Norwegian, 55 years old, leader of the Labor Party since 2002 and Prime Minister of Norway for two terms (2005-2009 and 2009-2013). This is how Jens Stoltenberg presents himself, appointed by the Altantico Council as the new NATO secretary, a role hitherto held by the Danish Anders Fogh Rasmussen and which will be assumed by the'former Norwegian premier as of October XNUMXst.
The progressive exponent's career began in the 1993s with his entry into Parliament in 1996 as a deputy. Appointed Minister of Finance for one year (1997-2012), his international prestige increased with his post as United Nations envoy on climate change. As premier Stoltenberg had to manage the attacks in Oslo and on the island of Utoya, carried out by Breivik in August 2013. In the XNUMX elections, however, he failed to obtain a parliamentary majority, announcing the resignation of his executive.
The news of the new appointment surprised the American premier Barack Obama, while he found the full support of Angela Merkel and David Cameron. Thus the Wall Street Journal raises doubts about the choice of Jens Stoltenberg as the next secretary general of NATO: "His radicalism already represents a red note", we read.
“During his tenure as Minister of Industry and Energy in 1995 he took part in a bicycle marathon from Oslo to Paris to protest against French nuclear tests”. And in 2006, just during Stoltenberg's second term, the Norwegian Pension Fund exited its participation in three US companies because, the Wall Street Journal recalls, they were held responsible for "providing a contribution to the production of nuclear weapons".
Finally, the newspaper also criticizes Stoltenberg for his accommodating positions on Russia.
The announcement was made shortly before the official appointment by Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini. "We can expect the formalization" of the appointment in the next few hours- the minister announced in the early afternoon during a press conference. "Hopefully we will arrive at a unanimous consensus" around the figure of the former Norwegian prime minister, added the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
