22 Facts About Paavo Lipponen

Paavo Lipponen was prime minister of Finland from 1995 to 2003, and chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Finland from 1993 to 2005.

Paavo Lipponen was born in Turtola, the son of Orvo Paavo Lipponen and his wife Hilkka Iisalo.

Paavo Lipponen made various controversial statements that angered groups such as Estonian refugees.

Alpo Rusi has suggested that Paavo Lipponen had an alias, code, and operation in the KGB.

Paavo Lipponen held various posts in the Social Democratic Party organisation from 1967 to 1979.

Paavo Lipponen first came into the political limelight when he was secretary to prime minister Mauno Koivisto from 1979 to 1982.

Frequently having to substitute for the busy prime minister, Paavo Lipponen was dubbed vara-Manu.

Paavo Lipponen was a member of the Parliament of Finland from 1983 to 1987 and from 1991 until he retired in 2007.

Paavo Lipponen was elected the new chairman in 1993, and he led the party to victory in the parliamentary election of 1995.

Paavo Lipponen formed a cabinet of five parties, including both rightist and leftist parties.

Paavo Lipponen headed the SDP campaign in 1999, which resulted in losses, but the SDP remained the largest party in the parliament.

Paavo Lipponen introduced the concept of a European constitution during a speech in Bruges in 2000.

Paavo Lipponen headed the SDP campaign of 2003, which led to victory for the SDP; however, the Center Party gained more seats, which marked the end for the succession of the cabinets of the SDP and the National Coalition Party.

The chairman of the Center Party, Anneli Jaatteenmaki, formed a new cabinet, and Paavo Lipponen took the position of speaker of Parliament.

Paavo Lipponen retired from the party chairmanship in 2005 and was succeeded by Eero Heinaluoma.

Anneli Jaatteenmaki of the Centre Party won the elections after she had accused Paavo Lipponen, who was prime minister at the time, of allying neutral Finland with the United States in the war in Iraq during a meeting with President George W Bush, and thus associated Finland with what many Finns considered an illegal war of aggression.

Paavo Lipponen provides independent consultations according to his expertise in Finnish administrative and decision-making procedures within the energy sector.

Paavo Lipponen criticised the way many Finnish and German politicians were opposed to nuclear power and stated that their fundamentalism destroys both energy security and climate policy.

Paavo Lipponen was his party's nominee in the 2012 Finnish presidential election.

Paavo Lipponen has declined the honour of being named a counselor of state, the highest honour in Finland, saying that no-one outside of Finland knows what a valtioneuvos is and that he is satisfied with being "former prime minister".

Paavo Lipponen played water polo at the highest national level in his youth.

Paavo Lipponen appears as an animated character in the political satire TV series The Autocrats.