Instead of a Norwegian - a Dutchman.
Former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rute took over the post of Secretary General of NATO, from which Jens Stoltenberg retired after more than a decade.
"It is an extraordinary honor to be appointed Secretary General of NATO," said the 57-year-old Rute.
"The Alliance is and will remain the cornerstone of our collective security, leading this organization is a responsibility I do not take lightly," he wrote on Ix.
Supporting Ukraine, strengthening collective defense and developing partnership with countries that are not part of the military alliance formed in 1949 are the main goals of the Alliance, Rute said.
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The 32 members of the Alliance today include most of the Balkans.
Slovenia was the first to enter in 2004, then Croatia and Albania in 2009, then Montenegro in 2017, and finally North Macedonia in 2020.
Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is not part of NATO, although it has been part of the Partnership for Peace since 2006, and since 2018 of the Action Plan for Membership.
Zukan Helez, Minister of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said in April that Bosnia "step from invitation to full membership", although this is opposed by the officials of Republika Srpska, one of the two entities formed by the Dayton Agreement.
There they follow the policy of Serbia, which is not part of NATO, but advocates the idea of military neutrality.
The NATO alliance represents a system of collective defense in which members agree to defend each other against attacks by any external element, according to their website.
The seat is in Brussels, while the Supreme Command is in Mons, also in Belgium.
At the time of its establishment, it had 12 members, and today that number has grown to 32 - the last to join were Finland (2023) and Sweden (2024).
Who is Mark Rute?
Rute has been in power in the Netherlands for the past 14 years, making him the longest-serving prime minister in the country.
He has seven brothers and sisters, in his youth he wanted to be a pianist, but he graduated in history at Leiden University in the Netherlands.
He has been in politics since the beginning of the 2006s, and he was the leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy from 2023 to XNUMX.
He is considered an experienced player on the world political scene.
It attracted a lot of attention in 2014, after the crash of Malaysian flight MH17, when all 298 passengers and crew members died, including 196 citizens of the Netherlands.
Then he promised to bring those responsible to justice.
"The fact that he has so much experience in finding a way forward, compromising, persuading people and connecting with them - I think that will be very, very useful for him." said Kajsa Olongren, former Dutch defense minister.
Olongren and his other colleagues describe Rute's leadership style as "practical".
However, NATO diplomats say he is expected to "do the same things, but on a larger scale and in a different way."
In this sense, a major reform of the NATO mission is not expected under his leadership, but much depends on whether Rute can harmonize all members of the Alliance.
NATO's ability to protect nearly a billion people in member countries depends not only on military strength, but also on political unity.
With the arrival of Rute at the helm, NATO will be in "good hands", said Stoltenberg.
Spokesman of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov also he does not expect that the appointment of Rute will lead to a change in the Alliance's policy, which he calls "hostile".
NATO in the Balkans
NATO is also present on a daily basis in the Balkans, which Stolbenberg often dealt with, especially some of the most problematic issues, such as Kosovo, the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and peacekeeping.
The last time he made an official visit to Belgrade was in November 2023, when he met with the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić.
In the same year, Serbian units participated in a military exercise with members of the armed forces of NATO member states.
The announcement of the opening of two NATO bases in Albania also attracted great attention, and the possibility of Montenegro getting one is often mentioned in the media.
However, both the authorities of Montenegro and NATO always deny these claims.
NATO member airports are also available for use by Alliance aircraft.
One of them, Cerklje airport in Slovenia, was written about as early as 2003, as the future "first NATO base on the territory of the former Yugoslavia".
It is about an airport ten kilometers from the border between Croatia and Slovenia, which was one of the largest in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRJ).
The airport was then used by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and there were fights around it during the secession of Slovenia from Yugoslavia.
Today, Cerklje is the central military airport of the Slovenian army, but also a base for logistical support for NATO and the OSCE, writes Tango Six, a portal dealing with aviation.
It is also under reconstruction, which should be completed by 2028.
NATO also played a major role in the conflicts in the territory of the former Yugoslavia.
In February 1994, Alliance forces shot down four planes of the Army of the Republika Srpska (VRS) in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In August 1995, NATO aircraft targeted VRS positions, while in April 1999, the Alliance began a bombing operation against Yugoslavia.
The reason for the NATO alliance's military intervention, launched without the permission of the United Nations Security Council, was the persecution of Albanians in Kosovo by the Serbian security forces.
The bombing lasted 78 days, 1.008 members of the security forces were killed in the attacks, and the total number of civilian victims is still unknown.
Problems
Rute will face many problems in his new position.
- The potential return of Trump
Many point to the possible return to the White House of Donald Trump, who is quite skeptical about relations with NATO, but Rute says he is not worried.
"I know both candidates very well and I worked with Donald Trump for four years," he told the journalists immediately before assuming the duties of the general secretary.
- Strengthening of the Eastern Bloc
Peter Bator, until recently Slovakia's ambassador to NATO, also believes that Rute will have to show an understanding of the fear of the Eastern European countries from a Russian attack.
That is why the big issue is strengthening that block.
After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, NATO doubled the number of troops in the east to 10.000, who operate in cooperation with the armies of the countries where they are located.
Recently, there is more and more talk about increasing the number of forces to several hundred thousand.
- Increase in military spending
There is also talk at Alliance headquarters that Rute may have to tone down his typically Dutch commitment to austerity.
Sharing the financial burden is generally a sore point among members, accustomed to the United States bearing the brunt of the costs.
At an EU summit in June, Rutte and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz strongly opposed joint borrowing to finance defense, which many were not happy about.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said other leaders had "loudly reminded" Rutte that he would soon become head of NATO and that he had to ensure that governments did not skimp on defence.
NATO estimates that 23 of its 32 members will meet the goal of spending two percent of gross domestic product (GDP) on defense this year.
Meanwhile, many Alliance officials claim that spending needs to be further increased, perhaps to 2,5 percent of GDP or even more.
- Money and weapons for Ukraine
Rute's first task will be to maintain support for Ukraine despite the problems within his own ranks.
Hungary, for example, refuses to supply weapons to Ukraine, while the US and Germany are skeptical about the prospect of Kyiv joining NATO.
Within NATO, there is growing uncertainty as to whether Ukraine can win the war and how peace negotiations with Russia should look.
- NATO's role in confronting China
Spending negotiations will be key to maintaining the US role.
Whether NATO should respond to China's growing influence will also depend on the extent to which America can manage the Alliance's plans.
- General attitude about Russia
At the July summit in Washington, Ruta was given an important task - to determine how to build relations with Russia in the near future.
The Baltic countries traditionally insist on an extremely harsh attitude towards Russia, while Hungary or Turkey prefer a more moderate approach.
- Duplication of tasks in the EU and NATO
While leading the military alliance, Rute is well aware that the European Union is also interested in playing a greater role in the security and defense of the continent.
However, as the EU increasingly concentrates on defence, the potential duplication of effort worries member states of both organizations.
The route can help bridge the gap between the growing defense ambitions of the EU and NATO.
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