“The way he made the announcement, the time chosen and the lack of communication with the partners show that Iohannis did not understand anything and that he does not have the necessary qualities for this position”

On Wednesday, Le Figaro devoted an extensive article to the summit of NATO foreign ministers who are meeting in Brussels to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the organization, but also to try to decide on the future secretary general. The French publication shows that Mark Rutte is the favorite and writes about the candidacy of Klaus Iohannis that “he has not the slightest chance of success, not even among the countries on the eastern flank”.

The French newspaper shows that even Kaja Kallas, the prime minister of Estonia, said in a statement on Tuesday that his country will support Mark Rutte and not Klaus Iohannis, even though he comes from an eastern state.

Le Figaro reports that the United States, Germany, Britain and France have officially announced their support for Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, but the matter has been complicated lately by Hungary’s objections and demands for assurances from Turkey, as well as the “candidacy surprise of the Romanian president Klaus Iohannis, although the latter does not have the slightest chance of success, not even among the countries on the eastern flank”.

Moreover, Le Figaro cites “a good connoisseur of NATO”, who stated that “the way he made the announcement, the time he chose and the lack of communication with the partners show that Klaus Iohannis did not understand anything and that he does not have the necessary qualities for this function”.

“NATO is celebrating 75 years in a climate of uncertainty and tensions”, also says the French publication, which writes that for the first time in history the original NATO treaty signed in 1949 left the State Department, where it is kept, on Tuesday to cross Atlantic and travel under heavy security to NATO headquarters in Brussels, where it will be on display until Friday before being taken back to Washington.

The Brussels meeting is also used to celebrate the various waves of eastward expansion that the organization has gone through: the 25th anniversary of the accession of Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary; the 20th anniversary of the accession of the Baltic states, Slovakia, Romania, Slovenia and Bulgaria; and the 15th anniversary of the accession of Croatia and Albania. 75 years ago, the Alliance had only 12 members. There are now 32, including Sweden, which is attending its first meeting as a full ally rather than an invited country.

The celebration of NATO’s 75th anniversary comes at a time of uncertainty for the Alliance. The successor to the current secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has not yet been chosen, although the allies have given themselves until the beginning of April to agree on a name, reports Le Figaro.

Another shadow on the horizon of Wednesday’s meeting is the possible return of Donald Trump to the White House. The Republican candidate could step up his attacks on Article 5, which enshrines the solidarity of members if one of them is attacked. In February, at a campaign rally, Trump announced that the United States might not come to the aid of “bad payers,” those who do not invest enough in their defense and fall below the 2 percent threshold of GDP. Jens Stoltenberg is expected to remind lagging countries of the need to meet and exceed the 2% target. According to the latest data cited by Le Figaro, only 18 of the 32 members reached the target.

The corollary to this situation is the difficult issue of long-term support for Ukraine. On Wednesday, Jens Stoltenberg is expected to issue new warnings, while the $60 billion promised to Kiev months ago is still stuck in Congress.

According to Bloomberg, NATO plans to put together a military aid package for Ukraine worth up to $100 billion over five years. The goal, according to diplomats who spoke to the news agency: to protect Kiev from “political changes” that would result from Trump’s return to the White House.

Another stake of the NATO Foreign Ministers’ meeting is the institutionalization under the NATO umbrella of the Ramstein contact group, now formally organized by the US. This group, established shortly after the start of the war to coordinate military support for Ukraine and having more than fifty members (including the 32 NATO countries), is led by the United States. But the talks between the allies are expected to be complex, as one of the organization’s diplomats points out: “It’s about deciding how much military support to give to Ukraine.”