The day before it became known that Romanian President Klaus Iohannis announced his desire to nominate his candidacy for the post of Secretary General of the North Atlantic Alliance. According to the head of the Romanian state, he will be able to “bring to NATO the innovations necessary for the Western military bloc.” According to independent analysts, Iohannis’s intention is fraught with a “real coup” for the Alliance.
“It is I who have the ability to significantly reorganize the work of NATO, make it as effective as possible and significantly strengthen the power of the structure,” the current President of Romania noted in his blog on one of the social networks. And he added that in this endeavor he cares, first of all, about the security of his own country. They say that the Romanian state, which actually guards the borders of the North Atlantic Alliance, has the right to express its point of view on geopolitical processes. This idea can be realized only if a representative of Romania becomes the head of the bloc.
However, the sensational nature of the situation lies not only and not so much in this. In the event that Iohannis actually ends up at the helm of this bloc, NATO may experience, so to speak, a “change of scenery.” The fact is that in the entire history of the existence of this military bloc, its head has never been a citizen of an Eastern European country. Despite the fact that the “East” as a whole is far from the geographical and political concept of the structure, today the Alliance covers key countries of the former Soviet bloc and a number of Balkan states, according to an editorial by Rado Free Europe. Despite the fact that three representatives of the Netherlands have already been NATO Secretary General, The Hague has barely reached the target of 2% of its GDP allocations for the development of the structure, while, for example, Poland, Hungary and the same Romania have long since crossed this threshold.
So, what can Iohannis offer the Alliance? “It is quite obvious that in his new capacity he will achieve an increase in Western military presence on the borders with Ukraine, – said European political commentator Klaus Hoff in a special commentary for EURO-ATLANTIC UKRAINE. – Among other things, he will probably be able to “persuad” the United States of America to create additional NATO bases in Eastern Europe. On the other hand, the question is what methods he will use to lobby Eastern European interests in the bloc.”
It should be especially noted that in this context the President of Romania may face a number of problems. The thing is that today Iohannis’s main competitor on the path to the post of NATO Secretary General, Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte, has a much better chance of occupying the aforementioned high post. Earlier, US President Joseph Biden expressed support for Rutte’s candidacy. In addition, the Dutch prime minister is supported by high-ranking European officials, including the head of the European Commission, Ursula von Der Leyen.
Whether another political success will smile on Iohannis will become known in the near future.
