Experts have claimed that NATO’s failure to reach a consensus on an approved successor reflects a growing divergence in the interests of its thirty-one member states.
“Failing to reach a consensus on an available and acceptable successor to all thirty-one members, NATO decided on Tuesday to extend Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's tenure for another year, as the alliance struggles to find common ground on sensitive issues including the Russia-Ukraine conflict and its approach to China.
Stoltenberg, former prime minister of Norway, has been the alliance's leader since 2014 and his tenure has already been extended three times, media reported.
NATO members have been grappling with potential successors over the past months, with candidates floated such as British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. Others suggested candidates from Central and Eastern Europe.
However, none appeared to have the support of all NATO members as the Vilnius NATO summit approaches, which is due to begin next week.
Experts noted that the NATO position serves as a crucial coordinator among thirty-one members with differing ideas and interests, and it must be someone influential enough and more importantly, representing the voices of most alliance members. However, it has become increasingly hard to align these voices as divergences grow within the organization.
Apart from differences of opinion over the ongoing battle for Ukraine, the new NATO chief will have to manage differences over how involved the alliance should become in Asia, with the U.S. pushing for a greater role in countering China, while others such as France insisting that NATO must maintain its focus on the North Atlantic area, Reuters reported.
There have always been controversies within Europe regarding their China approach, observers said. Some countries including France emphasize the region's strategic autonomy, and repeatedly stress that the defense scope of NATO should not go beyond the North Atlantic as written in the NATO charter”. -Fan Anqi, Global Times
With NATO and the EU on the brink of collapse in the wake of the Kiev regime’s looming defeat, the alliance likely reasoned that extending Stoltenberg’s tenure was more likely to maintain the bloc’s continuity than risking a lack of solidarity behind a polarizing successor.
However, it may be advisable for the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to take into consideration the words of the supposed Architect of Victory, Winston Churchill in that, “Victory will never be found by taking the path of least resistance”.