Mark Rutte, the long-serving Dutch prime minister, was formally named the brand new secretary-general of NATO on Wednesday, placing an skilled, strongly pro-Ukraine chief with a repute for conciliation on the head of the alliance.
Mr. Rutte, 57, will take over from Jens Stoltenberg on Oct. 1, at a tough time for NATO within the face of Russia’s battle towards Ukraine and within the midst of a decent race for the American presidency that would deliver Donald J. Trump, who disparages the alliance, again into energy.
The choice, sealed by NATO ambassadors throughout a gathering on the 32-nation alliance’s headquarters in Brussels, removes a probably contentious challenge from the alliance’s seventy fifth anniversary summit assembly subsequent month in Washington. President Biden and his NATO counterparts will formally welcome Mr. Rutte to their desk at a summit, which begins on July 9.
Lengthy a favourite of Mr. Biden for the submit, Mr. Rutte served because the Dutch prime minister 4 instances, for almost 14 years, constructing difficult coalitions by debate and compromise. These abilities ought to serve him properly in an alliance that works by consensus, the place one nation can block the intentions of the remaining.
Mr. Rutte turned down Mr. Biden’s request that he search the NATO job no less than as soon as earlier than, forcing the alliance to increase Mr. Stoltenberg’s time period for an additional 12 months.
Now serving as a caretaker prime minister earlier than a brand new Dutch authorities is sworn in, Mr. Rutte is called a tough employee however an affable boss. A person of behavior, the son of a automobile supplier, he has lived in the identical modest home, with the identical furnishings, for the previous 30 years.
Each summer time, he rents the identical home with members of the family and spends a couple of days every year in New York with the identical pal, staying in the identical modest lodge in Chinatown, wrote Caroline de Gruyter, Europe correspondent for the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad, in Overseas Coverage.
He’s additionally recognized for driving his bicycle to work, a behavior that must change as a result of his new job would require him to endure considerably enhanced safety wherever he goes. He can even need to drop the weekly social research class he has taught for years at a highschool in The Hague.
Mr. Rutte will take over with NATO struggling to discover a strategy to reassure Ukraine of its long-term dedication to its safety at a time when the nation is going through elevated Russian stress after greater than two years of battle.
Allies are additionally involved that Mr. Trump, who has been brazenly hostile to NATO and a few of its leaders, may win again the presidency, though Mr. Rutte received alongside properly with Mr. Trump when he was in workplace.
In February, talking on the Munich Safety Convention, Mr. Rutte informed Europeans to “cease moaning and whining and nagging about Trump,” and as a substitute act in their very own pursuits by beefing up their militaries and producing extra ammunition for Ukraine.
Individuals will determine the subsequent president, he stated, including: “I’m not an American, I can’t vote within the U.S. Now we have to work with whoever is on the dance ground.”
Mr. Rutte was the favourite of NATO’s largest nations, however he wanted unanimity. He basically clinched the job as secretary-general final week when he agreed to abide by a compromise labored out between Mr. Stoltenberg and Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary.
The intolerant democracy in Hungary espoused by Mr. Orban has been the supply of stress for years with the European Union’s longest-serving leaders, together with Mr. Rutte.
Mr. Rutte assured Mr. Orban, who’s near President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and believes that Ukraine ought to negotiate a settlement with Moscow, that no Hungarian personnel would participate in NATO missions to help Ukraine, and no Hungarian funds could be used to help them
Slovakia, one other skeptic, then agreed to again Mr. Rutte, and the ultimate impediment was cleared when the president of Romania deserted his personal bid to grow to be the pinnacle of the alliance.
Mr. Rutte’s view of the Kremlin was deeply affected by the taking pictures down of Malaysia Airways flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014, with 196 Dutch individuals among the many 298 individuals killed by a Russian antiaircraft missile that had been offered to separatist forces by the Russian army.
In September 2022, seven months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Mr. Rutte informed the United Nations of Mr. Putin: “He gained’t cease at Ukraine if we don’t cease him now. This battle is greater than Ukraine itself. It’s about upholding the worldwide rule of regulation.” He has described Mr. Putin as “coldhearted, brutal, cruel.”
Underneath Mr. Rutte, the Netherlands has elevated army spending to greater than the two p.c of gross home product demanded of NATO members, and it has offered F-16 fighter jets, artillery, drones and ammunition to Kyiv whereas investing extra in its personal army.
Identified within the Netherlands as “Teflon Mark” for his potential to create compromise and escape difficulties, he’ll discover his abilities examined in his new position, particularly because the NATO secretary-general’s job is much less to guide the massive, various alliance than to maintain it collectively.
