Position of NATO head up for grabs

The NATO alliance confirmed on Sunday that its long-serving chief would leave office in October, launching a new round of speculation about his successor.

Diplomats in Brussels said there is no consensus as to who should replace former Norwegian prime minister Jens Stoltenberg as the Western alliance's top civilian official.

On Sunday Stoltenberg's spokeswoman confirmed that he would leave office this year.

The 63-year-old's decision to go will shine a light on the race among senior European officials to replace him, with governments already discreetly floating candidates in news media leaks.

The secretary-general has always been European, even if in practice Washington has the decisive vote on his, or maybe this time, her nomination.

And although the daily job is one of coordination and seeking consensus among the 30 allies, the choice itself will be seen as symbolic of NATO's direction.

The last time Stoltenberg's future was in question — in February 2022, when he was named future head of the Norwegian central bank, only later to withdraw, speculation focused on women.

For seven decades, the alliance has been headed by a series of western European men, and many observers thought it was time that a woman and/or an easterner take charge.

The last four NATO chiefs were seemingly picked as an anticlockwise tour of the North Sea coast, a Briton being succeeded by a Dutchman followed by a Dane and now a Norwegian.

Meanwhile, the alliance's strategic focus has shifted to the eastern flank, where newer alliance members on the Baltic and Black Sea coasts face off against Russia.

This has led to calls for NATO to appoint a figure such as Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte or her Estonian counterpart Kaja Kallas.

Both have long taken a tough diplomatic line with Russia.

More cynical observers, including some NATO officials, suggest that Kallas has proved too successful an advocate of the eastern position, triggering resentment in Western capitals.

No official candidacies have been announced, but diplomats in Brussels suggested that the Netherlands would tout its Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren.

And a final wild card: What if NATO picked a non-European secretary-general for the first time, and plumped for a Canadian such as Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland?

"There is no consensus," one senior NATO official acknowledged, amid suggestions that US President Joe Biden's White House has yet to give the succession much thought.

Agencies Via Xinhua