The Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rute, appointed Radmila Šekerinska from North Macedonia as the new deputy.
"I am pleased to announce the appointment of Radmila Šekerinska as the new Deputy Secretary General. She is truly committed to NATO, she knows what it takes to join the Alliance and what it means to be a full member. I look forward to working with her as she takes on this important role," Rute said. .
NATO announced that Šekerinska was previously the deputy prime minister for European integration and the defense minister of North Macedonia, including the period of the country's preparations for joining the NATO alliance in 2020. He will take up his new position later this year.
The general secretary has the exclusive authority to choose his deputy. Nevertheless, Rute, the former Dutch prime minister, who took over this position on October 1 instead of Jens Stoltenberg, recently invited the member states to propose candidates, about which he then conducts informal consultations with them.
The candidate for Deputy Secretary General of NATO was former Minister of Defense and current mayor of Podgorica, Olivera Injac.
Former Croatian President Kolinda Grabar Kitarović, former Latvian Prime Minister Krišjaniš Karinš, outgoing Estonian Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson were among the candidates...
In the serious European media, the former Bulgarian European Commissioner Marija Gabriel was also mentioned as a candidate.
The current Deputy Secretary General, Mircea Joana, resigned in September to participate in the presidential campaign in Romania in November, and Stoltenberg appointed German diplomat Boris Ruge as Acting Deputy Secretary.
In June, some Montenegrin media reported the writing of Turkish portals that the former President of Montenegro Milo Đukanović could be a candidate for the Deputy Secretary General of NATO.
"Firtina Haber" and "Turkiye'de Enerji" announced at the time that such an initiative was allegedly being prepared by several members of the Alliance, including Turkey, referring to diplomatic sources from several members and unnamed officials from the ministries of foreign affairs and national defense of Turkey.
The Ministry of Defense told "Vijesti" at the time that they had received neither formal nor informal notification about the possible candidacy of Đukanović, neither directly from any NATO member, nor through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The primary role of the person in that position is to assist and deputize the Secretary General, to chair a series of committees, ad hoc groups and working groups, and a bi-weekly meeting of the 32 ambassadors sitting on the NATO Council or some urgent meeting, including the NATO-Ukraine Council.
In May 2021, Joana chaired an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Berlin when Stoltenberg had covid.
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