Lengthy-serving Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte was formally appointed as NATO’s new secretary-general on Wednesday, naming an skilled chief with a robust pro-Ukrainian fame for conciliation on the helm of the alliance.
Rutte, 57, will succeed Jens Stoltenberg on October 1 at a troublesome time for NATO because it faces Russia’s warfare in Ukraine and a good race within the U.S. presidential election, by which Donald J. ·Donald J. Trump could also be elected.
NATO ambassadors signed the choice at a gathering on the 32-nation alliance’s headquarters in Brussels, eradicating a doubtlessly contentious situation from subsequent month’s seventy fifth anniversary summit in Washington. President Biden and NATO leaders will formally welcome Mr Rutte to the summit beginning on July 9.
Rutte has lengthy been Biden’s favored candidate, having served as prime minister of the Netherlands 4 instances over practically 14 years and constructing complicated coalitions by means of debate and compromise. These abilities ought to serve him nicely in a coalition that operates by consensus, by which one nation can thwart the intentions of others.
Rutte rejected no less than one among Biden’s requests for a NATO place, forcing the alliance to increase Stoltenberg’s time period for an additional yr.
Rutte, at present serving as caretaker prime minister till the brand new Dutch authorities is sworn in, is called a tough employee and affable boss. The son of a automobile seller, he was a person of behavior, having lived in the identical modest home with the identical furnishings for the previous thirty years.
Caroline de Gruyter, Europe correspondent for the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad, writes that each summer time he rents the identical home together with his household and spends a number of nights in New York with the identical pal yearly. Day, staying in the identical shabby lodge in Chinatown. foreign policy.
He’s additionally recognized for driving his bike to work, a behavior that must change as his new job would require him to endure considerably elevated safety wherever he goes. He additionally had to surrender the weekly social research lessons he had taught for a few years at a highschool in The Hague.
Rutte will take over as NATO struggles to discover a approach to reassure Ukraine of its long-term dedication to its safety, which faces growing stress from Russia after greater than two years of warfare.
Allies are additionally involved that Trump, who has been overtly hostile to NATO and a few of its leaders, may regain the presidency regardless of Mr Rutte get along well With Mr. Trump in workplace.
Talking on the Munich Safety Convention in February, Rutte advised Europeans to “cease complaining, whining and nagging at Trump” and as a substitute act in their very own pursuits by strengthening their army and producing extra ammunition for Ukraine. .
Individuals will determine the subsequent president, he stated, including: “I am not an American, I can not vote in America. We’ve got to work with whoever is on the dance flooring.”
Rutte is the favourite of Nato’s largest nation, however he wants unanimous consent. He basically sealed the secretary-general place final week when he agreed to abide by a compromise struck between Stoltenberg and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Hungary’s intolerant democracy championed by Mr Orban has been a supply of rigidity for years with the EU’s longest-serving leaders, together with Rutte.
Rutte assured Orban, who’s near Russian President Vladimir Putin and who believes Ukraine ought to negotiate an answer with Moscow, that Hungarian personnel wouldn’t take part within the NATO mission to help Ukraine and that Hungary wouldn’t present any funding.
One other skeptical Slovakia then agreed to again Rutte, and the ultimate hurdle was cleared when the Romanian president gave up his personal bid to change into the chief of the alliance.
Rutte’s view of the Kremlin was deeply affected by the downing of Malaysia Airways flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014. A Russian anti-aircraft missile supplied by the Russian army to separatist forces killed 298 folks, 196 of whom had been Dutch.
In September 2022, seven months after Russia invaded Ukraine, Rutte advised the United Nations about Putin: “If we do not cease him now, he won’t cease in Ukraine. This warfare is greater than Ukraine itself. That is to safeguard the worldwide rule of legislation. He described Putin as “chilly, merciless and ruthless”.
Underneath Rutte, the Netherlands elevated army spending to greater than the two% of GDP required by NATO members and supplied Kiev with F-16 fighter jets, artillery, drones and ammunition, whereas growing its army funding within the nation’s army.
Identified within the Netherlands as “Teflon Mark” for his capacity to make compromises and get out of bother, he’ll discover his abilities put to the take a look at in his new function, particularly since it isn’t the job of the NATO Secretary-Basic to guide the huge and A various alliance, however conserving it collectively.
