Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs declines any canditature for new NATO Secretary General

Mr Jonas Gahr Støre, Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, has long been mentioned as a dark horse in the competition for the post of Secretary General in NATO. The top candidate has long been Danish PM Andres Fogh Rasmussen, who is popular with a vast majority of NATO-member governments, and Mr Støre's Polish counterpart Mr Radoslaw Sikorski. While Mr Rasmussen's drawback has been the cartoon-incident a few years back, resulting in Turkey founding it difficult to support a Danish candidate, Mr Sikorski has come off as a little too anti-Russian for some of the major Western European countries. For the part of Mr Støre, non of these are the case; he managed more or less well (I'd argue more to towards less than more well) with the cartoon-incident, appeasing most Middle Eastern countries, and he is on a good standing with Russia. What has counted against him, however, is that he is not from an EU Member State, as this has been seen as a bit of a pre-requisite for the new Secretary General. Also, Mr Støre's party colleague, former PM and Minister of Foreign Affairs and currently President of the Norwegian Parliament, Mr Torbjørn Jagland, has long been a broadly supported candidate for the Council of Europe Secretary General. The chances of Norway getting both of these posts are at best slim and normally next to none, and Mr Støre's bid for the NATO job would only have undermined the chances of Mr Jagland. This, however, is yesterday's news today. Mr Støre has stated that he prioritised his jobs in Norway, running for Parliament in the fall and continue to work on what he characterises as the "Government project".

Although I believe that Mr Fogh Rasmussen will be an excellent Secretary General and I hope he gets the job, I am a bit disappointed by the news of Mr Støre's withdrawl. Mr Støre has an outstanding background for the job, including several high posts as well in national politics as well as in international organisations, he has proven an excellent capacity for coalition building and management, which he proved during the last phase of the Doha negociations, and he is a truly cosmopolitt who probably would be able to use his potential better in Bruxelles than in Oslo. Also, it should be mentioned, getting him out of Norwegian politics would be quite a blow to the Labour party, as he is by far the country's most popular politician. Despite his qualities, they are not enough for me to wish our Government a continued life after the elections