Current:Home > ContactEstonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas signals her interest in NATO’s top job -SecureWealth Bridge
Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas signals her interest in NATO’s top job
View
Date:2025-04-14 06:17:53
TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has signaled her interest in becoming the next secretary general of NATO when the top job at the Western military alliance falls vacant next year.
Kallas, who has led the small Baltic nation as its first female head of government since January 2021, was attending the Politico Defence Summit in Washington late Tuesday. When asked whether she would like to be considered for the top post at NATO, she replied simply, “Yes.”
Her ruling Reform Party made no immediate comment Wednesday, but a spokesperson noted that Kallas would be seeking another term as the chair of the center-right political party at its congress in the capital, Tallinn, on Saturday.
NATO’s current chief Jens Stoltenberg is due to step down in October 2024 after 10 years in the post.
Kallas, a 46-year-old lawyer, has been one of the most vocal European backers of Ukraine and a fierce critic of Russia within the European Union and NATO.
Among other things, she has pressed NATO to provide a more thorough defense plan for the three Baltic states — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — that all border Russia.
However, some NATO diplomats and security policy experts have said Kallas may be too hawkish for the taste of some members in the 31-member alliance.
At home in Estonia, a nation of 1.3 million, her popularity peaked during the spring after her Reform Party scored an overwhelming victory in the March general election where Ukraine emerged a major theme.
However, her popularity crashed in August after Estonian media reports revealed that her husband had remained a key shareholder in a transportation company which had continued to operate in Russia following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Kallas had previously called for Estonian companies to cease operations in Russia.
She has denied knowing the details of her husband’s business activities and has refused to resign despite urged to do so by President Alar Karis and the vast majority of Estonians as measured in recent opinion polls.
Among the other leading candidates for the NATO post, the outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has indicated his interest.
veryGood! (7572)
Related
- Selena Gomez engaged to Benny Blanco after 1 year together: 'Forever begins now'
- Playing in the Dirty (NFC) South means team can win the division with a losing record
- Digging to rescue 41 workers trapped in a collapsed tunnel in India halted after machine breaks
- AP Top 25: No. 3 Washington, No. 5 Oregon move up, give Pac-12 2 in top 5 for 1st time since 2016
- Buckingham Palace staff under investigation for 'bar brawl'
- Indiana fires football coach Tom Allen despite $20 million buyout
- Mark Stoops addresses rumors about him leaving for Texas A&M: 'I couldn't leave' Kentucky
- Fragile truce in Gaza is back on track after hourslong delay in a second hostage-for-prisoner swap
- Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
- Court document claims Meta knowingly designed its platforms to hook kids, reports say
Ranking
- Nevada attorney general revives 2020 fake electors case
- Shania Twain makes performance debut in Middle East for F1 Abu Dhabi concert
- Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders out for season finale vs. Utah, freshman Ryan Staub starts
- 3-year-old shot and killed at South Florida extended stay hotel
- Google unveils a quantum chip. Could it help unlock the universe's deepest secrets?
- These Secrets About the Twilight Franchise Will Be Your Life Now
- 24 hostages released as temporary cease-fire in Israel-Hamas war takes effect
- Michigan, Washington move up in top five of US LBM Coaches Poll, while Ohio State tumbles
Recommendation
The FBI should have done more to collect intelligence before the Capitol riot, watchdog finds
Iowa State relies on big plays, fourth-down stop for snowy 42-35 win over No. 19 K-State
‘You’ll die in this pit': Takeaways from secret recordings of Russian soldiers in Ukraine
From 'Butt Fumble' to 'Hell Mary,' Jets can't outrun own misery in another late-season collapse
Meet first time Grammy nominee Charley Crockett
Inside the actors' union tentative strike agreement: Pay, AI, intimacy coordinators, more
Turned down for a loan, business owners look to family and even crowdsourcing to get money to grow
Michigan-Ohio State: Wolverines outlast Buckeyes for third win in a row against rivals