Stoltenberg resigns as head of NATO

Jens Stoltenberg, who has been head of NATO since 2014, will leave his position in October this year.

The resignation has sparked speculation about his successor, as there is no consensus on who should take over as the organization’s top civilian official.

It has been suggested that his current nine-year term should be extended to meet the challenges of Russia’s war on Ukraine, but this proposal has now been rejected.

Jens Stoltenberg’s resignation means that a new, probably European, official must be elected. Several governments have already leaked information about potential candidates to the media.

The choice of the new head of NATO has great symbolic value and it is almost always a candidate from a militarily insignificant country in the alliance that is highlighted, while the Americans, French and Turks are in practice counted out.

Because NATO’s strategic focus has shifted to the eastern flank, where new member states in the Baltics and on the Black Sea pursue an increasingly harsh rhetoric against Russia, while at the same time as a result of their geographical proximity they are vulnerable in military terms.

It has been suggested that a person from some small country in the Baltics or Eastern Europe should take over, especially when a country that has a cocky diplomatic course towards Russia, writes AFP.

However, there are differing opinions on this proposal as it could provoke Russia and lead to a direct conflict, according to AFP.

Other candidates that have been mentioned are the Defense Minister of the Netherlands, Kajsa Ollongren, and Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.