59 Facts About Alexander Stubb

Cai-Goran Alexander Stubb was born on 1 April 1968 and is a Finnish politician who served as Prime Minister of Finland from 2014 to 2015.

Alexander Stubb rose to politics as a researcher specialized in the affairs of the European Union and was elected to the European Parliament in 2004 as a member of the National Coalition Party.

In 2008, Alexander Stubb was appointed as Minister for Foreign Affairs following a scandal surrounding his predecessor, Ilkka Kanerva.

In 2011 Alexander Stubb stood for election to the Finnish Parliament for the first time and was elected MP with the second highest vote count in the election, which led to Alexander Stubb becoming the Minister for Europe and Foreign Trade in Jyrki Katainen's cabinet.

In 2016, Alexander Stubb's leadership was challenged from within the party by MP Elina Lepomaki and Minister of Interior Petteri Orpo.

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In October 2018, Alexander Stubb announced his candidacy for the EPP nomination for President of the European Commission in the 2019 European Parliament election, but ultimately lost in an election against Manfred Weber.

Alexander Stubb was born in Helsinki into a bilingual family; his father was a native Swedish speaker and his mother a native Finnish speaker.

In 1986 Alexander Stubb graduated from Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, Florida and, two years later, graduated from the Gymnasiet Larkan in Helsinki, then completed his military service.

Alexander Stubb won a golf scholarship to Furman University in South Carolina, United States.

Alexander Stubb was a member of the Finnish national golf team and intended to become a professional golfer after graduation, but studying with Brent Nelsen and others caused him to quit the sport after a year to focus on his studies.

Alexander Stubb graduated with a BA degree in political science from Furman University in 1993.

Alexander Stubb speaks five languages: Swedish, Finnish, English, French and German.

In 1995, Alexander Stubb graduated with an MA degree in political science from the College of Europe, Belgium.

Alexander Stubb then performed his doctoral studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science, under the supervision of William Wallace, Baron Wallace of Saltaire, and obtained his PhD degree in international politics in June 1999.

Between 1995 and 1997, Alexander Stubb was a researcher at the Finnish Foreign Office, and then at the Academy of Finland from 1997 to 1999.

From 1999 to 2001, Alexander 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.

Alexander Stubb lived in Genval, Belgium, with his wife, Suzanne Innes-Alexander Stubb, who is a British lawyer, until they moved to Tapiola, Espoo.

Alexander Stubb ran his best marathon time, 3:11:24, in the 2014 Berlin Marathon.

Alexander Stubb was a member of the Committee on Budgetary Control and a vice-president of the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection.

Alexander Stubb was a substitute member of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs and the Delegation to the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee .

Alexander Stubb 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.

Alexander Stubb was Vice-President of European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights.

On his appointment, Alexander 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, Alexander 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.

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In 2011 when Stubb was Foreign Minister, leaked diplomatic cables from the US embassy in Helsinki released by Wikileaks stated that Jori Arvonen, Senior Political Adviser to Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, had predicted that the National Coalition Party would aspire to lead Finland to NATO during the next parliamentary term.

Jyrki Katainen, the Finnish Finance Minister and chairman of National Coalition Party, supported Alexander Stubb stating he was surprising, courageous and that he "puts a smile on one's face".

In 2011 Alexander Stubb stood for election to the Finnish Parliament for the first time and was elected MP.

Alexander Stubb was the second-most-popular candidate in the election, in which the National Coalition Party became the largest party.

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

When Jyrki Katainen stepped down as Prime Minister and Chairman of the National Coalition Party, Alexander Stubb was elected as party chairman in June 2014 over his two rivals, Paula Risikko and Jan Vapaavuori.

Alexander Stubb supported the proposal to implement basic income experiments in the country.

In November 2014, Alexander Stubb organized Northern Future Forum, a meeting of Prime Ministers of Northern Europe, in Startup Sauna in Aalto University campus.

In March 2015, Alexander Stubb invited companies and officials to an event to discuss industrial Internet and Internet of Things.

Alexander Stubb resigned from the office days after the election and left office on 29 May 2015.

Alexander Stubb was appointed Minister of Finance on 29 May 2015 by newly elected Prime Minister Juha Sipila.

Alexander Stubb has demanded "structural reforms, structural reforms and more structural reforms".

In November 2015, Alexander Stubb said at the Finnish Parliament that about 90 percent of the Finnish authoritatives supported introduction of administrative registration.

In November and December 2015, Alexander Stubb was in the middle of a scandal when he was accused of lying to Finnish Parliament consistently and deliberately.

On 15 June 2017, Alexander Stubb was chosen as the Vice-President of the European Investment Bank, after the previous representative from Finland Jan Vapaavuori had vacated the seat.

Alexander Stubb left his duties in the Parliament on 30 July 2017 in order to assume his new position.

Alexander Stubb later commented that he had no interest in returning to the Finnish politics, but could be interested in running for the presidency of the European Commission or European Council.

In June 2017, Alexander Stubb was nominated by Martti Ahtisaari to assume the leadership of the Crisis Management Initiative, a non-governmental organisation that works to prevent and resolve conflicts.

Alexander Stubb's position was confirmed by the board on 29 November 2017.

On 2 October 2018, Alexander Stubb launched his bid for presidency of the European Commission as the lead candidate of the European People's Party.

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On 8 November 2018, Alexander Stubb lost in EPP's Spitzenkandidat election against Manfred Weber, the group leader for the European People's Party in the European Parliament.

When he was the Minister for Foreign Affairs in 2008, Alexander Stubb gave a speech in which he argued in favour of the EU taking an active role in international politics.

Alexander Stubb noted that while the EU is the world's largest economy, it is not a superpower but a regional soft power.

Alexander Stubb insisted that he is no longer the "pure federalist" that he used to be when he was a researcher.

Alexander Stubb has expressed his support for Turkey's EU membership in 2010.

Alexander Stubb warned that Brexit could pose a "Lehman Brothers moment" that could lead to the collapse of the EU.

Alexander Stubb is seen as a representative of the National Coalition Party's liberal wing.

Alexander Stubb has characterized himself as a "liberal" and "moderate liberal".

Alexander Stubb wants to bring about a "more positive way of doing politics".

Alexander Stubb believes everyone should be appreciated and respected even when there are disagreements.

Alexander Stubb believes that the most important political divide in modern politics is that between the supporters and opponents of globalisation.

An active columnist, Alexander Stubb has stated that he has "always been of the opinion that matters must be discussed openly and honestly".

Alexander Stubb is one of the most active Twitter users among European leaders.

Alexander Stubb has co-authored an e-book in Finnish about what to do on Twitter.