Munich Security Conference
Stoltenberg to replace Heusgen as MSC boss
On October 1, Stoltenberg will step down as NATO Secretary General. He already has a new job in sight. Photo
© Stephanie Scarbrough/AP/dpa
After the February conference, Christoph Heusgen will step down as head of the Munich Security Conference. He is to be given a prominent successor.
The outgoing NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is to replace Christoph Heusgen as head of the Munich Security Conference (MSC). Corresponding reports from the news portal “Politico” and the editorial network of Germany (RND) were confirmed to the German Press Agency by several sources.
There was no official confirmation at first. A spokeswoman for the Munich Security Conference told the dpa that they do not comment on personnel matters as a matter of principle. NATO also initially did not want to comment on the issue when asked by the dpa.
Stoltenberg to step down as NATO Secretary General in October
Stoltenberg will hand over his post as NATO Secretary General to former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on October 1st after ten years. Heusgen, a former top diplomat and long-time adviser to Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU), only took over the chairmanship of the security conference from Wolfgang Ischinger in 2022. Ischinger is president of the MSC Board of Trustees and founded the foundation in 2011. According to the RND, Ischinger is said to have described Stoltenberg as “incomparably the best choice” on the Board of Trustees.
Stoltenberg, 65, was Norwegian Prime Minister from 2000 to 2001 and from 2005 to 2013. He led his country through the difficult period following the attacks in Oslo’s government district and on the island of Utøya in 2011, in which right-wing terrorist Anders Behring Breivik killed a total of 77 people. Stoltenberg is the father of two adult children.
MSC focuses on security of NATO countries
Since its founding in 1963, the Munich Security Conference has developed into one of the most important international forums on security policy. Every year in February, high-ranking politicians, NATO defense ministers, military experts and representatives of the arms industry gather at the Bayerischer Hof hotel in Munich to discuss security policy issues. The main focus is on issues relating to the security of NATO states. Horst Teltschik and Ischinger have been chairmen for many years. Teltschik, a former advisor to Chancellor Helmut Kohl, headed the conference from 1999 to 2008.