– I’ve seen speculation – VG

Jens Stoltenberg, 62, achieved a lot in October of this year as NATO Secretary General.

He first visited the White House, where he held a three-quarters meeting with President Joe Biden, then met with Biden’s national security adviser, before moving to the Pentagon and meeting with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Occasionally there was a telephone conversation with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.

Blinken had to travel to France on Monday due to the deep diplomatic row that followed The United States’ secret submarine agreement with Australia.

Thus, Biden was the president when he was France’s ambassador to the United States for the first time in history It was called home.

Difficult cases

Then came the Afghanistan lottery. The President of the United States has experienced a very difficult foreign policy fall thus far.

Is there a lot of chaos with the Americans at the moment?

– We’ve been through some tough cases and they are very different, Stoltenberg tells VG in the backyard of a hotel in the US capital.

He describes the Taliban’s seizure of power as a “tragedy”, especially for women who have lost the rights they earned over 20 years of NATO’s existence.

lower submarine agreement

As for the so-called Oaks agreement that the French got in their throats, Stoltenberg realizes that they are “frustrated” – something that he too advertiser under høynivåuka i fn sept.

At the same time, we must not make this issue any bigger than it is. NATO allies agree on the most important thing, which is that we stand together in NATO. It has been strongly emphasized by the meetings here today. They were, Stoltenberg says, about how we should continue to restructure NATO at a time when the world is changing.

– But were they also concerned with reform after the events of the past few weeks?

– It was about how to deal with these cases. As I say, they are different, says Stoltenberg, who is keen to point out that the withdrawal was a decision “taken together by 30 NATO countries after extensive consultations.”

finished in a year

The press was present when Secretary General Stoltenberg and Secretary of Defense Austin served each other with public courtesies on behalf of NATO and the United States, the alliance’s most important member states.

Stoltenberg spent part of his time speaking, saying that Afghanistan’s withdrawal was a joint NATO decision, without describing how the United States would handle the implementation.

Austin praised him as someone who “was” a good NATO leader. In a few months, a new Secretary-General will be elected, and next fall, the former Prime Minister of Norway from the Labor Party will end his post.

Do you feel that the Americans are now setting themselves up for your successor?

– No, I do not test it, but it is clear that in a year there will be another who will be the Secretary General of NATO. Stoltenberg answers this way.

Next post: I won’t think too much

He describes the job you are about to finish now as meaningful.

Since 2014, I have been allowed to participate in perhaps the largest restructuring of NATO, perhaps since the end of the Cold War. But it’s all over, and my term at NATO will end next year, says the Secretary-General.

– Then what will you do?

– I do not know. I worry about not thinking too much about it either, because it matters to my focus and attention, if I start thinking too much about what my next job will be. Stoltenberg replied: In a long life, I have already taken one job at a time and focused on the job I do and intend to do the same at NATO.

I have seen the proposals of the Governor of the Central Bank

Both business today, Aftenposten And VG In the comments section, Jens Stoltenberg, the “father of labor rule” and social economist, was named as the clear candidate for the new central bank governor’s post.

Øystein Olsen Go by February next year.

– I’ve seen speculation about it, but it’s not something I’m going to take a stand on now. Now I’ll focus on my NATO job, and then I’ll get back to what I’m going to do when I’m done here,” Stoltenberg replied.

– But would it be exciting?

– If I now start commenting on it, it will rightly be interpreted to mean something about what I should do next, and I don’t intend to, he laughs.