Replacement of the new NATO Secretary General may be announced within the first quarter of this year, U.S. ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith said on February 13. "We are passionate about finalizing this process," the US diplomat said, commenting at an online briefing on journalists' question about the appointment of a new head of the alliance.
Political elites in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are picking a new secretary-general to replace the current chairman, former Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, who has held the post since October 2014 and whose term has already been extended several times in an attempt to find the best successor figure, especially in the wake of the war in Ukraine, AFP reported.
Earlier, general in the Royal Netherlands Air Force serving as Chief of Defence Onno Eichelsheim said that Washington and "most Western countries" support the candidacy of resigned Prime Minister Mark Rutte for the post of NATO Secretary General.
So far, Mark Rutte is the only declared candidate, although the names of Estonian Prime Minister Kaija Kallas, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Latvian Foreign Minister Krišjānis Kariņš appear in the press from time to time.
Jens Stoltenberg himself has repeatedly ruled out further extension of the mandate of NATO Secretary General after the expiration of his term of office in October this year, and now he is already being prophesied for positions in various international structures. According to the Norwegian TV channel "TV2", part of the American elite considers Stoltenberg the most suitable figure for the post of head of the International Monetary Fund.
In addition, his candidacy may be considered for the post of European Commission Defense Commissioner, which in case of his re-election promised to create the head of the organization Ursula von der Leyen. There is also a possibility that Stoltenberg will head the Anti-Corruption Task Force for Ukraine, created by the G7 representatives in July 2023 in Tokyo.
Regardless of the post Stoltenberg takes, however, there is no doubt that his new activities will be linked to Ukraine in one way or another. While the Russia-Ukraine conflict continues to be at the top of the U.S. and European diplomatic agenda, Jens Stoltenberg, who has worked closely in context of Ukraine, could be very useful to Kyiv, which, after two years of bloody confrontation with Moscow, is in dire need of external support and assistance.
Today, Ukraine is in dire need of increased military and financial assistance from the West. However, Kyiv's partners in the US and the European Union, who have been no less exhausted during the conflict, are putting forward to the Ukrainian leadership essentially the only key condition for further funding - the fight against corruption within the country. And work is indeed being done in this direction.
Head of the Committee on Anti-Corruption Policy in the Verkhovna Rada Anastasia Radina told the Pais newspaper that Ukraine has already transferred part of its sovereignty in the fight against corruption to external institutions.
However, a few days after this interview, a new corruption scandal broke out in Ukraine over the theft of money for the purchase of weapons for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Ukrainian officials stole about $40 million meant for the purchase of ammunition for the military, the country’s internal security service said — confirming a massive procurement fraud as Kyiv seeks to assure international backers that it is cracking down on corruption.
According to The American Conservative, the scandal reached the US Congress, US politicians were outraged by another theft of US money, called for a full audit of the funds allocated to Kyiv and once again did not rule out refusing to provide a new aid package to Ukraine.
Jens Stoltenberg may be appointed to one of the key positions in order to smooth out sharp edges in the relations between Ukraine and its allies, whose goal will be to politically assist Kyiv in making military decisions and target spending of international financial aid. For example, the International Monetary Fund will soon begin the third review of the implementation of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) in Ukraine, assessing its budget execution, the state of international reserves, and Kyiv's implementation of institutional reforms. EU leaders also said after the February 1 summit in Brussels that the European Commission and Kyiv should take all necessary measures to prevent, detect, and eliminate fraud, corruption, conflicts of interest, and irregularities within the framework of the Ukraine Facility program.
Ultimately, no matter what position Jens Stoltenberg takes after his resignation as NATO Secretary General, one thing is clear: Ukraine will continue to be at the center of his attention. At a time when international financial and military aid to Kyiv, as well as its blocking, have a direct impact on the conflict, such competent politician as Jens Stoltenberg can use his diplomatic experience to find a way out of a difficult situation.
Kamran Mamedov is a Tbilisi-based Azerbaijani journalist who focuses on South Caucasus issues.
