NATO member countries are inclined to extend Jens Stoltenberg's term as Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
The Financial Times writes about it.
The Alliance is worried that they will not be able to agree on a new successor on the eve of the summit in Vilnius.
Stoltenberg, who has led the Alliance since October 2014, has publicly stated that he does not plan to seek an opportunity to extend his mandate. At the same time, he did not rule out that he will continue his work.
The debate over Stoltenberg's successor has intensified at a time of testing for NATO, which is associated with a full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia, internal divisions and the rise of China.
The complex background and the difficulty of finding a candidate who would satisfy all members of the Alliance means that the possibility of asking Stoltenberg to extend the mandate for a fourth time will be a short-term compromise, delaying a decision until next year.
"Stoltenberg was an excellent secretary general, and I see no point in rocking the boat now," said the foreign minister of one of the NATO countries.
The views of NATO member countries differ
It is noted that the decision to extend Stoltenberg's powers came after Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Great Britain's Defense Minister Ben Wallace did not receive unanimous support.
At the same time, in Poland they oppose Stoltenberg's successor being again a representative of one of the Scandinavian countries. In particular, many countries expressed their support for the election of the first female Secretary General of the Alliance.
Wallace, for his part, suggested that a decision on the next secretary-general could be made after the summit in Vilnius, possibly in October.
Stoltenberg can remain in office
Extending Stoltenberg's term in office will give him more time to complete the task of securing Sweden's membership in the Alliance. The current secretary-general has taken up the task personally, but it remains to be seen whether President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will lift his veto on the Scandinavian country's entry.
"We all realize that at some point we will have to let Stoltenberg go, there has to be a successor," said Kaisa Ollongren, the defense minister of the Netherlands.
Also, separate sources claim that Stoltenberg is increasingly annoyed by the fact that he is not given a clear signal about his future.
We should add that the NATO summit in Vilnius is scheduled for July 11-12. According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba, based on the results of the summit, Ukraine expects to receive a "clear schedule of joining" the Alliance.
According to the New York Times, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization can offer Kyiv security guarantees similar to Israel's, which do not include membership.
