Latvian Foreign Minister “ready” to take over as head of NATO

Latvian Foreign Minister Krisjanis Karins feels ready to succeed Jens Stoltenberg at the head of NATO.

“If there is interest, I will be ready and I think I have the experience and certain qualities and skills that are useful” to the members of the Atlantic Alliance, this former Prime Minister declared in an interview with AFP on Wednesday. the outcome of a NATO meeting in Brussels.

Mr. Stoltenberg, whose term was extended twice due to the war in Ukraine, is due to leave office when his current term ends next fall.

The outgoing Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, is considered by several diplomats as the big favorite, with the support of heavyweights such as France and Germany.

If he were to be chosen, he would become the fourth Dutchman to lead the alliance.

– Born in Wilmington, Delaware –

But for Krisjanis Karins, it is time for NATO to look beyond the small group of countries in central Europe and towards new member countries closer to the Russian threat to the east.

“I think it’s important that as part of this process we look at potential candidates across the Alliance,” he said.

“It is no longer a small Alliance which fought within the framework of the Cold War, it is now a very broad alliance, of 31 countries, soon 32 (with Sweden), which practically covers the whole continent,” he insists.

The head of Latvian diplomacy, who was born in Wilmington, Delaware, where US President Joe Biden grew up, also believes that it would be a “good signal” if the next head of NATO was from a nation that has achieved the Alliance’s military spending targets.

The Alliance countries have committed to dedicating 2% of their gross domestic product (GDP), which Latvia is doing.

He sees compliance with this criterion as proof of “credibility” for those who aspire to lead the most important military alliance in the world.

Mr. Rutte’s Netherlands has failed to achieve this goal, although it is close.

Whoever the next leader of the Alliance is, Mr Karins believes he will have to be a “consensus builder”.

“Maintaining a 32-member alliance (with Sweden) on any issue is a challenge at the best of times and right now we are not at the best of times, there is a war going on in Europe”.

Another person potentially in the running for the job is Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, whose country neighbors Latvia.

“We are not official candidates but I think that the more potential candidates there are, the better the final decision will be,” thinks Krisjanis Karins.