Alex Stubb tipped as favourite to be next Finland PM

Alex Stubb is favourite to become Finland's next prime minister after the Nordic country's charismatic EU minister launched a bid to become leader of his political party.

Mr Stubb, a frequent user of Twitter where his biography says he "tries not to take himself too seriously", said on Tuesday he would seek to succeed Jyrki Katainen as head of the National Coalition party, a centre-right grouping that is Finland's largest.

Mr Katainen announced earlier this month that he would step down as prime minister and head of the party to seek an senior international role, possibly one of the trio of leading EU jobs to come up in the summer.

Mr Stubb is seen as the favourite to become head of the National Coalition party, and therefore prime minister until planned elections next year. He received 43 per cent support from National Coalition members, according to a poll last week in the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper, while his biggest rival, economy minister Jan Vapaavuori, polled 29 per cent.

Finland's economy has struggled ever since the global financial crisis and has contracted in each of the past two years, leading Standard & Poor's to warn it had a one-in-three chance of losing its prized triple-A status in the next two years.

The Nordic country's proximity and increasingly close economic relationship with Russia has led to fears that the repercussions from the crisis in Ukraine could hurt Finland as well.

Mr Stubb told Finnish television last month: "We have been experiencing a financial crisis for many years now and there will continue to be challenges with regards to economic growth. Now there's the Ukraine crisis on top of all this. This is the very reason why European integration was undertaken: with it we aim to avoid conflicts."

The 46-year-old is known for his pro-EU views and will continue to campaign to be re-elected to the European Parliament until the results of the party leadership contest are known.

A former foreign minister, Mr Stubb spent much of his early career in Brussels, working for both Finland and the president of the European Commission before being previously elected as an MEP.

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