NATO chief Willy Claes resigned Friday, a day after the Belgian parliament voted to have him stand trial in connection with kickback scandals at home.
He had faced overwhelming pressure to resign to spare NATO the ordeal of having its top official under indictment. Still, his departure comes at a sensitive time for the 46-year-old alliance.NATO is trying to organize a 50,000-member army to police a peace accord in Bosnia and officials are pondering how to grant membership to some of their former enemies in Eastern Europe.
On both fronts, the alliance needs the cooperation of a Russia still wary of allied motives. As NATO secretary-general, Claes was the alliance's point man in relations with Moscow.
Claes, 56, announced his resignation at a news conference at NATO headquarters. He has always maintained his innocence in the bribery scandal, which relates to two defense contracts he awarded to foreign companies in the late 1980s when he was Belgian economics minister.
"I decided with regret to resign," Claes said. The corruption allegations forced him to conclude "that the interests of the alliance are best served by my resignation.
He lashed out at his own country, complaining of unfair treatment by Belgian investigators who he said did not give him adequate opportunity to defend himself against the bribery allegations.
Assistant Secretary General Sergio Balanzino was expected to replace Claes until a successor is found. NATO nations already have quietly begun sounding out possible successors.
Leading candidates for the political appointment include Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, a former Danish foreign minister; Hans van den Broek, the EU foreign affairs commissioner, and Ruud Lubbers, the former Dutch premier.
At the Pentagon Friday, Defense Secretary William Perry told reporters NATO will continue planning the deployment of a force to Bosnia, but acknowledged it was difficult to lose the alliance leader at such a critical time.
"The military planning, the military leadership will be unaffected by this," Perry said. "It is always a setback to lose political leadership at any time, particularly at this time. I believe that NATO will probably move very quickly and very effectively to restore new leadership."