During a press conference in Strasbourg on Tuesday 2 October, Finland's former prime minister and the current vice-president of the European Investment Bank, Alexander Stubb, put an end to the semi-suspense surrounding his candidacy to be the Spitzenkandidat of his political family, the EPP, officially announcing that he aspired to be the successor of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
Stubb, who is a very good communicator, thus joins German national Manfred Weber, who is the leader of the European Parliament's EPP Group and who put himself forward as a candidate for Commission president in September. French national Michel Barnier has, for his part, decided not to participate in the EPP's selection, as he is restrained by the timetable of the Brexit negotiations and his role as the EU's chief Brexit negotiator. The EPP candidate will be chosen in Helsinki on 7 and 8 November.
Stubb, aged 50, is well-known on the European scene and, in addition to speaking English, also speaks French and German. He has based his campaign on the EU's "values", which are attacked as much from outside, by China, Russia and the USA, as from the inside, indeed in "our party", he said, referring to the Fidesz party of Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
On the subject of possibly excluding Orbán, whose country is the subject of the start of a so-called Article 7 procedure on the rule of law, Stubb said he thought the process should be launched and an agreement reached with Orbán that would permit him to stay in the EPP. Otherwise, Fidesz will have to leave, he said.
On the level of values threatened from within, Stubb mentioned Poland, Italy and even Hungary, and expressed concern at the rise of illiberal theses. Saying he was more left and more liberal than his German rival, more a candidate of the synthesis within the family, Stubb again reiterated his profession of pro-European faith and his desire for "more Europe and not less Europe". One of his first areas for work will be to attack populism with pragmatism, he said. This will especially involve responding to fears linked to immigration, to the digital revolution, and to the evolution of the world of work. Without yet unveiling his specific proposals, Stubb said he would travel to the EPP congress and has taken five weeks' unpaid leave from the EIB. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)