Alexander Stubb
Cai-Göran Alexander Stubb is the president of Finland, having taken office in 2024. He previously served as prime minister of Finland from 2014 to 2015.
Rising in politics as a researcher specialised in the affairs of the European Union, he was elected to the European Parliament in 2004 as a member of the National Coalition Party. In 2008, Stubb was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs. In 2011, he was elected to the Finnish Parliament for the first time as an MP with the second-highest vote count in the election. He was then appointed Minister for European Affairs and Trade in the Cabinet of Jyrki Katainen.
When Katainen stepped down as Prime Minister and Chairman of the National Coalition Party in 2014, Stubb was elected as party chairman. He went on to form a five-party government coalition, and was officially appointed Prime Minister by President Sauli Niinistö on 24 June 2014. At the parliamentary election held in April 2015, Stubb's National Coalition Party lost its status as the largest party, coming in second in vote share and third in seats. After coalition negotiations between the winning Centre Party, Finns Party and National Coalition Party, Stubb was appointed Minister of Finance on 29 May 2015 by newly elected prime minister Juha Sipilä.
In 2016, Stubb's leadership was challenged from within the party by MP Elina Lepomäki and Interior Minister Petteri Orpo. On 11 June, Stubb lost the leadership to Orpo at the party conference. Resigning as Finance Minister, and declining further ministerial positions, Stubb resigned as a Member of Parliament in 2017 to accept appointment as vice-president of the European Investment Bank. After his term at the European Investment Bank ended in January 2020, he was chosen as the director and professor of the School of Transnational Governance at the European University Institute.
In August 2023, Stubb announced his decision to run in the 2024 Finnish presidential election. He finished first in the first round of voting on 28 January and won the run-off on 11 February, winning 51.6% of the votes against the former Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto. Stubb is the second Finland-Swedish president in the history of Finland after Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, and the first to be elected.
Early life and education
Stubb was born in Helsinki into a bilingual family; his father, Göran Stubb, is a native Swedish-speaker and his mother, Christel Stubb, was a native Finnish speaker. Stubb spoke both languages at home. While Stubb is a native of Helsinki, he has family roots from the Pedersöre municipality located in the Swedish-speaking Ostrobothnia, where there is also a village called Stubb. His father worked in the business of professional ice hockey; he was the CEO of the Finnish Ice Hockey Association from 1976 to 1983, and also worked as the NHL Director of Euro Scouting. Through his mother, he is descended from the Setälä family, and his maternal grandfather was professor Kai Setälä.Stubb spent his childhood in Lehtisaari, Helsinki. He played ice hockey in HIFK until his teen years. He started playing golf when he was twelve years old and during high school played in the Finnish national golf team. In 1986, Stubb graduated from Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, Florida, U.S., and, two years later, graduated from the Gymnasiet Lärkan in Helsinki, then completed his military service at Santahamina.
Stubb won a golf scholarship to Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, U.S. He was a member of the Finnish national golf team and intended to become a professional golfer after graduation, but studying with political scientist Brent Nelsen and other faculty caused him to quit golf after a year to focus on his studies. Stubb graduated with a BA degree in political science from Furman University in 1993.
The following year he studied French and obtained a diploma in French Language and Civilisation from the Sorbonne University, Paris, in 1994. Stubb speaks five languages: Swedish, Finnish, English and French fluently, and to a lesser extent German.
In 1995, Stubb graduated with an MA degree in political science from the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium. He then went on to pursue a doctorate at the London School of Economics and Political Science under the supervision of William Wallace, Baron Wallace of Saltaire, obtaining his PhD degree in international politics in June 1999. Wallace later said: "LSE has had a number of extremely bright Finnish students in recent years – but Alex was one of the most outstanding." Stubb's thesis was called Flexible Integration and the Amsterdam Treaty: negotiating differentiation in the 1996–97 IGC and it dealt with the 1996–97 Intergovernmental Conference of the European Union.
Early career
Between 1995 and 1997, Stubb was a researcher at the Finnish Foreign Office, and then at the Academy of Finland from 1997 to 1999. In 1997 he began to work also as a columnist.From 1999 to 2001, Stubb was a researcher in Finland's representation in the European Union in Brussels, and a member of the Finnish government's delegation to the intergovernmental negotiations for the Treaty of Nice. In 2000, he became a lecturer at the College of Europe. Following the IGC's conclusion in 2001 he became an adviser to the President of the European Commission and a member of the Commission Task Force on the European Convention. In 2003 he returned to Finland's representation to the EU as a special expert and to the intergovernmental negotiations, this time for the European Constitution. When that ended in 2004, he stood for the National Coalition Party in the election to the European Parliament.
Political career
European Parliament (2004–2008)
Stubb served as an MEP for Finland from 2004 to 2008. He was elected in 2004 with 115,225 votes as a member of the National Coalition Party. As that party was a member of the EPP, he sat in the European People's Party-European Democrats group. During this time he became one of the most well-known members of the Parliament.Stubb was a member of the Committee on Budgetary Control and a vice-president of the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection. He was a substitute member of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs and the Delegation to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee.
In 2006, he wrote a report for the Parliament on the EU's interpretation costs, which was adopted by the Parliament. He called for greater awareness of the costs of translation, which he calculated as 511 million euros in 2005 for the Parliament, Commission and Council together. Despite the costs and the need for some changes, he underlined that multilingualism is one of the EU's main assets.
Stubb was vice-president of European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights.
Minister for Foreign Affairs (2008–2011)
On 1 April 2008, Stubb's 40th birthday, the Finnish government announced that Stubb would be appointed its new Minister for Foreign Affairs following a scandal surrounding his predecessor, Ilkka Kanerva. Stubb was sworn in on 4 April. The decision to appoint him was unanimous and his seat in the European Parliament was taken up by Sirpa Pietikäinen, a former environment minister.On his appointment, Stubb was described as a competent politician and a supporter of Finland's accession to NATO, stating that he does not understand Finland's non-alignment policy.
In July 2010, Stubb invited the head of Al-Jazeera Wadah Khanfar and former President Martti Ahtisaari to discuss about the role of media in conflict resolution.
In October 2010, Stubb visited the Middle East and discussed the Middle Eastern conflict with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
In 2010, Stubb and Sweden's Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt proposed the European Institute of Peace. They developed a joint non-paper that was addressed to EU High Representative Catherine Ashton. They referred to the limits of traditional diplomacy and emphasised the added value that capacities beyond those available to high-level decision-makers could have. At the same time, the idea of a European Institute of Peace gained increasing attention among members of the European Parliament and was particularly supported by German MEP Franziska Brantner and French MEP Alain Lamassoure. The institute was founded in 2014.
Stubb brought attention to issues of disabled people. In 2010 Stubb and Finnish sign language rapper Signmark – who had become the first deaf person to sign a recording contract with an international record company – worked together to organize Silent Shout event to support sign language speakers. Stubb and Signmark also later collaborated for bringing attention to disabled people in international forums.
Stubb does not believe the President of Finland needs to attend meetings of the European Council in addition to the Prime Minister. Jyrki Katainen, the Finnish Finance Minister and chairman of National Coalition Party, supported Stubb stating he was surprising, courageous and that he "puts a smile on one's face".
As the Foreign Minister of Finland, Stubb was the Chairman-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe from 5 April 2008 to 31 December 2008. The Russo-Georgian War occurred during this period, and OSCE brokered an agreement to send military observers to the area.
In January 2011, Stubb and EU Foreign Commissioner Catherine Ashton worked together to help hundreds of beaten and imprisoned opposition activists in Belarus.
During the 2011 Egyptian revolution, Stubb expressed hope that power in Egypt would be transferred to a democratically elected government as fast as possible and without violence.
Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade (2011–2014)
In 2011, Stubb stood for election to the Finnish Parliament for the first time and was elected MP. He was the second-most-popular candidate in the election, in which the National Coalition Party became the largest party. In the government negotiations the Foreign Affairs ministerial portfolio went to the Social Democrats. Stubb became Minister for Europe and Foreign Trade in Jyrki Katainen's cabinet.During Euromaidan, Stubb argued that money should be used as a force for good in geo-political relations, stating: "As I have said before, money is the best peace mediator" and "Money should be given the Nobel Peace Prize".
Stubb stated that the sanctions against Russia would not be removed until Russia met the requirements set by the EU.