Politico | Nato’s next mission: find a new boss
- Search to succeed Jens Stoltenberg as secretary general puts focus on women leaders from Eastern Europe
- Britain could make push for post as a way of demonstrating its continued influence in Europe after Brexit
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by David M. Herszenhorn on politico.eu on July 19, 2021.
Nato allies are scouring their ranks – in search of a successor to Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Stoltenberg, a former prime minister of Norway, has served in the top civilian post since October 2014. Allies extended his contract until September 2022, leaving little more than a year to install a replacement. At headquarters, formal discussions have just begun, and Stoltenberg’s successor is expected to be introduced at a Nato leaders’ summit in Madrid in late spring or early summer next year.
But speculation in Brussels and other allied capitals is already rampant, with some officials, diplomats and analysts saying that after 72 years it’s high time for the alliance to appoint its first woman to the top civilian job. Others say that given the continuing face-off with Russia, selecting an Eastern European would send an important signal to Moscow.
Put those two imperatives together and three names quickly shoot to the top of the list of prospective candidates: former presidents Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic of Croatia and Dalia Grybauskaite of Lithuania; and current Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid.
Grabar-Kitarović, who served as Croatia’s first female president from 2015 to 2020, has the advantage of having already worked at Nato headquarters, as assistant secretary general for public diplomacy from 2011 to 2014. She broke a glass ceiling in that job, too.