Safe-hands Rutte endorsed by US and UK for Nato job
Dutch caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte has emerged as the only name put forward to lead Nato when current Secretary-General Jens Stoltenburg leaves the post in October.
A Nato official told POLITICO: “After very intense rounds of discussions among the allies we are now at the point where over 20 NATO allies are prepared to support Prime Minister Rutte as the next secretary-general.”
Rutte, who is one of Europe’s longest-serving leaders having been Prime Minister of The Netherlands since 2010, has been endorsed by two-thirds of the alliance’s 31 members. All secretary-generals are voted in by consensus.
Among the important countries to back Rutte are the US, the UK and France, with a White House official today saying that President Joe Biden strongly endorses Rutte as a “natural leader”.
The transference of Nato leadership comes at a particularly crucial time for the alliance as war has returned to Europe with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and isolationist voices rising in the US. Nato’s largest exercise since the Cold War involving 90,000 troops from all member countries, Steadfast Defender, is currently underway.
Rutte has vowed to step aside from Dutch politics after his government fell apart last year. The anti-Muslim populist Geert Wilders who won with a quarter of the vote last November is still struggling to form a coalition. The Dutch electorate showed their frustration with Rutte who has presided over high levels of immigration, an energy and housing crisis, and a noticeable increase in child poverty.
Yet, in the technocratic world of European politics and the security and defence circles of Nato, Rutte is well-liked and widely seen as capable. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference last week, Rutte made a pragmatic plea for the European defence world to stop obsessing over Trump’s isolationist comments.
He said: “Stop moaning and whining and nagging…we have to work with whoever is on the dancefloor”.
Despite coming to the end of his long reign, he also seems to be fairly well-liked in his home country and by other leaders he has met over the years.
One Dutch official said: “Rutte’s strength lies in three things: his people skills, his pragmatic mind and his Nokia” (recently an iPhone).
“A convinced Atlanticist and admirer of [Winston] Churchill, his phone book by now spans two generations of world leaders beyond the confines of the western world and with whom he has forged bonds and maintains good contact – also in private, even after their departure. [The former German chancellor Angela] Merkel and Rutte still meet up.”
“He had a great bond with [the former US president Barack] Obama but also maintained constructive ties with Trump. And whilst his domestic legacy is now perhaps called into question, his international credentials are excellent.”
Other names that were bandied around for the job were Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and Latvian Foreign Minister Krisjanis Karins. Both had previously voiced interest as well. The UK’s former defence secretary Ben Wallace had also shown interest but revealed he was out of the race last summer.
Stoltenberg’s time in office was due to end last summer but the alliance could not choose a successor by the Vilnius Summit. His year extension has allowed for stability during a difficult time. While notoriously difficult Turkey and Hungary are likely to voice scepticism, Rutte’s pragmatism, durability and likeability with a touch of light-heartedness could be just what Nato needs.
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