Alexander Stubb

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Alexander Stubb
Alexander Stubb on November 3, 2010.jpg
Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade
Incumbent
Assumed office
22 June 2011
President Tarja Halonen,
Sauli Niinistö
Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen
Preceded by Astrid Thors
Paavo Väyrynen
Minister for Foreign Affairs
In office
4 April 2008 – 22 June 2011
President Tarja Halonen
Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen
Mari Kiviniemi
Preceded by Ilkka Kanerva
Succeeded by Erkki Tuomioja
Member of the European Parliament
for Finland
In office
30 July 2004 – 4 April 2008
Succeeded by Sirpa Pietikäinen
Personal details
Born (1968-04-01) 1 April 1968 (age 45)
Helsinki, Finland
Nationality Finnish
Political party National Coalition (Finnish)
People's Party (European)
Spouse(s) Suzanne Innes-Stubb
Children Oliver and Emilie
Residence Espoo, Finland
Occupation Politician, professor, journalist, civil servant
Profession Politician
Website http://www.alexstubb.com/

Cai-Göran Alexander Stubb (born 1 April 1968 in Helsinki) is a Finnish politician and Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade. From 2004 to 2008 he was a Member of the European Parliament with the European People's Party (EPP) and a professor at the College of Europe.[1]

Contents

Background [edit]

In 1986, Stubb graduated from Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, Florida and graduated two years later from the Gymnasiet Lärkan in Helsinki. After completing his military service, he won a golf scholarship to Furman University in South Carolina, where he intended to study for a business degree. He later switched to political science, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1993. The following year he gained a Diploma in French Language and Civilisation from the Sorbonne in Paris. In addition to his native languages Swedish and Finnish (as a Swedish-speaking Finn), Stubb speaks English, French and German.

In 1995 he gained a Master of Arts in European Affairs from the College of Europe, Belgium. He went on to pursue a PhD in international politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Between 1995 and 1997 he was a researcher at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then at the Finnish Academy from 1997 to 1999. In 1997 he also started his work as a columnist, which he continues today. Stubb gained a PhD from the London School of Economics in 1999.[1][2]

Between 1999 and 2001 he was a special researcher at Finland's representation to the European Union in Brussels, as well as a member of the Finnish government's delegation to the intergovernmental negotiations for the Treaty of Nice. In 2000, he became a professor at the College of Europe. Following the IGC's conclusion in 2001 he became an adviser to the President of the European Commission (then Romano Prodi) 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 elections to the European Parliament.[1][2]

Stubb lived in Genval, Belgium, with his wife, Suzanne Innes-Stubb[3] who is a British-born lawyer, until they moved to Tapiola, Espoo.[4] She works for the law firm White & Case in Brussels. They have two children, a daughter named Emilie and a son called Oliver Johan.[3] A "confessed sports nut",[5] Stubb regularly competes in marathons, triathlons and has finished an Ironman Triathlon.

European Parliament [edit]

Stubb served as an MEP for Finland from 2004 to 2008. He was elected in 2004 with 115,225 votes (the second highest number of votes in Finland for that election) 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.[1] During this time he became one of the most well-known members of the Parliament.[6]

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 (as of August 2007).[1]

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.[7]

Finnish government [edit]

On 1 April 2008, Stubb's 40th birthday, the Finnish government announced that Stubb would be appointed as its new Minister for Foreign Affairs following a scandal surrounding his predecessor, Ilkka Kanerva. Stubb was sworn in on 4 April.[8] The decision to appoint him was unanimous[9] and his seat in the European Parliament was taken up by Sirpa Pietikäinen, a former environment minister.[4]

Stubb is seen as a competent politician[4] and has been a supporter of Finland's accession to NATO, stating he does not understand Finland's non-alignment policy. He also does not believe the President of Finland needs to attend meetings of the European Council in addition to the Prime Minister.[9] 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".[4]

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.[10] The Russian-Georgian war occurred during this period, and OSCE brokered an agreement to send military observers to the area.

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 another party. Stubb became Minister for Europe and Foreign Trade in Jyrki Katainen's cabinet.

Other work [edit]

Stubb has stated that he has "always been of the opinion that matters must be discussed openly and honestly", hence he is a columnist for various newspapers; APU, Ilta-Sanomat, Blue Wings, various papers in Suomen Lehtiyhtymä group, Nykypäivä and Hufvudstadsbladet. He has also authored a number of academic articles and nine books about the European Union.[11] Stubb has a podcast and a blog, which he maintained post-election despite some other Finnish political figures largely abandoning theirs.[12]

His book Alaston totuus ja muita kirjoituksia suomalaisista ja eurooppalaisista – The Naked Truth and other stories about Finns and Europeans (ISBN 9789510351758), a collection of his columns for the Finnair in-flight magazine Blue Wings, was published in a bilingual Finnish–English edition by WSOY in 2009.[13]

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e "Alexander STUBB". European Parliament. Retrieved 2007-08-19. 
  2. ^ a b "Alex's abridged CV". Alexander Stubb. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-19. 
  3. ^ a b "Personal details". Alexander Stubb. Archived from the original on 30 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-19. 
  4. ^ a b c d "MEP Alexander Stubb to replace Ilkka Kanerva as Foreign Minister". Helsingin Sanomat. 2008-04-01. Archived from the original on 6 April 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-01. 
  5. ^ http://www.lts.fi/filearc/807_Motion208_20-22.pdf?LTS_reg=71v1acdb0gu62g0hvoir631087
  6. ^ "Riley Institute's EU Conference Continues Today; Stubb to Present Closing Address". Furman University. Retrieved 2007-08-28. 
  7. ^ "More awareness of translation costs. Alexander Stubb MEP". EPP-ED group. 2007-07-10. Archived from the original on 25 August 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-19. 
  8. ^ "Finnish FM loses job over texts". BBC News. 2008-04-01. Archived from the original on 3 April 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-01. 
  9. ^ a b "Finnish Conservatives name Stubb foreign minister". new Room Finland. 2008-04-01. Retrieved 2008-04-01. 
  10. ^ "New Finnish Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairman to address Permanent Council on Thursday" (Press release). Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. 7 April 2008. 
  11. ^ "Alex the columnist". Alexander Stubb. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-19. 
  12. ^ "Post-election lull in blog writing by political leaders". Helsingin Sanomat. Retrieved 2007-08-19. 
  13. ^ WSOY press release (2009-04-02): Ulkoministeri Stubbin kolumnit koottiin kirjaksi; WSOY online shop: Alaston totuus ja muita kirjoituksia suomalaisista ja eurooppalaisista

See also [edit]

External links [edit]

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