The allies, closer to keeping Stoltenberg at the head of NATO than to looking for a successor

Sánchez appears in the pools although Albares officially rules it out

MADRID/BRUSSELS, June 3 (EUROPA PRESS) -

Jens Stoltenberg's term as NATO Secretary General was due to expire on October 1, 2022, but the Russian invasion of Ukraine prompted Alliance leaders to ask him to continue for another year. Although the former Norwegian prime minister should have a successor chosen by the end of September, for now there is no consensus among the allies.

"The issue is very green," diplomatic sources have exposed to Europa Press, which they see as more likely given the current situation that Stoltenberg could continue for a while longer before a replacement is sought. "He extended his term because of the war and it has not ended," the sources have recalled.

For his part, an allied source has admitted that "there are no deadlines" beyond the fact that the decision should be made before September 30, either "appoint a new one or extend Stoltenberg's mandate." In this sense, he has recognized that "the decision can be made at any time", not necessarily at the Vilnius summit.

This week, the Alliance's foreign ministers met in Oslo mainly to prepare for the summit of allied leaders on July 11 and 12 in Vilnius, where a priori the 31 countries that make up NATO should decide who take the baton However, at the end of the meeting, the Spanish minister, José Manuel Albares, indicated that the issue had not been addressed during the meeting.

Thus, the sources consulted acknowledge that for now there does not seem to be any candidate who has sufficient support but admit that if Stoltenberg were to rule out a second extension of his term, which began in October 2014, then the allied leaders would have to try to agree, predictably during the appointment in the Lithuanian capital.

In the case of Spain, the Government prefers not to reveal its preferences, although Albares did come out of the way of speculation that placed the head of the Executive, Pedro Sánchez, in office after his decision to advance the elections to July 23, given that if he lost he could arrive in time to succeed Stoltenberg.

"I see Pedro Sánchez as the next president of the Government of Spain for the next 4 years," he said during the Oslo meeting when asked about that possibility.

Sánchez's name is one of many in the pools, although the forecast that the general elections would be in December made it unlikely that he would accept the position before ceasing to be president. The advance ruined this argument, but Albares excluded it with his words. However, one of the allied sources consulted by Europa Press assures that "it continues to be one of the options."

"There are several well-qualified candidates," a State Department spokesman acknowledged to Europa Press. "It is too early to speculate on who the United States will support to be the next NATO Secretary General," he pointed out, when asked if Sánchez would be a good option or Washington has preferences regarding the country of origin or whether it is a women.

German diplomatic sources express themselves in the same sense. "There are many good names, this is what is good in Europe", they have acknowledged to Europa Press, emphasizing that NATO is guided by the principle of consensus for the election of its Secretary General.

"For this reason, names are not pronounced in public and conjectures are not made," they stressed, recalling that "we are living in unique times" and praising the "extraordinary work in these times of so many challenges" that Stoltenberg has carried out.

The process, another allied source has admitted, "is opaque and discussions are taking place in the capitals at the moment." In reality, the procedure for choosing the head of NATO does not involve the presentation of formal candidacies, but rather consultations between the allies on different names that are considered the most appropriate for the position.

"We want a candidate with solid leadership credentials, who continues Stoltenberg's excellent record, strengthens support for Ukraine and leads NATO's transformation to face emerging threats and challenges", this source summarized, stressing that " Ideally" it would come from a member state that "has consistently met the target of 2% of GDP for defense spending."

In some allied capitals there is also the perception that after almost 75 years of history, the time has come to place a woman at the head of the Alliance. There have been several names that have sounded in this regard, starting with the Estonian Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas.

However, its firm position regarding Russia in the Ukraine conflict reduces its options and makes it appear too tough. "It is a question of appeasing Russia, not of confronting", have summed up the diplomatic sources, who are inclined towards the fact that the new secretary general does not come from Eastern European or Baltic countries but from the western part of the continent, since the United States United is out of the equation.

In Poland they don't see it the same way. Polish diplomatic sources see it as essential that whoever holds the post understands the threats to NATO, "especially those coming from Russia" and have called for "balanced geographical representation." "Currently the countries of the eastern flank continue to be underrepresented among the senior NATO officials," they lamented.

Another of the names that has sounded more intensely in recent times has been that of the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen. However, first of all, she is she should agree to leave the head of the Government of her country, which she has held since June 2019 and for which she was re-elected last November.

Frederiksen herself has said that she is not running for the position, after her next visit to the White House to meet with Joe Biden triggered speculation, since it is understood that the approval of the United States is necessary to be elected as secretary general. In addition, Denmark is one of the countries that invests the least in defense and does not reach the 2% threshold, which Stoltenberg now wants to be the minimum.

It has also been included among the possible candidates for the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen. In her favor is the fact that she was Germany's Defense Minister and therefore understands the matter. However, her term does not end until after the European elections in June 2024 and it is not even clear if she might want to run for re-election.

The Canadian Deputy Prime Minister, Chrystia Freeland, has also slipped into this shortlist, whose main asset could be precisely her geographical distance from the conflict in Ukraine but has against her that the bulk of the Alliance is made up of European countries and, mainly, of the EU .

There are also pools of possible male candidates, apart from Sánchez. The name that has sounded the most in them is that of the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, who has been in office since October 2010 and whose term does not end until 2026. However, he himself has said that he is not interested and that his intention is to leave the policy.

Who has offered for the position is the British Defense Minister, Ben Wallace. However, the sources consulted indicate that the preference is that whoever succeeds Stoltenberg is a former head of state or government.