Hans Göran Persson (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.

Married to Anitra Steen since December 6, 2003. Formerly married to Annika Barthine , from March 10, 1995 to December 2002.

Biography

Persson was born at Vingåker in Södermanland. He studied at Örebro University College (today Örebro University), but did not graduate. 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 head of the municipal government or kommunalråd from 1985 to 1989. In 1989 he was made Minister of Schools in the Ministry of Education, until the election in 1991 when the Social Democrats were voted out of office. Upon returning to government in 1994 he was made Minister of Finance, a post he held until 1996, when he succeeded Ingvar Carlsson as Prime Minister and party leader.

Persson is known for his oratorical prowess, often dispensing with prepared speeches or preparing them without staff. He is also known for his somewhat harsh leadership. As a city council member at Katrineholm, he was nicknamed "HSB", an acronym for "Han som bestämmer" (roughly "He who decides").

In February, 2005, Persson was awarded a honorary doctorate that has provoked some controversy and bribery claims. [1]

See also

• Prime Minister of Sweden
• List of national leaders

External links

|- style="text-align: center;" | width="30%" |Preceded by:
Ingvar Carlsson | width="40%" style="text-align: center;" |Prime Minister of Sweden
1996– | width="30%" |Succeeded by:
Incumbent