Jens Stoltenberg’s term of office as Secretary General of NATO has been extended by one year. All 31 NATO member states have unanimously decided that. Stoltenberg, a former prime minister of Norway, has led NATO since 2014.
The Secretary-General of NATO is the civilian leader of the alliance, in addition to the military one. They are elected for a term of at least 4 years, which is renewable. Member States propose candidates for the position after informal diplomatic consultations.
The Secretary General is the face of NATO. They chair, among other things, the North Atlantic Council, the important decision-making body of the organisation. The Secretary-General also has to ensure consensus within the organisation and thus often has to look for compromises between the different member states. They are responsible for ensuring that the decisions taken are implemented.
Stoltenberg himself had not said in advance that he wanted to stay on longer. He now says on Twitter that he is “honoured” to serve the organisation for another year.
The extension of Stoltenberg’s term comes mainly in the absence of a successor. He should normally have been appointed at a summit in Vilnius next week, but there was no consensus among the member states on who should be appointed.
Many member states felt that after nearly 75 years of male leadership, it was time for a woman to take the helm of the world’s largest collective defence organisation. The name of the Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen went over the tongues. But Poland, among others, would have thought that the new NATO leader should not come from a Scandinavian country for a change, after the Norwegian Stoltenberg and his Danish predecessor Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
The Poles rather thought of someone from the Baltic states, for example, Kaja Kallas, the prime minister of Estonia. On the other hand, many member states were concerned that an Eastern European secretary-general would go too far in supporting Ukraine, which wants to join the alliance.
Many Eastern European countries have deep-seated anti-Russian attitudes because of their common history with Russia. They are, therefore, more eager than some Western European countries to assist Ukraine as it defends itself against Russian aggression.
British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace is the only one who openly applied for the job. Because the NATO boss is usually a former head of state or government, he also didn’t stand a chance. So the choice again fell on Stoltenberg.
The Ukrainian foreign minister is not dissatisfied with this choice. Dmytro Koeleba writes on Twitter that it is “excellent news” that Stoltenberg will stay on longer. “Hard times call for strong leadership,” says Koeleba.
Stoltenberg certainly earned his stripes as head of NATO. He is praised as a patient and steadfast leader. Many also consider him a good mediator between the often divergent views and interests of the Member States. During the war in Ukraine, where NATO countries often strike a balance between supporting Ukraine without harming the alliance, many member states may also think it is not a good idea to appoint a new captain to the ship.
When the war in Ukraine started, NATO was also forced to reinvent itself. That war has also been going on for over two years: Ukraine’s conflict has been raging since 2014. Since then, NATO has started a “second life”: the alliance was founded during the Cold War, with the Soviet Union as its nemesis. Since it fell apart, NATO has started to focus more on operations beyond NATO’s borders, such as in Afghanistan and the Balkans. Since 2014, the Russian enemy has returned, and the focus has shifted again to defending its territory. A change that Stoltenberg has guided in the right direction.
During the same period, NATO also found itself in turbulent waters because Donald Trump became president of the United States. Trump openly suggested that the organisation’s main sponsor, the US might pull out if the other member states stopped contributing. According to many, Stoltenberg often found the right tone to channel that criticism.
In April of this year, NATO gained a new member under Stoltenberg: Finland made the historic decision to join the alliance after decades of neutrality. Sweden also wants to become a member, but Turkey is particularly opposed. Hungary also has yet to give the green light for Swedish membership. With that obstacle in mind and the war in Ukraine, the end of which is still far from over, NATO has opted primarily for continuity with Stoltenberg.