The outgoing Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, is emerging as the next NATO Secretary General to replace Norway’s Jens Stoltenberg, who will leave the post in October. Rutte, who is still leading the Dutch government on an interim basis pending a new coalition agreement after the November elections, yesterday received the support of the main allies, such as the United States, France, Great Britain and Germany.
At 57, Rutte, a moderate conservative, is Europe’s longest-serving head of government, since 2010. So his contacts agenda is invaluable. He knows everyone. He is considered a convinced Atlanticist. At the recent Munich security conference, Rutte encouraged European allies to be pragmatic and think that it will also be possible to work with Donald Trump if he returns to the White House. He came to it when he ruled.
The Netherlands is a pillar of NATO, one of the allies where the US has stored nuclear weapons. The Dutch government has been one of the toughest with Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. Let’s not forget Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which covered the Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur route, probably shot down by a missile fired by pro-Russian separatists on July 17, 2014. Among the victims were 196 Dutch nationals. Rutte’s Government was one of the first to offer Kyiv F-16 fighter bombers to put an end to Russian air superiority.
The secretaries general of NATO are elected by unanimous consent of the 31 member countries. There have already been three Dutchmen who have held the role since 1949. Support came yesterday from official sources in Washington, London, Paris and Berlin. It remains to be seen what will be the attitude of countries probably more reluctant to Rutte, such as Hungary, Poland and Turkey.
The Atlantic Alliance, daughter of the Cold War and headquartered in Brussels, obliges collective defense in the event of an attack on one of its members. It is the famous article 5 of the treaty of Washington, the founding document. But this does not imply that there is an automatic military response to aggression. The treaty speaks of adopting “the measures it deems necessary, including armed force”, but leaves room for intervention by the UN Security Council.
NATO secretaries-general have always been Europeans, while the supreme military commander is invariably an American, today General Christopher Cavoli.
