NATO Secretary General since 2014, Jens Stoltenberg has supported the Alliance’s renewed vigor in the face of the war led by Vladimir Putin’s Russia, after overcoming the blows of the Trump years.

On leaving in 2022 to join the central bank of his native Norway, he had extended following the invasion of Ukraine. Failing to agree on his successor, the 31 states of the military alliance have once again asked the phlegmatic Scandinavian to remain in his post.

This second one-year extension was announced on Tuesday by Mr. Stoltenberg, 64. It will allow him to attend the 75th anniversary summit of NATO in July 2024 in Washington. He will then have spent a decade at the head of the organization.

Having taken office just months after Moscow annexed Crimea, he now faces the biggest conflict on the European continent since World War II.

In the meantime, he deployed his talents as a diplomat to convince Donald Trump’s America not to leave NATO and to manage the chaotic withdrawal of allied troops in Afghanistan.

The war in Ukraine gave back a raison d’être to NATO, in search of direction since the end of the cold war, leading it to strengthen its eastern flank and to integrate Finland – before the hoped-for inclusion of the Sweden.

Moscow “woke” the Alliance “with the worst electroshock”, noted French President Emmanuel Macron, who mocked his “brain death” in 2019.

While NATO treads a cautious line between unwavering support for Kiev and a desire to avoid any escalation with Russia, Jens Stoltenberg is praised for his composure — which he demonstrated in particular during a missile launch in Poland, which ultimately turned out to come from the Ukrainian air defenses.

“With his steady and steady hand, our alliance is stronger and more united than ever,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said recently.

An economist by training, the former Norwegian Prime Minister had never shown any particular inclination for defense issues during his political career, which nevertheless provided him with a solid international network.

While he is known in Brussels for his strict appearance, he was a long-haired teenager in the 1970s who threw stones at the United States Embassy in Oslo to protest the Vietnam War.

He comes from an eminently political family: his father was Minister of Defense then Foreign Affairs, his mother Deputy Minister. “I had made a clear and thoughtful decision: not to become a politician,” said the man who dreamed of becoming an academic.

He finally entered Parliament in 1991 and experienced a rapid rise: Minister of Energy then Finance, before being appointed in 2000 the youngest Prime Minister of the country, the day after his 41st birthday, as leader of the Labor Party of centre-left.

After the killing (77 dead) committed by right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik on July 22, 2011, Mr. Stoltenberg calls for “more democracy” and “more humanity”: this moderate reaction earns him the respect of the community international.

Three years later, he is supported by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Barack Obama to lead NATO.

-“Whisper in Trump’s ear”-

Arrived at the White House in 2017, Donald Trump denounces an “obsolete” NATO and castigates the contributions deemed insufficient by Europeans.

To the point of threatening the survival of the organization, of which the United States is the main power: arriving at the NATO summit in December 2019 in Watford (United Kingdom), the American president is ready to break the alliance that Washington had dominated since its creation in 1949.

In the opinion of many, it was Jens Stoltenberg who then managed to dissuade him, earning him the nickname of “the one who knows how to whisper in Trump’s ear”.

“He kept Trump in NATO, which was far from certain. He was one of the few European leaders about whom Trump said positive things,” said Jamie Shea, a former senior NATO official. .

However, transatlantic tensions persisted under Joe Biden, with the hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan decided by Washington.

And if the war in Ukraine has tightened the ties between the Allies, it is causing new divisions – in particular on Kiev’s application for membership, on which Mr. Stoltenberg will try to find a consensus in July.

The Norwegian also has to deal with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is still delaying Sweden’s accession to the Alliance.

In recent months, Mr. Stoltenberg has already distilled his advice to his future successor, who – unless there is a further extension… – should take office at the end of 2024.

“The main, most important task is to make sure that we stay together, to keep the family together.”

“Of course, it’s not always easy…”.

04/07/2023 11:36:50 – Bruxelles (AFP) – © 2023 AFP