NATO summit celebrates 75 years of unity
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom
Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB
U.S. President Joe Biden (right) and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg celebrated a moment of mutual respect and friendship after Biden awarded Stoltenberg the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
NTB
“Russia will not be victorious in the Ukraine war,” said U.S. President Joe Biden with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg by his side during the opening of the NATO summit in Washington, D.C., on July 9.
The speeches took place in the Mellon Auditorium, where the North Atlantic Treaty was signed in 1949, 75 years ago.
Stoltenberg addressed the NATO allied heads of state at the summit, calling out the significance of the alliance.
NATO is “not only the most successful and strongest but also the longest-lasting alliance in history,” he said. He acknowledged that NATO’s enduring success has never been a given, but is rather “the result of deliberate choices and difficult decisions,” from NATO’s inception to arms control negotiations to NATO’s support to Ukraine today.
“NATO’s support for Ukraine entails both costs and risks,” Stoltenberg said. The secretary general underlined that there are “no risk-free options in war.”
Stoltenberg said that a Russian victory in the war against Ukraine would strengthen Iran, North Korea, and China and that these countries would like to see NATO fail.
Biden heaps praise on Stoltenberg
“A bipartisan majority of Americans understand that NATO makes us all safer,” Biden continued in his speech afterward, which ended with him asking Stoltenberg to take the stage again. Biden then presented Stoltenberg with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States’ highest civilian honor.
“You did not hesitate when Russia’s war began in Ukraine. NATO is stronger, smarter, and more energetic than when you started,” Biden told Stoltenberg.
“And a billion people in Europe and North America, yes, in the whole world, are going to reap the benefits of your efforts for years to come, in the form of security, opportunity, and more freedom,” said the president.
Biden praised Stoltenberg for his calm temperament and described the outgoing head of NATO as “a man of integrity and intellectual power” and an “accomplished diplomat.”
Honored and humbled
“I am honored and humbled to have received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I see this as recognition not only for myself but for the millions of men and women who serve our great alliance, in and out of uniform. We stand stronger and safer together in NATO,” Stoltenberg wrote on X.
Stoltenberg has led NATO since 2014. After 10 years as secretary general, former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will take over the leadership post in October this year.
See also NATO marks its 75th anniversary in Brussels ceremony, NTB, The Norwegian American, May 2024.
This article originally appeared in the August 2024 issue of The Norwegian American.
