Crosetto accuses Stoltenberg of disrespect for Italy in the appointment of the new envoy for the Southern Front

The decision by Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to entrust Spain with the new role of envoy for the Southern Front, is for Defence Minister Guido Crosetto "almost a personal affront". The minister says this in an interview with La Stampa.

"I wrote him a very harsh message. It infuriated me and there will be consequences on a personal level. His was a betrayal of a principle: it was Italy that had fought to introduce the role of envoy for the Southern Front. And at the Washington summit 32 leaders proved us right. Twenty years from now, the two and a half billion people in Africa will be the main problem of the Atlantic Alliance because they will become an army in the hands of those countries that have already begun to occupy the continent in recent years: Russia and China,' he says.

"Stoltenberg did not want to appoint a representative in the South. He had to put it in the resolution because Italy wanted it and so he took revenge, giving the role to a Spaniard, a Spanish official who is already doing another job, in fact emptying the political objective we pursued and approved at the NATO summit: I find it very bad behaviour. He ended his nine years at the helm of NATO in the worst way,' he stressed.

Crosetto points out that Italy does not have a problem with NATO, "but with Stoltenberg". "He is the only one responsible, he chose the person for that role, based on opaque criteria and internal bureaucratic logic, without consulting with the allies, perhaps because he was guided by the logic of political affiliation, failing the first of his responsibilities: to be super partes".

The Defence Minister hopes that in October, after Stoltenberg's farewell, that role 'will be given to the best person, not on the basis of internal bureaucratic logic or political sympathy. And I expect that those who strongly wanted the institution of this role will be taken into account: Italy'.