The NATO The succession process for Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who has held the post for ten years, is underway, with the focus on Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who is now the only official candidate in the race for the post and holds the majority support for the Successor to the former Prime Minister of Norway.
After three extensions of his mandate Stoltenberg is living through the last two months at the helm of NATO, forced by a lack of candidates and pressure from Russia over the war in Ukraine, and the allied leaders’ summit in Washington in July is expected to take place The setting for this will be the relay that is to be held.
However, the idea of NATO partners is to reach the necessary consensus for this decision in the spring, a few months before the organization’s summit its 75th anniversary, Explain allied sources. In this way we want to conclude the debate before the summit and prevent the position of the Allied Secretary General from being called into question a bargaining chip in the negotiations of high-ranking European officials after the European elections in June.
Rutte, who has consistently been in the polls and publicly ran for office late last year, is currently the only candidate in the race and has one “significant” number of confirmed endorsements, several allied sources point out. The Dutch Prime Minister would already have the support of The United States, the United Kingdom and key European alliesalthough NATO works by consensus and there are still several partners who have not agreed with the Dutch head of state – this would be the case, for example, with Hungary and Turkey -.
Within the military organization a strong profile in deterrence and defense is valued, who supports Ukraine and is realistic about Russia. The contribution to defense, one of the great workhorses, is also taken into account. The Netherlands spent 1.65% of GDP on military spending in 2022below the established limit of 2%, but this is offset by the fact that it is, and already is, a nation with an important Atlantic tradition He headed NATO three times.
In fact, the Dutch politician is the Allied Secretary General who has held the position for the longest time Joseph Lunswho led NATO in the 1970s and into the mid-1980s. Dirk Stikker, between 1961 and 1963 and more recently Jaap de Hoop Schefferfrom 2004 to 2009, are the other Dutch people who headed the military alliance.
The Baltic countries that have been vying for the post in recent months, particularly the incumbent foreign minister and former Latvian prime minister, now appear to be off the shortlist. Krisjanis Karins. These countries argue that 20 years after joining NATO and the EU, it is time for a politician from a former Soviet country to hold senior positions such as NATO Secretary General.
In any case, the Atlantic Alliance began the succession debate with the goal that the next political leader would be a woman for the first time in its history. The Prime Ministers of Denmark, Mette Frederiksenor Estonia, Kaja Kallasappeared as the main favorites in the internal pools, in which even the President of the European Commission entered, Ursula von der Leyenwhich had the approval of Washington, sources confirmed.
Ultimately, all previous processes for choosing Stoltenberg’s successor failed due to a lack of strong candidates – only the former British Defense Minister Ben Wallace dared to take the decisive step in 2023 – or a favorite who found unanimous support from the allies.
