European Commission: Ursula von der Leyen will not be a candidate for new NATO Secretary General

The president of the European Commission, former German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen, is not a candidate to take over as the new Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a representative of the Commission assured the German Agency yesterday Saturday.

He was commenting on an article by the British tabloid The Sun yesterday Friday, the content of which he described as “baseless scenario”.

The paper said Ms von der Leyen had been nominated by some European governments to succeed Jens Stoltenberg, citing an unnamed diplomatic source..

But the Sun report, citing British government sources it also did not name, said London would likely veto Ms von der Leyen’s candidacy, citing critics of her poor record as head of the German army.

Mr Stoltenberg is expected to step down as NATO leader in October. The 63-year-old Norwegian’s term has been extended three times, most recently until September 30. He has been the Secretary General of NATO for the last almost nine years.

There has been a lot of talk recently about a new extension of the term of the current NATO Secretary General, in the midst of the war in Ukraine. However, diplomats countered that this would give the impression that the member states of the military alliance cannot agree on who should succeed him.

The British government has reportedly suggested that the current Tory defense secretary, Ben Wallace, take over the post. According to the Sun report, among the candidacies being talked about are also those of Estonian Prime Minister Kaia Kalas and Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, whose mother is Ukrainian. According to other sources, recently cited by the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, among the leading candidates is believed to be the Socialist Prime Minister of Spain, Pedro Sanchez.