NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg plans to step down from his post as planned in October, his spokeswoman Oana Lungescu told German news agency Deutschen Presse-Agentur, dismissing reports of another extension to his term.
“He has no intention of seeking a further extension of his mandate,” she said.
Welt am Sonntag reported earlier Sunday that Stoltenberg’s term may be extended again as NATO seeks to maintain stability during the war in Ukraine, the latest in series of speculation that the NATO chief might stay on.
Stoltenberg’s term has been extended three times already, most recently in March last year just after Russia invaded Ukraine. Stoltenberg, an economist by training, had been designated to become Sweden’s central bank chief at the time.