Former Prime Minister of Norway the new NATO Secretary General

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.

http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/Norwegian-ex-PM-to-be-next-NATO-chief-7513206.html#.Uy9FSfl5PNk

Iceland’s president visiting Bodø in Norway to discuss the Arctic regions

President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, said State Secretary Ingvild Næss Stub its criticism of Russia does not belong to a conference on dialogue in the Arctic.
Secretary Ingvild Næss Stub Foreign Ministry went to vigorously attack on Russia from the pulpit.
Næss Stub made ​​it abundantly clear that Norway supports Ukraine and condemn Russia’s approach at the Crimean peninsula.
At the same time she addressed directly to the Russian and Ukrainian students in the audience.
– You are the proof that it is possible to have dialogue and cooperation she said firmly.

Secretary Næss Stub also got booed thoroughly by the Icelandic President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson attending the conference .
He thought it was inappropriate to use a dialogue conference to condemn one of the major Arctic countries .
– It does not take us more than an hour to destroy the Arctic cooperation , Grimsson said from the pulpit .

Moreover , he pointed out that there is much at stake in a situation like this .
– The model the Arctic countries have created together over the past twenty years, is the only model of success when it comes to cooperation between nations in the north end of the Cold War. Therefore one should be very careful with the way they bring each country’s conflicts into this kind of dialogue , said Grimsson .
To create discord between nations while tapering situation is still in its early stages, he cautioned against too .
– We must be very careful to split the Arctic cooperation in groups. It serves no purpose. I am willing to talk about the situation in any other forum, but not here , he said further .
The County Director of Nordland, Thomas Norvoll , also supported Grimsson påpakning to the Secretary of State. He believes the president did the conference back on track, but regret that when to create dialogue in the north, as one does the opposite. Norvoll is clear that the Arctic Dialogue was the wrong venue and it was a shame this happened especially because there were many young students from these countries in the saddle .

Student Olga Sorvanova from Archangel liked the State Secretary’s condemnation very poor
She reacts to the Secretary of State uses the conference to condemn Russia with many Russian students present.
– Wrong place and time , mean Sorvanova saying she could not do anything but tell .
– My commitment is no support for Putin , but because it sits in the audience many Russians who are not part of the conflict. This was just a condemnation and no dialogue , she said.
Sorvanova is concerned that the conflict in the Crimea and in Ukraine has multiple pages. She points out that Ukraine is a very divided country , and that the conflict did not start with Russian aggression , but as an internal conflict in Ukraine with demonstrations in Kiev.
– Very understandable that she said from. It says Mikhail Noskov is Russian Consul General in Kirkenes. He began his presentation by praising Olga Sorvanova by saying that her speech to the audience during the Arctic Dialogue was very understandable , not to mention emotional .
Consul General did not elaborate on the situation in Ukraine.

The Secretary of State said in its response to the criticism of the President, the situation had to be brought in court.
– This situation is serious and dramatic that it should not be mentioned at a conference like this. It is Norway’s stance, along with our allies and the EU and NATO, that we are talking about a violation of international law, said Næss Stub.

 

From local news: http://www.an.no/nyheter/article7238911.ece