Pertti Kullervo Paasio is a Finnish

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

 politician from the Social Democratic Party

Social Democratic Party of Finland

The Social Democratic Party of Finland is one of the three major political parties in Finland, along with the Centre Party and the National Coalition Party. Jutta Urpilainen is the current SDP leader. The party has been in the Finnish government cabinet for long periods and has set many...

.

Paasio participated in the municipal politics of Turku

Turku

Turku is a city situated on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River. It is located in the region of Finland Proper. It is believed that Turku came into existence during the end of the 13th century which makes it the oldest city in Finland...

 and was elected into the municipal council in 1965. Paasio became member of the Parliament in July 1975, however, he lost the seat in the 1979 parliamentary elections. In 1982 he replaced Jacob Söderman

Jacob Söderman

Jacob-Magnus Söderman is a Finnish Member of Parliament since September 2007 until 2011...

 in the Parliament and hold the seat until he was elected into the European Parliament

European Parliament

The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...

 in 1996.

Paasio followed the path of his father, Rafael Paasio

Rafael Paasio

Kustaa Rafael Paasio was a prominent Finnish politician and editor from Social Democratic Party. He served as Prime Minister of Finland twice ....

, when he was elected to succeed Kalevi Sorsa

Kalevi Sorsa

Taisto Kalevi Sorsa was a Finnish politician who was Prime Minister of Finland four times: 1972–1975, 1977–1979, 1982–1983 and 1983–1987 and at the date of his death still held the Finnish record of most days of incumbency as prime minister...

 as the Chairman of Social Democratic Party in 1987. Paasio succeeded Sorsa in the government as the Minister of Foreign Affairs on 1 February 1989. However, Social Democratic Party suffered a defeat in 1991 parliamentary elections, which led to the resignation of Paasio as the party chairman.

His daughter Heli Paasio is a member of the Parliament.