Editing Göran Persson (section)

=== Party leader and Prime Minister ===
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&nbsp;– by continuing to spearhead government efforts to alleviate Sweden's chronic budget deficit. In 1994, the annual shortfall was about 13 per cent of GDP. But, after implementing welfare cuts and tax increases, it fell to a projected 2.6 per cent 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 per cent, then suddenly fell to about 6.5 per cent the same year.