British Defense Minister rules out his candidacy for new NATO Secretary General

June 22 () –

British Defense Minister Ben Wallace ruled out his candidacy for the new NATO Secretary General on Wednesday during an interview with ‘The Economist’.

“It’s not going to happen,” said Wallace, who also opined that the United States wants the current leader of the alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, to continue in office for another year.

In addition, he has stated that the White House prefers a prime minister and that he came to test the president of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, an offer that he has rejected twice.

Another of the favorites for the position, according to the British politician, was the Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen; “But Denmark is a long way from meeting the NATO target of spending 2 percent of GDP on Defense, which irritates many Eastern European countries that do.”

“Whoever gets the job will have to deal with a lot of unresolved problems in NATO,” Wallace warned, referring to the fact that many countries have not met the goal of dedicating up to 2 percent of GDP to Defense.

“(The new successor) will have to please both the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, and the president of the United States, Joe Biden,” said Wallace, explaining that while Washington asks the Atlantic Alliance to confront China, Macron wants to obtain a greater “European strategic autonomy”.