Bundeswehr soldiers stand in a row in Pabrade (Lithuania) during the visit of Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday.
Image: dpa
Due to illness, the NATO Secretary General cannot come to Berlin in person. Stoltenberg can get a lot out of Germany’s willingness to lead a brigade in Lithuania – even if the ideas in Vilnius were different.
EAt the end of the month Brussels, the heads of state and government of the NATO member states meet in Madrid. It will be the first real summit since 2018. Groundbreaking decisions are pending for the alliance: on a new strategic concept, on the medium-term defense of the eastern flank and on the admission of Sweden and Finland, which has so far been blocked by Turkey. As usual, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is now consulting the allies in order to resolve as many conflicts as possible in advance. He was expected in Berlin on Thursday, but couldn’t come after all. The 63-year-old Norwegian was diagnosed with shingles, a representative of Allianz said. This could be a result of his corona disease a month ago; it does not make preparations for the summit any easier.
After all, Stoltenberg consulted virtually with Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht, both SPD. The Chancellery then announced that Scholz and Stoltenberg had discussed the planned update of the Alliance’s strategic concept, as well as “necessary adjustments as a result of the Russian aggression against Ukraine and the implementation of the “NATO 2030″ agenda”. There was agreement “that a signal of the determination and unity of the alliance must go out from the summit”.