15 Facts About Esko Aho

Esko Tapani Aho was born on 20 May 1954 and is a Finnish politician who was prime minister of Finland from 1991 to 1995.

From 1979 to 1980, Aho was political secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Esko Aho studied at the University of Helsinki, receiving a Master of Social Science in 1981.

Esko Aho was first elected to the Finnish Parliament in 1983.

Esko Aho became chairman of the Centre Party in 1990, a position that he held until 2002.

Esko Aho was the prime minister of a centre-right coalition government from 1991 to 1995.

Esko Aho is best known for leading Finland into the European Union.

Esko Aho's government faced the deep economic depression of the early 1990s.

Esko Aho lost the bid for President of Finland to Tarja Halonen in 2000.

Esko Aho subsequently retired from active politics, initially in the form of a "sabbatical leave" of one year, during which he lead a study group on the EU in the 2000 fall semester at Harvard University.

Esko Aho then served as the president of the Finnish national innovation fund SITRA.

In 2008, Esko Aho's name was included in an opinion poll on possible presidential candidates, in which he ranked last.

On 1 November 2008, Esko Aho became Nokia's executive vice president of corporate relations and responsibility and became a member of its executive board.

Esko Aho became a member of the board of directors of the Russian Sberbank in 2016.

Esko Aho resigned from the position in February 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.