Amidst rampant speculation that Denmark’s prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, is leading the list of candidates to assume the job of NATO’s chief when it opens up in July, the PM insists that he’s not interested. At a press conference covered by the Bloomberg news agency, Rasmussen put an end to rumours that he was leaving his domestic role to pursue a career on the international stage.
“I’m not a candidate for any international top job and it’s my intention to remain prime minister of Denmark as long as voters allow me to,” he said at the press conference in Copenhagen.
A number of political analysts have already voiced their opinion that Rasmussen, 56, is the preferred person to take over NATO’s top spot. They also contend he’s been speaking with European leaders over the issue. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who is the present NATO secretary general, will leave the position at the end of July.
NATO will likely choose his successor at their summit in early April. Even if Rasmussen took the job with NATO, Denmark’s ruling coalition wouldn’t need new elections until 2011. The only two people who have publically declared their interest in the NATO job are Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and Bulgaria’s former Foreign Minister Solomon Passy.