NATO has selected Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte as the alliance’s next secretary general, officials announced Wednesday.
Rutte will assume the role on Oct. 1, following the end of Jens Stoltenberg’s term.
“It is a tremendous honour to be appointed Secretary-General of NATO,” Rutte said Wednesday in a post on X. “The Alliance is and will remain the cornerstone of our collective security. Leading this organisation is a responsibility I do not take lightly. I’m grateful to all the Allies for placing their trust in me. I look forward to taking up the position with great vigour in October, as successor to [Jens Stoltenberg] who has provided NATO with outstanding leadership for the past 10 years, and for whom I have always had great admiration.”
Stoltenberg described Rutte as “a true trans-Atlanticist, a strong leader and a consensus-builder.”
President Joe Biden “strongly believes that Mark Rutte will make an excellent Secretary General,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday, adding that the two leaders “have worked very closely together over the past decade.”
Rutte, 57, will be taking over a NATO alliance that is still handling the ramifications of Russia’s war in Ukraine, the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War II. The war prompted significant investment from most members of the alliance, especially from eastern European countries that are in closer proximity to Russia.
The alliance announced earlier this month that 23 of the 32 members met the required defense spending minimum of 2% of the country’s gross domestic product. One member, Iceland, does not have a military but is part of the alliance for its strategic geographic location. It’s a significant jump from 10 years ago, when only three countries hit that marker.
Rutte, despite having support from the White House, faced some hurdles to getting the appointment, though he became the sole candidate once Romanian President Klaus Iohannis withdrew his bid last week. The Dutch prime minister also had to overcome initial Hungarian opposition to his candidacy but won that country’s support by agreeing to exempt Budapest from any future decision that would send personnel or funds for a new support plan for Ukraine.
He served as the Dutch prime minister four times, for nearly 14 years, and he garnered the nickname “Teflon Mark” for his ability to create compromise and escape controversies. His third coalition government resigned over a scandal involving investigations into child welfare payments, and he then led his conservative People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy to victory in national elections.
Rutte, who has been in Dutch politics for a long time, has relationships with both Biden and former President Donald Trump, who could win reelection and be back in office by January 2025.
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In 2018, Rutte earned the nickname “the Trump whisperer” after he convinced the then-president that European members of NATO were increasing their defense spending amid speculation that he could pull out of the alliance.
NATO is trying to ensure that a Trump victory in November will not have a significant impact on the alliance.
