Written by Anne Kaulanen
HELSINKI (Reuters) – alexander stubbe He declared himself the winner of Finland’s presidential election on Sunday after campaigning on a pledge to make the most of Finland’s new NATO membership and support Ukraine in its war with neighboring Russia.
In his new role, the centre-right former prime minister and investment banker will lead foreign and security policy, represent Finland at NATO meetings and serve as commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
“It’s very important that we in Europe look after our own defense,” the 55-year-old told Reuters ahead of the vote. He said he agreed with his predecessor, Sauli Niinistö, “that we need a more European NATO.”
The new position marks Mr. Stubbe’s return to domestic politics after several years abroad as vice president of the European Investment Bank and director of the European University Institute in Florence.
Allies describe him as multilingual, pro-European and fiscally conservative. He describes himself as a moderate.
He told Reuters he would be “in many ways a Western president”, leaning toward the United States, Britain and its Scandinavian neighbors when it comes to setting the direction of foreign policy.
He said there would be “no limits” on Finland’s aid to Ukraine.
“My starting point is, to paraphrase (European Central Bank President) Mario Draghi, anything goes,” Stubb said.
The Nordic country joined the Western military alliance in April last year, breaking decades of non-alignment in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
During his election campaign, Stubb said Finland should become an active NATO member and strive to station some NATO forces on its territory.
He also said he was prepared to allow nuclear weapons to be transported domestically (though not stored). “Nuclear weapons are sometimes a guarantee of peace,” he said during the debate.
Johanna Vuorelma, a political scientist at the University of Helsinki, said many Finns see the cosmopolitan Stubb as a candidate for Helsinki’s elite. “There is a visible and well-known business name behind Mr. Stubbe,” Buolema said.
But that’s something he tried to change during the election campaign by speaking favorably of Finland’s social-democratic welfare model, she added.
Going back to the 1990s, it was clear that foreign policy was one of his strengths, but over the years there have been questions about his level of domestic political expertise and interest. Despite this, the director of the Finnish center said: Marc Yoxipila of Parliamentary Research says:
Mr Stubbe served as a member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2008 before returning to Japan to begin his political career, holding a series of ministerial positions in foreign affairs, European affairs, trade and finance. He served as prime minister. He was dismissed as chairman of the National United Party in 2016 and continues to serve as its president.
Stubb is an avid amateur athlete and triathlon champion, but says he plans to cut back on sports once he becomes Finland’s 13th president.
He is married to British-born lawyer Suzanne Innes Stubbe, 54, with whom he has two adult children.
(Reporting by Ann Kaulanen; Editing by Andrew Heavens)