WASHINGTON DC (VG) Jens Stoltenberg met President Biden on Monday for the second time in a short time. He will soon be finished in NATO – and has been launched by several as the new Governor.
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Jens Stoltenberg (62) achieved a lot this October Monday as Secretary General of NATO.
He first visited the White House, where he had a three-quarters meeting with President Joe Biden, then a meeting with Biden’s National Security Adviser, before moving on to the Pentagon and meeting Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
Occasionally there was also a chat on the phone with Foreign Minister Antony Blinken.
Blinken had to go to France on Monday due to the deep, diplomatic rift after The United States’ secret submarine agreement with Australia.
It was thus Biden who was president when the French ambassador to the United States for the first time in history was called home.
–Difficult cases
Then there was the Afghanistan draw. The President of the United States has had a very difficult foreign policy fall so far.
– There is a lot of chaos with the Americans at the moment?
– We have been through some difficult cases and they are very different, Stoltenberg says to VG in the backyard of a hotel in the American capital.
He calls the Taliban’s takeover a “tragedy”, especially for women who lose rights earned over 20 years of NATO presence.
–Tones down submarine agreement
As for the so-called Aukus agreement that the French got in their throats, Stoltenberg understands that they are “disappointed” – something he also stated under høynivåuka i FN i september.
– At the same time, we must not make this case bigger than it is. NATO allies agree on the most important thing, namely that we stand together in NATO. It is very confirmed through the meetings here today. They have been about how we should continue to restructure NATO in a time when the world is changing, says Stoltenberg.
– But have they also been a bit about repairing after the events of the last few weeks?
– It has been about how we should handle those cases. As I say, they are different, says Stoltenberg, who is keen to point out that the withdrawal was a decision that “30 NATO countries took together after extensive consultations”.
–Finished in a year
The press was present when Secretary-General Stoltenberg and Secretary of Defense Austin served each other public courtesies on behalf of NATO and the United States, the alliance’s most important member states.
Stoltenberg spent part of his speaking time saying that the withdrawal of Afghanistan was a joint NATO decision, without characterizing the United States’ handling of implementation.
Austin praised him as someone who “has” been a good leader of NATO. In a few months, a new Secretary General will be elected and next autumn, Norway’s former Labor Prime Minister will finish his role.
– Do you feel that the Americans are now in the process of positioning themselves for your successor?
– No, I do not experience it, but it is clear that in a year’s time there will be another who will be Secretary General of NATO. That’s how it is, Stoltenberg answers.
–Next job: Will not think too much
He calls the job that is now coming to an end meaningful.
– Since 2014, I have been allowed to take part in perhaps the biggest restructuring of NATO, perhaps since the end of the Cold War. But everything has an end and my period in NATO will end next year, says the Secretary General.
– Then what are you going to do?
– I do not know. I’m concerned not to think too much about it either, because it does matter to my focus and attention, if I start thinking too much about what my next job is. In a long life, I have actually taken one job at a time and focused on the job I have and I intend to do the same in NATO, Stoltenberg answers.
–Have seen central bank governor’s proposal
Both Today’s business, Aftenposten and VG has in the comments section launched Jens Stoltenberg, “father of the rule of action” and social economist, as the obvious candidate to take over as the new central bank governor.
Øystein Olsen goes by February next year.
– I have seen speculation about it, but it is not something I will take a position on now. Now I will focus on the job I have in NATO and then I will get back to what I will do when I finish here, Stoltenberg answers.
– But would it have been exciting?
– If I now start to comment on it, it will rightly be interpreted as meaning something about what I should do afterwards and I do not intend to do that, he chuckles.
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