Helsinki - Alexander Stubb was Friday sworn in as new Finnish Foreign Minister by President Tarja Halonen.

The 40-year-old former European Parliament member was named earlier this week to replace Ilkka Kanerva who resigned after reports that he sent some 200 text messages to a model also working as an exotic dancer.

The publication Tuesday of several of the text messages by gossip magazine Hymy had sealed Kanerva's fate.

Stubb has made a fast political career, entering politics four years ago. He was elected to the European Parliament after a successful election campaign in which he garnered 115,000 votes, the second largest tally in Finland.

Known as a strong supporter of NATO and proponent of Finnish membership in the alliance, Stubb has said he would back the government's current line.

Prior to his election he worked with European Union affairs in both Brussels and Helsinki, and was advisor to former EU Commission president Romano Prodi 2001 to 2003.

The author of nine books, he was awarded a doctorate in international politics at the London School of Economics in 1999.

Both Kanerva, 60, and Stubb are members of the conservative National Coalition Party, one of four parties in Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen's coalition.

Model Johanna Tukiainen, 29, failed last week to get a court injunction to stop the publication. (dpa)