NATO Secretary General is the chief official of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. His responsibilities include coordinating the activities of the alliance and the North Atlantic Council. Today, Jens Stoltenberg, the former Prime Minister of Norway, is in the highest leadership position in NATO.
Origin
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was born in 1960 into a family well known in political circles. His father, Thorvald Stoltenberg, was the foreign minister in Norway at the time.
The future head of NATO spent his early childhood in Yugoslavia, where his father was an ambassador. At that time, his older sister Camilla took an active part in the activities of the Red Youth communist organization. Under the influence of his sister, the future NATO Secretary General was an active participant in demonstrations against the Vietnam War.
Short Biographical Information
Jens Stoltenberg's career began in the newspaper Arbeiderbladet. This is the official mouthpiece of the left forces, havingsignificant influence in public life in Norway. The future NATO Secretary General worked in the publication as a journalist.
- From 1985 to 1989 led the activities of the youth organization of the Norwegian Workers' Party.
- In 1993-1996. worked as the Minister of Trade and Energy of the country.
- In 1996-1997 headed the Ministry of Finance.
- In March 2000, he began his activities as the country's prime minister, but quickly ended it. In the parliamentary elections in September 2001, his party receives less than 25% of the vote. This is the worst result in her entire history.
- In 2002, Jens Stoltenberg takes over the party and leads it to victory during the next election. In 2005, the Norwegian Labor Party, together with the centrists and the left, manages to form the backbone of the ruling coalition.
- During the elections in 2009, the majority in parliament, which the coalition managed to achieve, allows Jens Stoltenberg to create a new government.
NATO Secretary General
In March 2014, Jens becomes Secretary General and also Chairman of the NATO Council. The author of the nomination initiative is German Chancellor Angela Merkel. She was supported by the United States and other members of the alliance. She took office in October this year.
About predecessor
His predecessor, former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, had been in office for the previous five years, between 2009 and 2014. According to experts, its activities in areas declared priority (relations with Moscow andAfghan war), did not lead to much success.
In February 2015, after Ukraine recognized the Russian Federation as an aggressor country, the NATO Secretary General (now former) made a landmark statement that since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Russian aggression poses the most serious danger to Europe.
About the most important direction in the work
According to observers, the priority direction in the work of the new head of NATO, as in the past, is building relations with Russia, forming an assessment of its foreign policy pursued by President V. Putin. Even before his appointment, Jens Stoltenberg subjected Russian policy to merciless criticism, declared the Russian threat to the stability and security of European countries.
As head of NATO, Mr. Stoltenberg has repeatedly stated the need to build up the alliance's military power, including nuclear power, to prevent Russia's attempts to violate international laws. The statement of the NATO Secretary General, given by him at the very beginning of his activity, about the need for joint counteraction of the member countries of the alliance to the Russian threat, which concerns the eastern states, sounded promising.
On the extension of sanctions
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg appealed to the leaders of world powers with a call to extend the sanctions against the Russian Federation caused by the conflict in Ukraine. Restrictions should be extended until the implementation of the Minsk agreements, the politician believes.
About attempts to split the bloc
Recently NATOaccuses Russia of trying to split the alliance. At the same time, the Secretary General expresses sincere confidence in the futility of these attempts due to the solidarity of the members of the North Atlantic bloc.
On Russia's "intimidation" of neighbors
NATO Secretary General, in a statement at a Brussels press conference at the beginning of the year, accused Russia of allegedly being ready to use military power to intimidate neighbors and redraw Europe's borders.
"Provoking the humanitarian crisis in Syria, Russia is threatening the world with nuclear weapons," said the head of the alliance.
As I. Konashenkov, the official representative of the Ministry of Defense, noted in his communication with the media, such attacks about the growing "Russian threat" are regular before the discussion in the US Congress of the volume of funding for military needs.
Russia-NATO Council
Such statements by the leader of the North Atlantic alliance prompted Dmitry Medvedev to conclude that relations between NATO and Russia are aggravating again and the beginning of another round of the Cold War.
Despite this, Mr. Stoltenberg avoids calling Russia an enemy. Moreover, the Secretary General announced the need to hold a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council. According to Jens Stoltenberg, the solution of major conflicts is impossible without the participation of Russia. "The world is too complex to be divided into friends and enemies," he opines.
