Madrid, June 22 (European press) –
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace ruled out his candidacy for the post of NATO’s new Secretary General on Wednesday during an interview with The Economist.
“It won’t happen,” said Wallace, who also opined that the United States wants the current leader of the coalition, Jens Stoltenberg, to continue in office for another year.
In addition, he stated that the White House favored the prime minister and that he had come to test Dutch President Mark Rutte, an offer he twice declined.
Another candidate for this position, according to the British politician, is the Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen. “But Denmark is still far from meeting the NATO target of spending 2 percent of GDP on defence, which angers many Eastern European countries.”
“Whoever gets the job is going to have to deal with a lot of unsolved problems at NATO,” Wallace warned, pointing to the fact that many countries have not met the goal of devoting up to 2% of GDP to defence.
“(The new successor) will have to satisfy both French President Emmanuel Macron and United States President Joe Biden,” Wallace said, explaining that while Washington is asking the Atlantic alliance to confront China, Macron wants greater “European strategic autonomy.”
“Subtly charming bacon junkie. Infuriatingly humble beer trailblazer. Introvert. Evil reader. Hipster-friendly creator.”