As of: March 14, 2024, 10:26 a.m
By: Stefan Krieger
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While the NATO chief calls for more commitment, a power struggle for his successor breaks out.
The unity within NATO is crumbling.
Brussels – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will present his annual report for 2023 in Brussels on Thursday (March 14).
The press conference is scheduled for 12 p.m.
In the afternoon he will also meet with Polish President Andrzej Duda.
Stoltenberg is expected to once again call on allies to provide greater support for Kiev in the Ukraine war and to increase national defense spending.
The USA has been demanding the latter for years.
However, the most promising Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump had threatened that he would not help allies who were underspending in a Russian attack if he were to win the 2024 US election.
According to NATO figures, Germany is close to meeting the NATO quota for the first time this year, at 2.01 percent of gross domestic product.
The delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine is also being discussed.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) only confirmed his rejection in the Bundestag on Wednesday.
NATO is openly arguing about Stoltenberg's successor
The search for Stoltenberg's successor shows how fragile NATO's much-vaunted unity is at times.
Just four months before the NATO anniversary summit in Washington, there is no sign of consensus.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has even openly declared his candidacy against Dutchman Mark Rutte.
NATO's planning was actually clear: US President Joe Biden wanted to present Stoltenberg's successor at the summit in Washington on July 9th and thereby underline the unity of the alliance, a good 75 years after the North Atlantic Treaty was signed on April 4th, 1949.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Washington.
© IMAGO/Michael Brochstein
The USA, Germany, France and Great Britain have already announced who their preferred candidate is: the long-time Dutch head of government Rutte, who is looking for a new position after his defeat in the parliamentary elections against the right-wing populist Geert Wilders in November.
Biden declared in February that the 57-year-old was an “excellent” applicant.
Chancellor Scholz also expressed his support for Rutte.
“With his immense experience, his great security policy expertise and his strong diplomatic skills, Mark Rutte is an outstanding candidate,” he announced.
Traditionally, in NATO, anyone whose name is publicly circulated is considered burned.
With their unusual declaration, the four major NATO countries wanted to put pressure on all allies to finally commit themselves with the necessary unanimity.
It is said in Brussels that they underestimated the resistance against Rutte.
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Hungary is at the forefront of the liberal-conservative Dutchman's opponents.
The right-wing populist head of government Viktor Orban doesn't think much of Rutte because he has repeatedly expressed criticism at the EU level about deficiencies in the rule of law in Hungary.
Diplomats say that the veto from Budapest still stands.
In addition, Orban is obviously trying to dupe Biden.
The US President recently accused Hungary, in a rather diplomatic manner, of striving for a “dictatorship”.
Budapest then accused Biden of “lying” and summoned the US ambassador.
Orban also appeared in Florida with his “good friend” Donald Trump; he is supporting the ex-president in the US election campaign.
Eastern Europeans have never appointed a NATO chief
A certain decline in Biden's authority is also noticeable elsewhere in the alliance.
Romania had repeatedly announced through diplomatic channels in NATO that it had a good candidate in its 64-year-old President Iohannis - also because he speaks perfect English and German.
The fact that Iohannis is now making his candidacy public against Biden's declared wishes illustrates a broader dissatisfaction among Eastern Europeans: the states of the former Soviet Union, which have gradually joined since 1999, have gained a lot of position and self-confidence as a result of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
However, you have never appointed the NATO Secretary General.
Biden would have to convince Stoltenberg
According to diplomats, Iohannis has no significant support in the alliance.
The favorite among the Eastern Europeans is the Estonian head of government Kaja Kallas, especially since she would be the first woman to head the alliance.
Latvia's Foreign Minister Krisjanis Karins is also applying.
From the perspective of Western states, the argument against both is that they are too closely involved in the conflict with Russia.
As soon as the war in Ukraine began, Stoltenberg was persuaded to continue in the spring of 2022 and gave up the prestigious post of Norwegian central bank chief.
This time, Biden would have to use all his persuasive powers to win over the 64-year-old again.
Stoltenberg's term of office ends normally at the beginning of October.
(skr/afp)