Paavo Lipponen

Paavo Tapio Lipponen [ pɑ ː ː vɔ lip ɔnɛn ] ( born April 23, 1941 in Turtola ) is a Finnish politician and until 2007 was president of the Finnish Parliament. From 1993 to 2005 he was Chairman of the Finnish Social Democratic Party and from 1995 to 2003 Finnish Prime Minister.

He was born in northern Finland Turtola. He spent his childhood in Kuopio. In 1959 he made ​​his secondary education there and then studied for a year Philosophy and Literature at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, USA.

After returning to Finland, he moved to Helsinki, where he made in 1971 at Helsinki University with a degree in international political science. From 1963 to 1965 he was editor of the student magazine Ylioppilaslehti and 1965-1967 freelancer at the Finnish public broadcasting Yleisradio.

In the Social Democratic Party of Finland (SDP ), he held various positions from 1967 to 1979, but moved for the first time in the public spotlight when he for four years secretary of the then Prime Minister Mauno Koivisto in 1979.

From 1983 to 1987 Lipponen was a member of the Finnish Parliament in 1991 and re-elected. He was elected Chairman of the Finnish Social Democratic Party in 1993, which won the parliamentary elections in 1995 and 1999 under his leadership. In the second half of 1999, he took over for half a year the Presidency of the European Council. 2005 Lipponen was replaced as party leader by Eero Heinäluoma and until 2007 was president of the Finnish Parliament. In the presidential elections in Finland 2012, he was set up by the SDP as a candidate, but received only 6.7% which he landed in fifth place all candidates. The SDP after 30 years thus lost the post of President of the Republic of Finland.

He is married since 1998 with the history teacher Päivi Lipponen ( former Hertzberg ), with whom he has two daughters.