Solana in the frame for top NATO job

Date: 16/11/1995

By Elizabeth Wise

SPANISH Foreign Minister Javier Solana is inching closer to the job he used to say he did not want.

Not yet an official candidate, his government - and the US - are issuing warm words about his possible candidacy for the job of NATO secretary-general, and Solana himself has said there is no reason for a Spaniard not to hold the post.

Spain is not fully integrated into the alliance's military structure, which might cause some to discount a Spanish candidate. But under a unique agreement between NATO and Madrid, Spanish military officers are present and vote in the alliance's key decision-making cells: the military committee, the nuclear planning committee and Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE).

Alliance sources say Spain's partial membership makes Washington hesitant to endorse Solana. But US Ambassador to NATO Robert Hunter did not rule him out yesterday (15 November), saying only that Solana had not yet become an official candidate.

“Obviously he is a man of great talent and skill, but nobody has posed that question to us yet and we have offered no response,” Hunter said.

Washington apparently rejected the candidacy of former Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers out of irritation that Paris had endorsed him before consulting US officials.

With Lubbers having withdrawn from the race, the only official candidate left is Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, Denmark's former foreign minister. He said yesterday he would continue his efforts to win the job, in the wake of a meeting on Monday with French Foreign Minister Hervé de Charette.

With important meetings of NATO defence and then foreign ministers planned for 29 November and 5 December, the search for somone to head the alliance is becomingly increasingly urgent.