradict him on television. Asbrink complained that once again his authority had been undermined by the prime minister. Persson rode out the political storm but struggled to win over voters or capitalize on the economic recovery.

In 2000 a strong economy, falling unemployment, and the impact of the Internet appeared to breathe new life into the “Swedish model” of a welfare society, one that had seemed dead and buried during the deep recession of the early 1990s: growth reached 4%, and unemployment fell to the lowest level in years. The SAP, however, failed to capitalize on the economic boom. Opinion polls showed the party struggling to return to its post-election 36% approval level. Instead, the smaller Left Party, an SAP ally, picked up support with its program of increased public spending and opposition to Swedish membership in the European single currency.

Economically, the bursting of the dot-com boom by 2001 had marked implications for Sweden. Ericsson, the world's largest producer of mobile telecommunications equipment, shed thousands of jobs, as did the country's once fast-expanding Internet consulting firms and dot-com start-ups.

Gross domestic product growth of 3.6% in 2000 was expected to have fallen to around 1.5% in 2001, and only a minor recovery was forecast for 2002. The government was hoping that tax cuts, subsidies on child-care expenses, and wage increases would boost consumer confidence with real disposable income to increase by 5.4%. Exports were also expected to pick up in 2002, helped by the weakness of the Swedish krona, which hit record lows against both the dollar and the euro in 2001.

In the 2002 election the Social Democrats increased their number of seats in the parliament primarily at the expense of the Left Party. Persson continued to lead a minority government instead of forming a coalition, despite earlier demands from his supporting parties to participate in the government.

By this time however, the opposition Moderate Party had reinvigorated by appointing Fredrik Reinfeldt as leader. They spent 2004 moving toward the political centre ground, and by December it had been rewarded with a steady lead in the opinion polls. Reinfeldt had toned down promises of large-scale tax cuts, instead insisting that a nonsocialist government would better run public services such as health and education.

Foreign politics

In foreign politics Persson belongs to the right-wing of the Social Democrats. Among other things, he strongly supported the 2001 United States invasion of Afghanistan. He has also praised George W. Bush as a "truly underestimated politician".

See also

• Prime Minister of Sweden
• List of national leaders

External links