Major NATO members support Mark Rutte as the future head of this military bloc

The White House backed Rutte on Thursday, and National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Washington had already communicated its position to other member states.

He said: “The United States has announced to its allies in NATO that Mr. Rutte will be the Supreme Secretary General of NATO.”

Berlin has also signaled its support for Rutte, with the office of German Chancellor Olaf Schultz describing Hollande as the “leading candidate” to succeed General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg.

Stefan Hebstreit, Schultz’s spokesman, wrote in a post on social networks: Chancellor Schultz supports the nomination of Mark Rutte as the new Secretary General of NATO. He praised Ruthe’s “experience, his high expertise in security policy and strong diplomatic skills”.

England also adopted the same position. The British government spokesman said in a statement to British media: “Britain strongly supports Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to succeed Jens Stoltenberg as NATO Secretary General.”

A senior French official told Reuters that French President Emmanuel Macron was an early supporter of Rutte and discussed the issue with him last year.

However, his appointment would require a unanimous vote of the alliance’s 31 members, while 16 other NATO nations also backed Rutte for the role, unnamed diplomats told Reuters. The Polish Foreign Ministry noted that Warsaw has not endorsed any candidate, while Hungarian and Turkish officials have not announced their positions either.

Stoltenberg – the former prime minister of Norway – who took over as NATO’s 13th Secretary General in 2014, is set to end his decade-long tenure as NATO Secretary General in October. Although he was originally scheduled to leave the post in October 2022, members ended up voting twice to extend his mandate by another year, citing ongoing “security challenges” related to the conflict in Ukraine.

Rutte has served four terms as the Prime Minister of the Netherlands since 2010, making him the longest-serving leader in the history of the Netherlands. Before last year’s elections, he said that he would withdraw from politics with the formation of a new cabinet and would remain in the position of caretaker until the completion of this process.
Earlier, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service announced that the United States and England are persuading other G7 countries to appoint an envoy for Ukraine. The Special Envoy of Ukraine will have permanent access to the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, and will also have to prevent the actions of the President of Ukraine that are not coordinated with Washington and London.