Jens Stoltenberg’s mandate at the head of NATO will end in September 2023, and the game has begun between the allies associated with his successor, writes The New York Times, which, citing sources, reveals who would be the candidates for this position. The name of Klaus Johannis will not be on this list.

In an article signed by Stephen Erlanger, The New York Times writes with reference to American officials that the first candidate in Washington will be Christia Freeland, 54 years old, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Canada. A former journalist married to a reporter for The New York Times, she was also Canada’s foreign affairs minister.

The United States does not nominate an American candidate, almost as a rule it is an American general who is the supreme commander of the Allied forces in Europe.

The American edition writes that, surprisingly, the European Union would like the next head of NATO to be from a member state – 21 of its 27 states are members of the North Atlantic Alliance.

Although the Europeans have not yet united around a single name, they also have several strong candidates, according to The New York Times. They will include:

• Prime Minister of Estonia Kaia Kallas (45 years old)
• President of Slovakia Zuzana Chaputova (49 years old)
• Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović (54), President of Croatia from 2015 to 2020

And Great Britain, which left the European Union, but not NATO, will try to impose its candidate, whose favorite is the current Minister of Defense Ben Wallace (52 years old).

The name of President Klaus Iohannis is not on the list provided by The News York Times.

In February, Deutsche Welle and DPA wrote that, although there is no clear favorite for the post of NATO leader, after Stoltenberg’s departure, the name of President Klaus Johannis will be on the list of possible candidates.

In addition, this is not the first time that Yohannis’ name appears in the list of possible candidates.

In July 2021, Politico.eu wrote that one of the factors in the decision is that the country of origin of a certain candidate for the post of Secretary General meets the NATO goal of spending 2% of GDP on defense, which is a symbolic but important indicator.

“Romania is another NATO ally that has reached the 2 percent threshold, potentially giving President Klaus Iohannis a shot at the secretary-general position, although Romania could be seen as too aggressive toward Russia,” Politico.eu noted at the time.

At the same time, the quoted source also wrote at the time that after 72 years since the creation of the most powerful military alliance in the world, many believe that it is time for a woman to lead it.

When asked by a journalist in July of this year whether he would agree to a possible offer to head NATO, Klaus Iohannis replied: “If such an offer were made to me, I would evaluate it very seriously and make a public statement.” .

Romania currently holds the position of Deputy Secretary General of NATO, Mircea Joane has been in the position since the fall of 2019. The mandate of the Deputy is not fixed, but can also depend on the mandate of the Secretary General, which is one of four years. The last two had two years each, but in the past they were deputies with mandates for four, five, or six years as well.