How did I become MEP? I'm a Finnish Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and, as crazy as it sounds, I really love the work that I do.
I haven't always been an EU-nerd. And as a youngster I hardly dreamed about becoming a politician. If you would have stopped a fifteen-year-old Alexander Stubb in the street and asked the question "what will you be when you grow up", my reply might have been "Ryder Cup winner". I was mad about golf. I played in the Finnish national team for several years. Football, handball - and being a Finn - ice-hockey filled my calendar quite intensively.
So how did I become Member of the European Parliament?
Someone wise has said that one has to go far to see close. I had to go to the US. As an exchange student in the Furman University I got to know Professor Brent Nelsen who introduced me the topic called the European integration. During his courses we got to read piles of interesting texts. Especially the thoughts of Altiero Spinelli, Winston Churchill, Robert Schumann, Jean Monnet, Charles de Gaulle, Margaret Thacher and Jacques Delors inspired me a great deal. I wanted to know more. Why the nation states are willing to give up their sovereignty? Are the days of independent nations over? Is there such a things as supranational democracy? What is this European integration all about? While finding answers I received a master in European Studies from the College of Europe in 1995 and a Ph.D from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1999.
I also became the author of ten EU books and some 30 articles on flexible integration, institutional questions, Intergovernmental Conferences and integration theories.
Before I decided to pursue the career of a politician, I worked as a counsellor on institutional affairs at the Finnish Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels, an adviser to the President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi and in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Helsinki.
As much as I love my job as a MEP and the fascinating thing called EU - there is plenty of space for other things in my life as well. My two children occupy the priority spot in my life. My four years old daughter Emilie and my 2 years old son Oliver are the reason I say no to events in the evenings and weekends. I want to spend as much time with them as possible. My wife, Suzanne, works as a lawyer.
Combining work and family is everything but simple. It's all about finding the right balance in life -and in EU.
Alexander Stubb