Bookies favourite for EU’s top job wants Brexit ‘cancellation’
A former Finish prime minister who says the best outcome of Brexit negotiations is “cancellation” is the new frontrunner to become the next European Commission president.
Alexander Stubb announced on Tuesday that he is seeking to succeed Jean-Claude Juncker, who has said he won’t seek to go on beyond his current term which ends next October.
He has put himself forward to be the lead candidate of the centre-right EPP political group in the forthcoming European elections.
He was immediately installed as the 3/1 favourite to replace Juncker – ahead of EPP rivals like Manfred Weber, the group’s leader in the European Parliament, and EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier.
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Stubb didn’t raise Brexit at the press conference to announce his candidacy at the European parliament in Strasbourg, but has been outspoken on the subject since the 2016 referendum.
The current vice-president of the European Investment Bank described himself as an “anglophile”, is married to an English woman and has two children with dual UK-Finish citizenship.
On the day following the Brexit vote, Stubb described Brexit as a “bad nightmare.”
Please tell me I'm still sleeping and this is all just a bad nightmare! #Brexit
— Alexander Stubb (@alexstubb) June 24, 2016
Two months later he met UK government ministers. A day after the meetings, he wrote: “Brexit might mean Brexit but no one knows what Brexit actually means.”
He has described Brexit as a “lose, lose” situation and predicted it would lead to “economic mayhem” in the long run, but says he wants to be “pragmatic” about the future relationship.
“There are people on the continent who want to punish Britain for this, I don’t want to do that,” he told Newsnight last year.
He has also predicted that, despite confrontational negotiations, there will be a Brexit deal.
When talks formally began in July 2017, Stubb said though that the best outcome would be the “cancellation” of Brexit.
Brexit negs begin today. Worst outcome: no result. Possible outcome: soft Brexit. Likely outcome: hard #Brexit. Best outcome: cancellation.
— Alexander Stubb (@alexstubb) June 19, 2017
He admitted at the time that there was only a “slim” possibility of the whole process being called off.
I would still put my £ on #Brexit, but soft rather than hard. No Brexit is also a possibility, albeit slim. #postelection #badeconomy 2/2
— Alexander Stubb (@alexstubb) July 4, 2017
But he seems to have been encouraged by recent developments at Labour party conference, sharing an article headlined: “The chances of a second Brexit referendum just got higher.”
Stubb’s personal attributes have as much to do with his pole position in the race to become commission president as his politics.
He is a charismatic speaker in five languages who is admired for being successful outside of politics as an academic, dedicated father and endurance runner.
His sporting experience will certainly be useful if he is successful in his bid to replace to Juncker as talks over the future relationship between the UK and EU are set to continue way beyond the UK’s formal exit next March.
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