london: US President Joe Biden likely wanted a former prime minister or president to serve as secretary general, but the 31 member states could not agree on who that person should be, according to the departing UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, who gave an explanation of why his bid to lead NATO was rejected by Washington on Tuesday.
At a Tony Blair Institute-sponsored conference on the future of Britain, Wallace stated, "I think the Americans probably wanted a head of state." He continued, "If I have a theory, I think they believed that the 31 members really wanted an ex-president or prime minister.
He disclosed that Mark Rutte, the former prime minister of the Netherlands, had at least two conversations with Biden about the position but had "made it very clear" that he was not interested. Rutte left politics earlier this month after nearly 13 years in office when his coalition fell apart over immigration policy.
Wallace put his name forward after Rutte was eliminated from consideration and received strong backing from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, but not from the Americans.
"Why don't you back the candidate that is put forward by your closest ally? Wallace had stated in an interview with the Times that was published on Saturday, announcing his resignation from the cabinet, "I think it's a fair question.
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Wallace compared the NATO leadership selection process to Tory party politics when he spoke at a Blair Institute event.
"31 NATO members, no process, no balance, and no one ever actually declares their desire to run for office... So, how did it function? Evidently, there were opposing points of view, he said.
Some members called for a female secretary general but disqualified anyone from a nation that wasn't spending the required 2% of GDP on defense. "So suddenly you get down to Eastern European women - the brilliant PM of Estonia - and of course they are too hawkish for potentially the Germans or the French," Wallace said.
When the summit kicked off on July 11, Biden remarked, "NATO stands strong." By the end, the bloc was unable to decide on Stoltenberg's successor and again extended his term, this time to 2024.
Wallace joked, drawing laughter from the audience, "I did say at one stage we should all just get used to the secretary general from Iceland." Poor old Jens has been working at the same job for ten years.
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After losing his position as prime minister of Norway in 2014, Stoltenberg was appointed to lead NATO. With the intention of finally replacing him at last week's summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, the US-led military bloc extended his term in an unprecedented move by four years in 2018 and then by another year in 2022.
Iceland joined NATO despite not having a standing army because of its advantageous location in the North Atlantic. While its president is a man, the country's prime minister and foreign minister, who serves in place of the absent defense minister, are both women.
