Former Finnish prime minister Alex Stubb will throw his hat in the ring to become the centre-right’s Sptizenkandidat for the job of European Commission president
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The formal race to replace Jean-Claude Juncker is finally beginning to resemble a contest. Later today, former Finnish prime minister Alex Stubb will throw his hat in the ring to become the centre-right’s Spitzenkandidat for the job of European Commission president.
The Finn is likely to have just one competitor for the European People’s party (EPP) nomination – MEP and EPP party leader Manfred Weber. Michel Barnier, a widely touted hopeful, has ruled himself out of the race to stay focused on Brexit.
The Stubb for Spitz campaign has plenty going for it. The Finn is a polyglot ex-head of government, with a public profile more prominent than his German rival. Stubb has 366k Twitter followers with whom he shares news of his man-flu, and an Instagram following for his Lycra-clad “Iron Man” endurance feats. His formal announcement is due at 4pm (CET) in Strasbourg today.
In an interview with the FT, the 50-year-old says he wants to run as an unashamedly “international liberal pro-European” candidate, flying the flag for the EU’s “way of life”. That means tolerance, respect for rules and democracy.
It’s a pitch aimed directly at Eurosceptic forces and foes closer to home. Stubb’s adversary inside the EPP tent is Hungary’s premier Viktor Orban. The Finn is now pushing for a serious discussion to expel the centre-right’s bête noire as a way to resist the EPP’s slow lurch to the right.
“I do not want the illiberal democracy. My tolerance level for the type of behaviour that we’re seeing in many European countries at this particular moment, including Hungary, is very low”, he told the FT.
