View source for Esko Aho

== Parliamentary career ==
[[File:Esko-Aho-1993.jpg|thumb|left|Esko Aho in 1993]]
[[File:Visit of Esko Aho, Finnish Prime Minister, to the EC.jpg|thumb|left|Esko Aho and [[Jacques Delors]] in 1994]]
Aho was first elected to the [[Eduskunta|Finnish Parliament]] (eduskunta) in 1983.  He became chairman of the [[Centre Party of Finland|Centre Party]] in 1990, a position that he held until 2002. The party was at the time one of three major political parties in Finland.<ref>{{Cite web
 |url         = http://www.eduskunta.fi/triphome/bin/hx5000.sh?{hnro}=104&{kieli}=su&{haku}=kaikki
 |title       = Edustajamatrikkeli
 |publisher   = Eduskunta
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110611023315/http://www.eduskunta.fi/triphome/bin/hx5000.sh?%7Bhnro%7D=104&%7Bkieli%7D=su&%7Bhaku%7D=kaikki
 |archive-date = 11 June 2011
}}.  Retrieved 23 January 2010.</ref>

At 36 years of age, he was the youngest prime minister in Finnish history.<ref name="iop.harvard.edu">{{cite web |url=http://www.iop.harvard.edu/Programs/Fellows-Study-Groups/Former-Fellows/Esko_Aho |title=Harvard University Institute of Politics - Esko Aho |access-date=23 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100703071958/http://www.iop.harvard.edu/Programs/Fellows-Study-Groups/Former-Fellows/Esko_Aho |archive-date=3 July 2010 }}</ref>

Aho was the prime minister of a centre-right coalition government (Centre Party, [[National Coalition Party]], [[Christian Democrats (Finland)|Christian Democrats]] and [[Swedish People's Party]]) from 1991 to 1995. He is best known for leading Finland into the [[European Union]].<ref name="iop.harvard.edu" /> Aho's own party, most of whose voters lived and live in rural areas, was the most opposed to EU membership among major parties. The greatest concern of these voters was the EU's effect on Finnish agriculture,<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.hs.fi/english/print/1101978168148| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121020183825/http://www.hs.fi/english/print/1101978168148| archive-date = 20 October 2012| title = Helsingin Sanomat – International Edition}}</ref> but they were persuaded to support membership due to the prime minister's diplomacy. Finland applied for EU membership on 16 March 1992, and a referendum was held two and a half years later.<ref>Journal of European Integration, Volume 19, Issue 1 Autumn 1995, pages 43 – 69 Enlargement of the European Union and the Nordic Model</ref> Aho's government also faced the [[Early 1990s depression in Finland|deep economic depression of the early 1990s]]. Despite a steep rise in the national debt, the Aho government applied a stringent policy of austerity that made it unpopular. This partly caused its fall in the 1995 election and the Centre Party's eight-year period in the opposition.<ref>Porvarihallitus: [http://sites.google.com/site/oikeisto/ Porvarihallitusten ottama velka], accessed 28 March 2011.</ref>

Aho had the nickname "Kennedy of Kannus" [[Kannus]] being his hometown) due to his streamlined and well coiffed habitus reminiscent of [[John F. Kennedy]].

Esko Aho lost the bid for [[President of Finland]] to [[Tarja Halonen]] in 2000. He subsequently retired from active politics, initially in the form of a "sabbatical leave" of one year, during which he led a study group on the EU in the 2000 fall semester at [[Harvard University]] (where he was a resident fellow at the Institute of Politics).<ref name="iop.harvard.edu" /> In the 2003 election he left{{clarify|date=October 2022}} parliament and retired from daily politics. He then served as the president of the Finnish national innovation fund [[SITRA]] (the Finnish National Fund for Research and Development).<ref>{{Cite web |date=4 June 2011 |title=Finnish ex-PM Esko Aho to join Nokia management – Forbes.com |url=https://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2008/08/15/afx5327262.html |access-date=28 February 2022 |website= [[Forbes]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604031949/https://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2008/08/15/afx5327262.html |archive-date=4 June 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref><!--1 year lecturer at Harvard in 2000, after Parliament – consulting, SITRA 1 July 2004, chaired group of experts on European innovation policy which submitted a reportJan 2006 to the European Commission. http://www.ek.fi/businessforums/eu_china/en/liitteet/CV_Aho.pdf  Elinkeinoelämän keskusliitto Confederation of Finnish Industries EK -->

In 2008, Aho's name was included in an opinion poll on possible presidential candidates, in which he ranked last.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/kotimaa/2008/08/stubb_karkikolmikossa_presidenttikyselyssa_315268.html |title=Stubb kärkikolmikossa presidenttikyselyssä &#124; Kotimaa &#124; YLE Uutiset &#124; yle.fi |access-date=23 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606221637/http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/kotimaa/2008/08/stubb_karkikolmikossa_presidenttikyselyssa_315268.html |archive-date=6 June 2011 }} Stubb kärkikolmikossa presidenttikyselyssä  YLE 20 August 2010</ref>

On 1 November 2008, Aho became [[Nokia]]'s executive vice president of corporate relations and responsibility and became a member of its executive board.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2008/08/15/afx5327262.html | work=Forbes | title=Finnish ex-PM Esko Aho to join Nokia management | date=15 August 2008 | access-date=27 August 2017 | archive-date=4 June 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604031949/https://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2008/08/15/afx5327262.html | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[http://www.nokia.com/press/press-releases/showpressrelease?newsid=1243842 Esko Aho to join Nokia on 1 November 2008 – Veli Sundbäck to retire at the end of May 2009 Nokia]</ref>

[[List of state leaders in 1991|At the time of his rise to prime minister]], he was the youngest head of government in Europe.