The Prime Minister of Slovenia, Robert Golob, left open the possibility on Thursday for his country to support the candidacy of President Klaus Iohannis for the NATO leadership, even though initially Ljubljana had announced its support for Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
Robert Golob met on Thursday with the current NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, and during the joint press conference, a Slovenian journalist asked the Prime Minister if he supports Mark Rutte.
"When it comes to the new Secretary General, the truth is that about a month ago, we expressed our support for Mark Rutte. The truth is that at that time, Mr. Rutte was the only candidate, so obviously we had no reservations to express our support then," stated Robert Golob.
However, in the meantime, Klaus Iohannis has also announced his candidacy.
"We took it very seriously," confessed the Prime Minister of Slovenia, explaining that Ljubljana shares especially the viewpoints of the Romanian President regarding the "regional nature of leadership positions."
"And we continue to analyze this (the candidacy for NATO leadership), which means that now, since there are two candidates, we will take both of them seriously," mentioned the Prime Minister of Slovenia.
"We are not saying that we are revising our decision yet, but we are analyzing both of them, and in the end, a unanimous decision will have to be made," Golob emphasized.
He said that Slovenia will do everything possible to promote the candidate who will receive the most votes. "At this moment, it seems to be Mark Rutte. But I would say we will have to wait a few more weeks to be decisive in this matter," added the Prime Minister of Slovenia, implying that for now, it is an open-ended race between the Dutch Prime Minister and President Klaus Iohannis, with a possible turnaround.
On March 12, President Klaus Iohannis announced that he decided to compete for the position of NATO Secretary General, arguing that the decision is based on Romania's performance, the experience gained during his two terms as President of Romania, a deep understanding of the challenges facing NATO, Europe, and especially our region, and his firm commitment to the fundamental values and objectives of the North Atlantic Alliance.
At the time of the announcement, at least 20 out of the 32 NATO members, including the most important Western members - the USA, the UK, France, and Germany - had announced their support for Mark Rutte.
However, Iohannis could gain ground, especially among the Eastern members, as Hungary and Bulgaria, to which Turkey could be added, have already announced that they do not agree with the Dutch Rutte at the helm of NATO.
Consensus is needed to obtain the position of NATO Secretary General, with the vote requiring unanimity.