Top News

The charismatic, Western-minded and multi-linguist Stubb is the president of Finland in a new era. Finland has already benefited from his international contacts

“We in the West have to understand that unless we change our conduct towards the Global South, we could lose this game. We’re currently looking at a new state of balance that’s about a battle between values, power and interests.” In his appearances around the world, Alexander Stubb, Finland’s President since 2024, has consistently debated the question of the transformation of the global order.

Finland's president has been elected in direct popular elections since 1994. In 2024, nine candidates participated in the first round. In the second round, Stubb faced former foreign minister Pekka Haavisto from the Green Party. The difference in foreign policy views between the two candidates was minimal. Both saw Finland as a Western-allied country working for a rulesbased world order. The newly elected head of state's message on election night on February 11, 2024, was clear: “Now we no longer have Alex's team, now we all play for Finland.” Stubb wanted to be a unifying factor, the president of the entire people.

As president of the Republic, Stubb has advocated for value-based realism as the ideological base for Finnish foreign policy. By values, he means universal values like democracy, human rights and international law, by realism that we must keep up a credible defence capability. Realism also means we must be ready to sit at the same table with people who do not share our views or values.

Although being an EU enthusiast, Stubb has also talked about the rise of the Global South, showing understanding that global centres of gravity are changing. According to Stubb, it is the Global South that will decide on new global order.