Pedro Sanchez - Spanish President
Ursula Von Der Leyen - Head of EU
Mark Rutte - Ex-Dutch President
Klaus Iohannis - Romanian President
Kaja Kallas - Estonian Prime minister
Chrystia Freeland - Canadian Finance Minister
Ben Wallace - Ex-UK Defence Secretary
Current Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is due to step down later this year after his tenure was extended following the start of the war in Ukraine.
There is no formal election for a new leader of NATO; instead, a new leader is elected by consensus.
Traditionally, although the USA doesn’t put up a candidate, they do have a big say in who takes the role while a US General normally serves as Supreme Allied Commander of Europe.
Sources have suggested Britain could veto Ms Von der Leyen because of her poor track record with Germany’s Armed Forces.
Meanwhile, it is believed current Defence Secretary Ben Wallace is in the running to be the first British NATO Secretary General in 20 years with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak believed to be backing his bid.
Meanwhile, the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag has reported that Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is also in the running.
Alongside Mr Wallace, Estonian Prime Minster Kaja Kallas is also being tipped for the job. However, she is said to have ruled herself out as she faces the threat of Russia on Estonia’s border.
Candidates also include Canada’s Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland. However, a NATO source told the Sun the half-Ukrainian half-Canadian is unlikely to get the job after Canada failed to meet the alliance-wide target of spending two percent of GDP on defence.
Klaus Iohannis the Romanian president has also announced that he is running with the argument that NATO needs to be led my an Eastern European nation for a change.
As time passes it will be clear which candidates have support, it is likely that the USA, Hungary and Türkiye will have a large influence on who is selected as they have had large influences over recent decisions and accession of other states.
