Biden to welcome NATO chief to White House

President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet Tuesday with outgoing NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg ahead of the alliance’s upcoming annual meeting in Lithuania. Discussions about who will replace the retiring leader are ongoing. Stoltenberg has led the alliance for almost a decade and had his term extended three times. He said he will step down at the end of his current term in September.

Why is Stoltenberg meeting with Biden to discuss his replacement? The United States is one of the alliance’s top financial contributors, and the president’s opinion on the next NATO secretary-general carries enormous weight. Still, the member countries will make the decision by consensus.

Dig deeper: Read Jenny Lind Schmitt’s report in WORLD Magazine about how Europe was expected to face a rough year without Russian gas.