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NATO chief Stoltenberg’s future is clear

Jens Stoltenberg retires as NATO chief.

(Bild: AFP/Thomas Fure)

The future of Jens Stoltenberg has been clarified: the outgoing NATO chief will become Chairman of the Munich Security Conference - and thus remain in charge of security policy.

Stoltenberg is to replace Christoph Heusgen as head of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) next year. Corresponding reports from the news portal "Politico" and the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschlands (RND) were confirmed to the German Press Agency by several sources.

There was initially no official confirmation. A spokeswoman for the Munich Security Conference told dpa that, as a matter of principle, they do not comment on personnel matters. NATO also initially did not wish to comment on the issue when asked by dpa.

Rutte succeeds Stoltenberg as NATO chief
After ten years, Stoltenberg will hand over his post as NATO Secretary General to former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on October 1. Heusgen, a former top diplomat and long-time advisor to German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU), only took over the chairmanship of the Security Conference from Wolfgang Ischinger in 2022.+

Ischinger is President of the MSC Foundation Council and also founded the foundation in 2011. According to RND, Ischinger is said to have described Stoltenberg as the "incomparably best choice" on the Foundation Board.

The 65-year-old Stoltenberg was Prime Minister of Norway from 2000 to 2001 and from 2005 to 2013. He also led his country through the difficult period following the attacks in Oslo's government district and on the island of Utøya in 2011, in which right-wing terrorist Anders Behring Breivik killed a total of 77 people.

Security policy remains Stoltenberg's focus
Since it was founded in 1963, the Munich Security Conference has developed into one of the most important international forums for security policy. Every year in February, high-ranking politicians, NATO defense ministers, military experts and representatives of the arms industry gather at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich to discuss security policy issues. The main focus is on issues relating to the security of NATO countries.