Euractiv: Discussions continue in NATO regarding the position of the next Secretary General, candidates for prime ministers of Lithuania and Estonia are being discussed

NATO does not yet have a consensus on the next Secretary General. The current Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, has already announced that he will leave this position in October.

Euractiv writes about it.

For 70 years, the Secretary General of NATO was a man from the countries of Western Europe. The last four general secretaries were from the Baltic countries: a Briton, a Dutchman, a Dane and a Norwegian. Now the Alliance is paying more attention to Eastern Europe, as well as to the fact that for the first time a woman will become the General Secretary. Therefore, among the candidates are Prime Minister of Lithuania Ingrid Šimonite and Prime Minister of Estonia Kaja Kallas.

Sources in Brussels also say that the Netherlands plans to lobby its defense minister Kaisa Ollongren.

In Great Britain, Defense Minister Ben Wallace may be nominated for the position of Secretary General of NATO. For all that time, the Secretary General of NATO has been British four times, as this country has traditionally served as a bridge between Europe and the USA. However, after Britain left the EU, its relations with European countries worsened.

Former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis may also be among the candidates. NATO can also pay attention to North America and consider a candidate from there. For example, the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, Christa Freeland.

Currently, there is no consensus in the Alliance regarding any of the candidates and the discussion is just beginning.

• Before the start of the war in Ukraine, Stoltenberg officially refused to run for the next term as NATO Secretary General and agreed to head the Central Bank of Norway. But now his mandate has been extended until September 2023. Stoltenberg has been the Secretary General of NATO since October 1, 2014.