Future NATO chief Mark Rutte, who has been in charge of the European Union's fifth-largest economy for 14 years, has a reputation as a politician adept at building consensus, unwavering in his support for Ukraine and a fierce critic of Vladimir Putin.
The Netherlands' longest-serving prime minister has been one of the drivers of European military support for Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion in 2022, and has argued that defeating Moscow on the front line is crucial for peace in Europe.
Rute, 57, first took public office in 2010, and in 2014, after the downing of flight MH17, he went from being a politician focused primarily on domestic issues to one of the EU's chief negotiators, playing an important role in European debates on immigration, responsibilities and the response to the covid pandemic. Under his leadership, the Netherlands increased defense spending to more than the two percent of GDP required of NATO members, providing F-16 fighter jets, artillery, drones and ammunition to Kiev, and investing heavily in its own military.
Rute, who is unmarried, has spent his entire life in The Hague and has hinted that he might turn to teaching after politics. However, he cited the war in Ukraine as the reason for his candidacy for an international position.
According to Reuters, his views were largely influenced by the downing of a plane over Ukraine in 2014, which the Netherlands blames Russia for and in which 196 of the total 298 passengers were Dutch. Rute argues that NATO must be strong to stand up to Moscow and that other European leaders must not be naive about Putin's Russia. "He will not stop in Ukraine unless we stop him. This war is bigger than Ukraine itself, this is about preserving the international rule of law," Rutte said at the United Nations in September 2022. Although he warned of the threat posed by Putin, he also pointed out that the Russian leader is not as strong as he seems. "Don't mentally overestimate Putin. I have often spoken to that man. He is not a strong man," Rute said in April this year.
However, even for a seasoned politician like Rute, the next chapter in his political career will not be easy. Four weeks after he takes over from outgoing NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Americans will go to the polls and could re-elect Donald Trump, a NATO skeptic who has threatened to cut aid to Ukraine.
Rute has had good relations with various British and American leaders and is considered one of the most successful officials in the EU when it comes to relations with Trump. It could be a valuable experience since the former US president has repeatedly questioned America's willingness to support other NATO members if they were attacked.
At the annual security conference in Munich last year, Rutte said that leaders should stop "wailing about Trump" and spend more on defense and ammunition production regardless of who wins the US election.
NATO announced this week that a record number of allies, 23 of them, have reached the goal of two percent of GDP for defense spending. However, this means that a third of the alliances have still not met that commitment, despite making that promise 10 years ago. Members from Southern Europe lag behind the most, and Rute's Netherlands only crossed that threshold this year.
Due to the Netherlands' low defense spending, countries bordering Russia were not big supporters of Rutte's candidacy for secretary general. According to the "Politiko" portal, they are also irritated by the fact that the highest position in the military alliance always belongs to Western or Northern Europe, even though the states on the eastern edge have been members of the alliance for a quarter of a century. Some allies hoped that Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kalas would become the first woman to head NATO, but other allies believed that she was too belligerent towards Russia.
Ruta will not only have to convince Trump that NATO is still alive. Across Europe, NATO skeptics are growing in popularity. France, for example, is awaiting parliamentary elections where the far-right National Gathering could achieve great success - which is why Stoltenberg made an unusual appeal to Paris to "keep NATO strong" in an interview with a Brussels portal.
Rute felt the consequences of the growth of support for the right on his own skin. According to "Politico", he somehow began to consider the leadership position in NATO when it became clear that his center-right People's Party for Freedom and Democracy would lose in the Dutch elections to the far-right Party for Freedom of Geert Wilders. He will officially step down as prime minister when a newly formed right-wing Dutch government replaces his center-right coalition.
East expects the positions of deputies and assistants
Eastern Flank countries are now likely to seek better representation at NATO's secondary level: the position of Deputy Secretary General and various Assistant Secretary General positions. The distribution of jobs has been a problem for Eastern countries for some time, writes "Politiko". Although the outgoing deputy general secretary is from Romania, all seven assistants come from the West - two from the USA, one each from Germany, the Netherlands, Britain, Italy and France. One of Ruto's first tasks as head of NATO will be to appoint a deputy, and there will be pressure to appoint someone from an eastern country, the Brussels portal points out.
Bonus video:
