Alexander Stubb

Kai-Joran Alexander Stubb is a Finnish politician and diplomat. President of Finland (since 2024), former Prime Minister of Finland (2014-2015).

Brief biography

Alexander Stubb was born on April 1, 1968 in the city of Helsinki. His father, Joran Stubb, is a former ice hockey player, head of the Finnish Hockey Association and head of the European office of the United States National Hockey League.

Stubb attended Mainland Gymnasium in Daytona Beach, USA, and Larkan Gymnasium in Helsinki, Sweden. He served in the Finnish armed forces.

He received his higher education at Furman University (USA), where he graduated from the Department of Political Science. Subsequently, he graduated from the Faculty of History at the Sorbonne University of Paris.

In 1995 he graduated from the College of Europe in Bruges. Since 2000, he has been a professor at the College.

Subsequently worked as an advisor at the Finnish Foreign Ministry.

In 1999 he received his PhD from the London School of Economics.

He worked as a special researcher at the Finnish EU Delegation in Brussels and as a member of the Finnish government delegation to the intergovernmental negotiations on the Treaty of Nice.

Later he served as an advisor to the President of the European Commission and was a member of the special commission for the drafting of the European Convention.

In 2004 he was elected to the European Parliament from the center-right National Coalition Party. He was a member of the faction of the European People's Party - European Democrats.

In April 2008, he was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland. His cadence included Finland's chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

As Foreign Minister, Stubb advocated Finland's membership in NATO.

During the war in South Ossetia, he was one of the authors of the peace plan and, as head of the OSCE, condemned Russia's recognition of the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on August 26, 2008. At the same time, he was against the imposition of sanctions against Russia.

At one time Stubb met with the Ukrainian government and expressed support for Kiev's European integration aspirations. He gave a lecture at the Institute of World Politics in Kiev.

In 2011, Stubb was elected to the Finnish Parliament from the National Coalition Party. In the new government, he took the position of Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade.

In 2014, he was elected Prime Minister of Finland.

He speaks Finnish, Swedish, English, German and French. He is fond of sports and literature.

Since 1997, Stubb has published more than 100 publications, authored 10 books and 30 articles on the history of the European Union.

In 2024 he was elected President of Finland.

Family

Stubb is married to Suzanne Innes-Stubb. She is an Englishwoman working as a lawyer in a Belgian company.

The couple is raising two children: daughter Emilia born in 2001 and son Oliver-Johan born in 2004.