NATO’s 31 member states decided to prolong the mandate of Jens Stoltenberg as its General Secretary with one year until 1 October 2024. He has led the organisation for ten years.
Stoltenberg was appointed NATO General Secretary shortly after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
In 2022, the alliance, under his leadership, faced the biggest European conflict since World War II, giving it an “electric shock” after it had been, in the words of French President Emmanuel Macron, “braindead.”
During Stoltenberg’s leadership, Finland joined the alliance, and Sweden may join if reservations by NATO-members Hungary and Turkey are overcome.
Allies praise him for his cool-headedness during crises. “Because of his strong and steady hand, our alliance is stronger and is more unified than it’s ever been,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said recently.
In 2000, Stoltenberg, a member of the Norwegian Labour Party, became at 41 the youngest prime minister in Norway’s history, a mandate he fulfilled twice over a period of nine years.
In 2014, then US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel backed him for the position of NATO General Secretary.
In 2019, when then US President Donald Trump wanted to pull the US out of NATO, Stoltenberg convinced him to stay on. “He kept Trump in NATO, which was far from certain,” according to Jamie Shea, a former NATO official.
Stoltenberg is now trying to hammer out a consensus between NATO members on the issue of support for Ukraine and on the possible Ukrainian membership when the war is over.
Members on NATO’s eastern flank, such as Poland, want to increase the support to Ukraine, but Germany, France and the U.S are still reluctant.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a tweet that the extension of Stoltenberg’s mandate was “excellent news,” praising the Secretary General’s “strong leadership”.
And according to US President Joe Biden, “with his steady leadership, experience, and judgement, (..) Stoltenberg has brought our Alliance through the most significant challenges in European security since World War II.” (RFI)