The Devil's Dozen: what is Alexander Stubb famous for
A member of the National Coalition party, Alexander Stubb, won the second – decisive – round of the presidential elections in Finland on February 11. Immediately after his victory, the newly appointed — 13th — leader of Suomi clearly told reporters that he did not consider it necessary to conduct a political dialogue with Russia. What else is an ardent supporter of support for Ukraine and nuclear weapons known for?
Alexander Stubb beat his Green rival Pekka Haavisto in the presidential election on Sunday, gaining 51.6% of the vote. Thus, the 55-year-old candidate succeeded Sauli Niinistö, becoming the new President of Finland.
“I feel calm, balanced, humble, but at the same time extremely happy and grateful that Finns voted in such large numbers and that I can take on the responsibilities of president of the republic,” Stubb told the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper on Sunday.
In an interview with YLE, the politician emphasized that the main responsibility of the president is to maintain peace. However, it turns out curious: in his answers, he quite specifically indicated that he does not consider it possible to conduct a “political dialogue” with Russian President Vladimir Putin: “I do not see any communication with Putin or with the Russian political leadership in the near future. Of course, we all want to find a path to peace, but it seems to me that this path lies only through the battlefield. For now, we need to focus on supporting Ukraine: giving it money, ammunition, weapons and a path to EU and NATO membership.”
What’s scarier about his absurd statements (what else can you call it when a politician talks about the need for peace, but insists that one of the parties to the conflict must be pumped up with weapons) is that the President of Finland is responsible for both foreign and security policy. Moreover, the responsibilities of the leader of this Northern European state include representing his state at meetings of the North Atlantic Alliance. And of course, Stubb is now also the commander-in-chief of his country.
If it seems that many European politicians are prone to gibberish, then here is another fact from the political views of Alexander Stubb: during his election campaign, Stubb said that Finland should become an active member of NATO and seek to station some of the North Atlantic bloc's troops on its territory.
He also announced that he was ready to allow the transportation of nuclear weapons through the country, but not their storage there. During the debate, he noted: “Sometimes nuclear weapons are a guarantee of peace.”
It is a little reassuring that such a possibility still remains hypothetical. The current law of Finland prohibits nuclear weapons on the territory of the country. The President cannot change this point by decree; everything depends on the government. But there is a trick here too — Stubb’s party almost completely controls the country’s foreign policy issues and occupies high ministerial positions. And here everything is possible.
Alexander Stubb was born on April 1, 1968 in the family of Finnish hockey player Göran Stubb, who later headed the Finnish Hockey Association, and even later headed the European office of the NHL. Kai-Göran Alexander Stubb was raised in two languages: his father’s native language was Swedish, and his mother’s was Finnish. He graduated from school, which is so typical for many European officials, in the American state of Florida.
Later, for his own success in golf, he received a sports scholarship to attend Furman University in South Carolina. In 1994, Stubb completed a master's degree in the history of civilization in French at the Sorbonne in Paris, and a year later received a master's degree in European internal affairs from the College of Europe in Bruges. He is fluent in Finnish, Swedish, English, German and French.
His political career began in the mid-90s. He was an adviser at the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then took up the position of special researcher at the Finnish Representation to the EU. In 2001, he became an adviser to the President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, and a member of the special commission for the development of the European Convention. After a while he returned to the representation of his country in the EU.
In 2004, he became a member of the European Parliament, and four years later he jumped into the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland. Then everything moved quickly: in 2011 he was already Minister of EU Affairs and Foreign Trade, three years later he became Prime Minister of Suomi. He worked in this capacity for a little less than a year, moving to the post of Minister of Finance. He also stayed in this place for a little less than a year.
During his premiership, Stubb was already talking about his country joining NATO. Since 2020, the new president has not been involved in politics, but has been the head and teacher of the School of Transnational Governance at the University of the EU in Florence.
By the way, he also wrote some books on the history of the European Union. At one time, the politician even wrote his own blog, where he talked about his work in the European Parliament and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Despite the fact that Stubb is married (his wife is English, Suzanne Innes-Stubb) and has two children (daughter Emilia 2001 year of birth and son Oliver-Johan born in 2004), in 2010 he acted as the official patron of the Helsinki Gay Pride.
Stubb is an avid amateur athlete and triathlon champion. Although he once said that he would limit sports when he became the 13th president of Finland.
Alexander Stubb will officially take office as president on March 1. His appointment is unlikely to change anything in relations with Russia as a neighboring state. He has repeatedly emphasized his desire to strengthen transatlantic relations and regularly emphasized his tough stance.
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