NATO appoints Mark Rutte as secretary general

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) appointed Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte as secretary general on Wednesday.

This appointment was only a formality since the withdrawal, last week, of the candidacy of Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.

Mark Rutte will replace the Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg whose mandate expires on October 1.

The decision was taken during a meeting of ambassadors from the 32 member countries at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels.

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Mark Rutte, who is leaving Dutch politics after almost 14 years as prime minister, said he was looking forward to taking on the new role “with a lot of energy”.

“The Alliance is and will remain the cornerstone of our collective security. Leading this organization is a responsibility I do not take lightly,” he said in a message posted on the X Network.

A vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a proponent of unwavering support for Ukraine in the face of its invasion by Russia, Mark Rutte’s immediate task will be to maintain this collective NATO support for the Ukrainians while avoiding drawing the organisation directly into the conflict.

His task could be complicated by the possible return of Donald Trump to the White House following the November presidential election in the United States, the former American president not hiding his skepticism about the functioning of the alliance , or even on its relevance.

(Written by Andrew Gray, Blandine Hénault and Bertrand Boucey for the French version)