Former Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb has been sworn in as the next Nordic president in what is being described as the most consequential election in decades after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Stubb won 51.6% of the vote, defeating Pekka Haavisto, who had been foreign minister until June, and winning by a narrower margin than opinion polls had suggested.
Stubb takes office at a time when neighboring Russia has become increasingly vocal about Finland and said it would build up troops near the border after Helsinki joined NATO last year.
“It is the next president who will influence NATO policy and how it is conducted between the president and the government. Finland also needs to rebuild its relationship with Russia, which “It’s similar to the task the Finnish president had after the war,” said Charlie Salonius Pasternak, a senior researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.
Mr. Stubbe is also a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Finance and Trade of Finland, and is an expert on the European Union and foreign policy, most recently head of the School of Cross-Border Governance at the European University Institute.
He told the Financial Times last month that the Finnish president has three roles. One is to act as the supreme commander of the national army. He will take the lead on foreign and security policy, including NATO. And that he becomes the guardian of the values of the Nordic nation.
Asked about warnings from other countries that Russia could test NATO in the coming years, Stubb said in an interview that “Finland is in the safest position throughout history.”
Finland has maintained a large and well-trained reservist force for decades in preparation for a possible Russian attack, allowing it to muster the largest army of any European nation. There is.
Stubb warned early on about Russian revivalism when Moscow invaded Georgia in 2008.
But as prime minister in 2014, just months after Russia illegally annexed Crimea from Ukraine, he came under scrutiny for his decision to approve a Russian-funded nuclear reactor built in Finland. In the end, it was canceled in 2022 due to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The former Finnish prime minister has also faced criticism from some commentators for his views on China.
He told the FT that he saw China as a “strategic rival” and that Finland should “de-risk it, not cut it off.” He added that experts should not “lump” China together with Russia, North Korea and Iran as “some kind of axis of evil.”
The new president will take over on March 1 from Sauli Niinistö, who has held the role for the past 12 years and was praised for leading Finland into NATO membership in record time from 2022 to 2023.
Copyright Financial Times Limited 2024
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