Jens Stoltenberg will step down as NATO Secretary General in October. His next position has reportedly already been decided: he will chair the Munich Security Conference.
According to consistent media reports, outgoing NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is to become the new head of the Munich Security Conference (MSC). He will succeed Christoph Heusgen next year.
The new appointment to the presidency was first reported by the Politico portal and the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND). According to RND, the Board of Trustees of the Munich Security Conference Foundation is preparing a corresponding decision.
The Munich Security Conference (MSC)
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 defense 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 countries.
Stoltenberg has extended his NATO membership several times
Stoltenberg will hand over his office as NATO Secretary General to former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on October 1st after ten years. Stoltenberg wanted to give up the office of Secretary General in September 2022, but due to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, he extended his term until September 2023. Because the question of succession had not been resolved by then either, he remained in office for another year.
Stoltenberg as “incomparable best choice”
Heusgen, a former top diplomat and long-time advisor to Chancellor Angela Merkel, only took over the MSC chairmanship 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.
NATO declined to comment on the reports. However, the news agency dpa reported that the information about Stoltenberg’s move had been confirmed by several sources.