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Chief rival backs Stoltenberg as Nato head

The Local Norway
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Chief rival backs Stoltenberg as Nato head
Radoslaw Sikorski at a recent meeting on the Ukraine crisis. Photo: Flickr/Estonian Foreign Ministry

Jens Stoltenberg's chief rival for the leadership of Nato has informally conceded defeat, writing on Twitter that the former Norwegian prime minister would "indeed be a good Nato Secretary General" and that "Poland will support him."

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Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has long been mooted as a potential Secretary General, and as recently as Thursday night, France's Le Monde newspaper wrote that Russia's annexation of the Crimea had given his candidacy increased relevance. 
 
Sikorksi's statement came in response to a tweet from Erik Dale, a Norwegian who works at Bruegel, a Brussels-based think tank. 
 
On Thursday evening Dale tweeted, "Would love @jensstoltenberg as @NATO sec-gen, but maybe time for our 'new' members? Hoping @sikorskiradek joins us in Brussels." 
 
Sikorksi then replied. "Thank you for the sentiment, but Jens Stoltenberg will indeed be a good NATO SG.  Poland will support him." 
 
According to Norway's Dagsavisen newspaper, Stoltenberg met French President François Hollande on Saturday for an interview for the Secretary General post. 
 
"This was regarded as a job interview," the source told Dagsavisen. 

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