Former Prime Minister of Norway, Jens Stoltenberg as the new NATO Secretary General
Local news….
Efforts to find Danish Anders Fogh Rasmussen’s successor is now in its final stages, and it is said now to Aftenposten that both British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande has declared his support for Stoltenberg’s candidacy.
Previously, it is known that both U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel has Stoltenberg as its favorite. This means that all the four heaviest NATO countries now stands behind the Norwegian.
Summit on Monday
As long as the process is not formally concluded there must be a subject . Still it may be unforeseen things that can thwart the Norwegian candidate , but those who now follow the case on the inside can not see what shall prevent Jens Stoltenberg from becoming NATO’s 13th General.
It has been speculated that it already Monday will be known who succeeds Anders Fogh Rasmussen. The reason is that U.S. President Barack Obama heads to Europe today to attend the summit on nuclear security in the Hague. There he will meet leaders of all the key NATO countries .
No one can rule out that the U.S. president or other key leaders will declare its public support for Stoltenberg’s candidacy , but Aftenposten’s sources denied that it planned a publication already .
However, it is noted that NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday next week will be a very likely time for both formal decision and publication .
It was Tuesday last week that the serious big Italian newspaper La Repubblica speculated that Norway recently retired prime minister would get this so very prestigious position.
With opponents
It is no coincidence that Italian journalists have been particularly concerned about this since Franco Frattini both former foreign minister and EU commissioner has been one of the supposedly strongest candidates . The same applies to Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski . In recent days, a number of European newspapers launched European Commission President , José Manuel Barroso , as a formidable opponent for Jens Stoltenberg now in the final round .
Aftenposten’s sources claim to know that José Manuel Barroso , who is also the former Portuguese prime minister, is not as relevant as media speculation suggests . It is also claimed that the other most likely other candidate now more or less out of the picture . This is a process that has lasted for many months and it is the government playoffs we are now witnessing .
Norway has participated in NATO since the alliance was created , but the Norwegians have never had the central position of General Secretary . Three Dutchmen , two Belgians and now a Danish illustrates , however, that NATO also the smallest countries receive the most important role.
Third time
Twice in the alliance’s history, Norway formally launched a Norwegian politician candidate:
In 1988, former Prime Minister Kare Willoch very close to becoming Secretary-General, but lost in the final stages when the then West Germany greatly desired his Defense Minister Manfred Woerner position.
For more than ten years ago, then-Defense Minister Kristin Krohn Devold proposed by the previous government, but was in reality not considered a serious candidate. The time the job was obsessed Dutchman Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.
On the third attempt it thus appears that Norway will succeed in making this prestigious appointment.
News from Norway 