Germany's Chief of Defence, General Carsten Breuer, has been elected as the next Chair of NATO's Military Committee. Military chiefs from the alliance's 32 member countries elected Breuer at a meeting in Copenhagen, with current Chair Italian Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone announcing the result. Breuer will take over from Dragone next summer.
In a social media post, Dragone announced that military chiefs from the 32-nation alliance elected General Carsten Breuer as the next Chair of the NATO Military Committee during a meeting in Copenhagen. Breuer will assume the leadership position next summer, succeeding Dragone.
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Breuer is scheduled to take office in mid-2027 following the conclusion of Cavo Dragone's term. Ahead of his transition to NATO, Lieutenant General Christian Freuding is expected to succeed Breuer as Inspector General of the Bundeswehr before the end of 2026.
As head of NATO's senior military authority, Breuer will serve as the principal military adviser to the alliance's political leadership and Secretary General Mark Rutte, Reuters reported.
The leadership transition comes amid significant geopolitical shifts and evolving transatlantic relations. Breuer assumes the role as US President Donald Trump urges European member states to assume primary responsibility for their own regional defense.
In response to heightened security concerns following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, European nations have steadily raised military outlays, with Germany planning to double its defense spending to over €200 billion ($230 billion) by 2030, according to Reuters.
Who is Carsten Breuer
Breuer, 61, brings extensive operational and administrative experience to the post. After joining the German military in an air defense unit in 1984, he trained at the German General Staff College in Hamburg and the US General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
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His military career includes a 2014 deployment to Kabul, Afghanistan, with NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). He later earned the moniker "the chancellor's general" after former Chancellor Olaf Scholz appointed him to direct Germany's national COVID-19 pandemic response crisis team from 2021 to 2022.
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