The first state visit of President Alexander Stubb and his spouse has ended. In Sweden, the role of the president was still being sought, according to correspondent Pirjo Auvinen.
Pirjo Auvinen, Nordic correspondent
20:30•Updated 20:36
GOTHENBURG Four highlights from the president’s first official state visit to Sweden:
1. Familiar and exaggerated
Alexander Stubb has now been the president of the Republic of Finland for just under two months. According to tradition, the first official state visit went to Sweden.
From the first steps in the inner courtyard of the Royal Palace, you could see that Stubb doesn’t want to mess up. He concentrated on the priest Karle XVI Gustav to walking side by side, stopping at the right points and turning and turning at the right points so that it was visible from afar.
But the quest for a role was clearly visible right at the start of the visit, when the heads of state gave their brief statements. The King of Sweden kept to the papers, spoke about the defense alliance NATO so that every word was individually weighed and evaluated. The speech was of an institution, not of a person.
Stubb had assessed the situation differently. No papers, not even French lines. Stubb announced that he is more Swedish than ever before, which suddenly seems a bit strange coming from the mouth of the newly elected head of independent Finland.
The same childhood memories of the Gröna Lund amusement park in Stockholm, my father’s time as a child in the war and a trip to Gothenburg were also heard in Stubb’s speech at the Swedish Parliament. Added with music memories About Eva Dahlgren, From Ulf Lundell and many others.
2. Trip-Alex
Even before his first state visit, President Stubb has already had time to visit abroad in Kyiv, Ukraine, Brussels, Belgium, and Joensuu and Tohmajärvi in his homeland. Next weekend the trip goes to Vaasa, the following week to another country, and apparently the next one as well.
at the University of Gothenburg from Tampere Hannes Karjalainen asked what many others have wondered about traveling. How clear is the division of labor regarding the foreign policy of the president and the government?
To Hannes, Stubb replied that the changed world situation is reflected and complicates interpretations. Stubb mentioned Gaza and Ukraine as examples. As non-EU members, do they belong to the president? Or does EU aid make them part of the government’s decision-making power?
However, at the end of the state visit, Stubb assured the same question that the cooperation could not go better than it is now between him and Orpo’s government.
3. Stubb is spontaneous and will remain so
At the time of the presidential election, Stubb’s disadvantage was counted as what had been proven many times during his years as a minister and party leader: spontaneity.
It also surfaced in Gothenburg. The parties were moving from the landlord’s dinner to the harbor when Stubb noticed children waving Finnish flags. He shouted from afar that you want to take selfies, i.e. cell phone pictures. The president got so excited that the king, who was standing next to him and was left in the shadow, had to shout that he should continue on.
Enthusiasm is an attractive quality, but there is also the danger of misjudgment. Stubb, who became a children’s dart board in his prime years, will surely be remembered by many.
4. The media turned the spouse into a mannequin
Stubb’s mate By Suzanne Innes-Stubb has a long career as a corporate lawyer. However, she had to leave her day job after her husband was elected president. However, there are teaching positions at Aalto University.
During the state visit, it was not unclear that this is an obviously happy couple.
During the trip to Sweden, however, the publicity turned the president’s spouse into a clothes tree, whose pale dress and shimmering evening gown made clothes connoisseurs go crazy. They showed glamour, royal splendor, so no exaggeration was spared.
But wasn’t it quite expected that the president’s spouse would dress nicely because she is in the spotlight from morning to night? Wouldn’t everything else have been pretty weird?
And again: is this what we want to shape a highly educated professional person for the next six years?