Telephone Geert Jan in Vilnius: ‘NATO threat received’ Related articles

Geert Jan, how is your NATO summit this week?

‘Last Sunday I arrived, Friday morning I leave very early. This is because at a previous summit in Moldova a few weeks ago, I only had to arrive a day early, and then my flight was delayed. That turned into running and flying, because as a journalist you have to organize a lot, like accreditation, passes and interview requests.’

Where are you?

‘I sleep in an apartment downtown, which is also my studio. I can be heard on BNR from the NATO press center, but also from my apartment. So I can listen to the radio early in the morning, and I do it from my flat. That’s why I always check in advance whether I also have a desk and electrical sockets in addition to the bed, because we have to serve the listener.’

Are you well looked after as a journalist there?

“Yes, you eat out a lot and the food is served in the press centre. I am currently going to dinner with the mayor of Vilnius, to which I was invited as a journalist. As a press, we’re appeased and I like contributing to that, haha. I have already received a gift bag from the organization before.’

What was inside?

“A T-shirt from Vilnius, stamps from the NATO summit in Vilnius, a notebook, chips, honey, stuff like that. And that in a nice bag, all city marketing of course. They are very good at this here. They once advertised in Vilnius that the city is as hard to find as the G-spot. But if you find it, then it’s great.’

What is the NATO summit like in practice?

Where everything and everyone resides in the center of Vilnius, the NATO summit is in an out-of-town conference building, the LITEXPO. We have to go there by bus. There are shuttle buses for the press. Obviously not for Rutte and Erdoğan, who go with columns that are torn from time to time. In that fair, there is a huge press room for the press to work in, and meeting rooms. There is a theater-like press room where the leader can address the press, as Stoltenberg and the Lithuanian president just did during the opening of the summit.

There is high-level consultation among world leaders. Is the possible accession of Sweden the most important item on the agenda?

It will surprise you, but for people who work at NATO and therefore look at how you organize NATO, with Stoltenberg as a figurehead and Rob Bauer (the chairman of the NATO Military Committee, ed.) no. Those people want NATO to work in the best possible way and for member states to agree on the structure, on how the territory should be defended. They consider it more important than the case of Ukraine or the case of Sweden. The press focus is on the puppets, but this is much more important to NATO.

Has Rutte’s agenda remained the same after today’s debate?

Rutte will also speak on the public forum, but will no longer do so. Tomorrow he has a day of negotiations, which promises to be exciting. In principle, tomorrow evening you will go out to dinner with, among others, the Lithuanian president. I don’t know if she sleeps. As a press, we are aware of who will come and when, and when there will be moments for press. At the moment we think we can talk to Rutte early on Wednesday morning, then he will leave very quickly on Wednesday afternoon and limit himself to what is necessary. Obviously he has to represent the Netherlands.

Do you already know who you will talk to?

NO. We have received a warning, a threat from NATO. This was remarkable however, because a defensive organization shouldn’t threaten. But they warned that there could be so many journalists that it is questionable whether all Dutch journalists will soon be allowed to sit with Rutte. We’ll see how it goes. I have a list, but I don’t know how feasible it is. I want to talk to Czech President Petr Pavel, because he was NATO’s Rob Bauer. He spent some years in Brunssum in Limburg. I think he is the head of state with the most military knowledge, and I’m curious to know what he thinks about the security plans for Ukraine and the defense of NATO territory.