The leader of UDMR (Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania), Kelemen Hunor, does not understand the motivation of President Klaus Iohannis to become the Secretary General of NATO.
According to him, the NATO Secretary General cannot favor the country he comes from, because it is a much greater, global responsibility.
"He wants to be the boss, the Secretary General of NATO, that's all I understood. I checked as much as I could, but in NATO's history there has never been competition for this position, it was discreetly negotiated and a secretary supported by everyone in the alliance was appointed. It was also normal to be this way, as it's not a job in a private company or a public institution, we are talking about a military alliance.
There, without Americans, you can't make a decision, without France, without the United Kingdom, the nuclear powers, you can't assert yourself. You can block, confuse the calculations a bit. I don't think it's about Romania when Klaus Iohannis is running, I rather think it's about Klaus Iohannis. I don't think he starts from this premise... He also said that Central Europe, Eastern Europe, the former communist bloc, he didn't mention Romania, that he needs to obtain something."
Of course, if a former president of Romania reaches this position, he can help us, but the NATO Secretary General cannot favor the country he comes from, because it is a much greater, global responsibility. I don't know if he is prepared to bear a global responsibility. He should have been much more direct, transparent, and sincere with those who voted for him," said Kelemen Hunor, on Digi24.
The UDMR leader argues that the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, should not be underestimated in this context, being experienced and "the most cynical politician in Europe."
"There will be no voting here, it will be negotiated, and someone will give up or a third candidate will be found. Mark Rutte is experienced, he is the most cynical politician in Europe. He has never won an election and has been a prime minister for 12 years. Let's not underestimate his ability to eventually gather the votes of others, except for Klaus Iohannis," Kelemen further states.
President Klaus Iohannis refused, on Wednesday, to provide details about the discussions he is having regarding his candidacy for the NATO leadership.
The head of state was asked about the lack of opinions from allies regarding his candidacy and why this is happening.
"Regarding NATO, discussions are being held, they are very intense, but these discussions are different from those in other formats.
NATO issues are not discussed publicly, they are not made public. So we continue as before. We had some good discussions, on a diplomatic level. They continue, and we will see when we have a result," stated Klaus Iohannis.
On April 3, the president stated that he does not intend to withdraw his candidacy for the position of NATO Secretary General or to negotiate another position at the European level.
The decision regarding the new NATO chief will be made at the summer summit in Washington.