Speculation is swirling that Jens Stoltenberg is likely to remain secretary-general of NATO for a record ninth year amid succession uncertainty.
The hugely admired former prime minister of Norway is regarded as a safe pair of hands. He has been in charge since well before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and so, his fans say, he provides a sense of continuity in unstable times.
His retaining the top job looks all the more likely after the news that Britain’s defence secretary Ben Wallace is out of the running. The Conservative MP told The Economist “It’s not going to happen” despite last month saying “That’s a job I’d like”.
The Sun reported that Biden has put the kibosh on Wallace’s appointment, with the US president supposedly favouring either Mark Rutte, the Dutch PM, or Mette Frederiksen of Denmark.
Any signs that the US would thwart the chances of a British head of NATO were certainly few and far between when Anthony Blinken visited this week. The US Secretary of State said: “When it comes to the secretary general of NATO, we’re not pushing, promoting any particular candidate.” He also said America and Britain were “in full alignment…on virtually everything”.
There is no formal process for appointing a new secretary-general but, rather, it comes about from an osmotic agreement from all 31 member states.
As a result, there is no time Stoltenberg has to be gone by – not the Vilnius summit nor the 75th-anniversary summit next year in the US.
Some other names are unconvincingly floating about.
One such candidate is Kaja Kallas, the ballsy Estonian PM who has been particularly outspoken against Russian brutality in Ukraine. Some critics think she may be too fiery for a role that requires the subtlest of balancing acts.
Another is the down-on-his-luck Pedro Sanchez who just called a snap election in Spain after his socialist party received a drubbing in the local elections. Although some have suggested his decision to bring the elections forward from December to July helps his bid for NATO chief, he has only been cagey thus far. When asked whether he would put his name forward, he simply said: “First there is an election.”
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