Outgoing NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged member states to uphold the Alliance’s founding values in his speech on Thursday to conclude his ten-year term.
” Since I took office as Secretary General in 2014, the world around us has changed profoundly ” he began his farewell speech.
Regarding Ukraine, he stressed that the country had never been so close to NATO, saying that the door to the Alliance was open and Ukraine would join it.
“Today, President Putin believes he can achieve his goals on the battlefield. And he believes he can wait us out. That is why he continues to wage his brutal war. I do not believe we can change Putin’s mind. But I believe we can change his calculus. By giving Ukraine more weapons, we can make Putin understand that he cannot get what he wants by force and make it so costly that he will have to accept that Ukraine has a sovereign democratic right to exist as a sovereign democratic nation.” he said.
During Mr. Stoltenberg’s term, NATO strengthened its defensesgrowing from zero to tens of thousands of combat-ready NATO troops on its eastern flank.
A new head at the top of the Alliance 1st october
Jens Stoltenberg will step down as Secretary General at the end of the month, after a decade at the helm of NATO.
NATO to host former Dutch PM Mark Rutte as the new Secretary-General on 1 October.
The Dutch leader is the longest-serving prime minister in the Netherlands and has always managed to avoid scandals during his time in office.