Outgoing Dutch prime minister New NATO chief

[pieter]

NATO appoints Dutch PM as next chief as global challenges mount for alliance

By Stephanie Halasz, Niamh Kennedy and Caitlin Danaher, CNN
2 minute read
Updated 9:38 AM EDT, Wed June 26, 2024

Netherlands' Prime Minister Mark Rutte arrives at the Rijskmuseum in Amsterdam in April 2023. Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images

The outgoing Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, has been formally selected as the next NATO secretary general, the military alliance announced Wednesday, coming at a pivotal time as it grapples with boosting its own security while also supporting Ukraine in its grinding war against Russia.

His appointment comes after Romanian President Klaus Iohannis – his only rival for the position – announced last week that he had withdrawn from the running.


Mark Rutte's only rival for the position of NATO secretary general, the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis withdrew from the running last week

“It is a tremendous honour to be appointed Secretary-General of NATO. The Alliance is and will remain the cornerstone of our collective security,” Rutte said in a post on X Wednesday.

The Dutch leader, 57, said he was grateful to the NATO allies for placing their trust in him. “Leading this organization is a responsibility I do not take lightly,” he said.

Rutte is set to start his new position on October 1 when incumbent NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg’s 10-year tenure comes to an end, according to a statement from the alliance.

Stoltenberg said Wednesday that he “warmly welcomes” the appointment of his successor.


The present NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg with his successor, the former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte

“Mark is a true transatlanticist, a strong leader and a consensus-builder. I wish him every success as we continue to strengthen NATO,” he posted on X.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also took to X to congratulate the next NATO chief. “I know Mark Rutte as a principled and strong leader, who has demonstrated his decisiveness and vision on many occasions over the past years,” Zelensky said.

Nodding towards the war in Ukraine, Zelensky added: “When Mr. Rutte takes over this post from @jensstoltenberg in October, we anticipate that our joint work to ensure the protection of people and freedom throughout our entire Euro-Atlantic community will continue at good pace.”


The former Dutch prime minister and new NATO secretary general Mark Rutte with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky

The secretary general is the alliance’s top international civil servant. The person in that role chairs all of NATO’s major committees, is its principal spokesperson and the head of the organization’s international staff.

Rutte will inherit a NATO that is racing to bolster its own security while also supporting Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s invasion. The alliance is walking a tightrope of rearming and increasing military spending while avoiding provoking Moscow and escalating what is already the deadliest war on European soil in decades.


The Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen together with the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte


The Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen together with the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte


The Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen together with the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte


Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte left, and Poland s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki shake hands during their meeting in Warsaw, Poland, on Monday, March 21, 2022. AP


Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte left, and Poland s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in front of the Dutch parliament in The Hague, the Netherland


Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte left, and Poland s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki


Dutch Prime Minister with the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan


Dutch Prime Minister with the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan


Rutte presenting his first cabinet together with Deputy Prime Minister Maxime Verhagen (CDA) and coalition partner Geert Wilders (PVV) in 2010


Rutte with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, 24 May 2018


Mark Rutte with Indonesian Minister of Public Works Basuki Hadimuljono showing off their Nokia phones in 2019


Rutte with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, 19 January 2023


Rutte with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Tunisian President Kais Saied, 16 July 2023


Rutte with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands on 10 March 2024


Rutte speaks in Helsinki 2024


Prime Minister Mark Rutte with the secretary-general of the United Nations, António Guterres (born 30 April 1949)


Prime Minister Mark Rutte with the secretary-general of the United Nations, António Guterres (born 30 April 1949)


Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte with Chinese president Xi Jinping


Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte with Chinese president Xi Jinping


Mark Rutte with Putin


Dutch Minister Mark Rutte with the 23rd prime minister of Canada Justin Trudeau (born December 25, 1971)


Dutch Minister Mark Rutte with the 23rd prime minister of Canada Justin Trudeau (born December 25, 1971)


Mark Rutte with Barack Obama


Mark Rutte with Donald Trump


Mark Rutte with Joe Biden


Mark Rutte with the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Nethanyahu


Prime Minister Mark Rutte traveled to Egypt on 13 march 2024 to meet with President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi. Along the way he stopped in Israel for a quick visit to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (ANP/EPA)


Mark Rutte with the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority of the Westbank


Mark Rutte with the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak


Mark Rutte with the French president Emmanuel Macron


Mark Rutte with the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán


Mark Rutte with the German chancelor Olaf Scholz


German chancelor Olaf Scholz with the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte


Mark Rutte with the former German chancelor Angela Merkel


Mark Rutte with the former German chancelor Angela Merkel


Mark Rutte with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni


The Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte with Pope Francis (born 17 December 1936) in the Vatican (Rome, inside Italy)


The Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte with Pope Francis (born 17 December 1936) in the Vatican (Rome, inside Italy)


Dutch Prime Minister with Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saoudi Arabia, the country of oil/petrol and Mecca and Medina, the holy cities of Islam, and the center of Sunni Islam (90% of the Muslims in the world are Sunni Muslims. Wahhabism and Salafism stem from Saoudi Arabia.


Mark Rutte and King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia © ANP


Prime Minister Mark Rutte and President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi of Egypt in Cairo, Egypt


President of Egypt Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte discussing the Middle East

[pieter]

[pieter]

[pieter]

[pieter]

[pieter]

Dear all,

I know Mark Rutte as the dealmaker, pragmatic European Center-right liberal, who could deal with the Dutch Social Democratic Labor Party (PvdA) in a Centrist coalition of his 'right-wing' VVD party with the center-left Labor (PvdA) party. A man of consensus, a man who could make compromises, a pragmatist, who chose government over party ideology in the interests of the Netherlands. A man who was Prime Minister for 10 years and in that capacity with Obama, Trump, Biden, Merkel, Scholz, Macron, and the British Prime Ministers Gordon Brown, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. Brexit was difficult for Mark Rutte, because the Netherlands has close historical ties with the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 in Financial, economical, political (Foreign Afdairs) and Social Cultural sense. Because the Netherlands 🇳🇱 was a very Transatalantic nation, with close ties and deep bonds with the USA 🇺🇸, the UK 🇬🇧, Germany 🇩🇪 (West Germany 🇩🇪 in the past -1949-1990), France 🇫🇷, Belgium 🇧🇪, and Italy 🇮🇹 in the sense of the West-European West (EU, NATO, the OSCE - Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe -), good relations with the EFTA (European Free Trade Association) countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland), the Council of Europe (CoE; French: Conseil de l'Europe, CdE), the United Nations (UN), the IMF (International Monetary Fund), the World Bank and the BIS (Bank for International Settlements).


Teflon man was a nickname of the former Dutch prime minister in the Netherlands. The new secretary general of NATO has a rubber looking face, a pokerface, a stoic look and and an ever smiling face. Only people close to him knew whom he was.

The Council of Europe (CoE; French: Conseil de l'Europe, CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international financial institution which is owned by member central banks. Its primary goal is to foster international monetary and financial cooperation while serving as a bank for central banks. With its establishment in 1929, its initial purpose was to oversee the settlement of World War I war reparations.

The BIS carries out its work through its meetings, programmes and through the Basel Process, hosting international groups pursuing global financial stability and facilitating their interaction. It also provides banking services, but only to central banks and other international organizations. The BIS is based in Basel, Switzerland, with representative offices in Hong Kong and Mexico City.

Mark Rutte has a lot of experience in Foreign Affairs, running a country, running a cabinet, with the Ukraine War 🇺🇦, Gaza war (in diplomatic sense), the Corona crisis health (emergency) management, the international dealing with Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17/MAS17) disaster in Ukraine 🇺🇦. The MH17 passenger flight ✈️ from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that was shot down by Russian-controlled forces on 17 July 2014, while flying over eastern Ukraine. And he dealt with the Dutch childcare benefits scandal (Dutch: kinderopvangtoeslagaffaire or toeslagenaffaire, lit. '[childcare] benefits affair'), a political scandal in the Netherlands concerning false allegations of fraud made by the Tax and Customs Administration (Belastingdienst) while attempting to regulate the distribution of childcare benefits, that led to the collective resignation of the government in early 2021. Rutte dealt with fierce and sometimes blunt (tough/vulgar/fierce/aggressive and verbal violent) attacks on his position by all political parties except his own party (the VVD).


The MH17 passenger fligh from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that was shot down by Russian-controlled forces on 17 July 2014. The Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte was very committed to the Dutch relatives of the victims of this terrible disaster


The MH17 passenger fligh from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur that was shot down by Russian-controlled forces on 17 July 2014


Members of a group of international experts inspect the site where the downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crashed, near the village of Hrabove (Grabovo) in Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine on Aug 1, 2014. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

Inside his center right conservative Liberal VVD party Mark had to fight himself into the party leadership position and his role as Prime Minister. From 2010 until 2024 he was the Dutch Prime Minister. He is the politician whom managed to stay in this position longer than his Christian Democratic predecessor Ruud Lubbers whom was the prime minister of center right to Rightwing coalition governments from 4 November 1982 until 22 August 1994. Mark Rutte was Dutch Prime Minister from 14 October 2010 until June 2024.

The Dutch general election of 2006 did not start off well for the VVD: Mark Rutte was criticised by his own parliamentary party for being invisible in the campaign, and he was unable to break the attention away from the duel between then-Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende of the Christian democrats (CDA) and Wouter Bos of the Labour Party (PvdA, today Frans Timmermans GroenLinksPvdA). However, the VVD's campaign started relatively late. The election polls showed losses for the VVD; the former VVD deputy Prime Minister Hans Wiegel blamed a poor VVD campaign for this, caused by the heavily contested VVD leadership run-off between the liberal Mark Rutte and conservative/populist Rita Verdonk earlier in the year. Verdonk had her eyes on the deputy-minister post, while cabinet posts are normally decided upon by the political leader of the VVD. On election day, the party received enough votes for twenty-two seats, a loss of six seats. When the official election results were announced on Monday 27 November 2006, preferential votes became known as well, showing that Rita Verdonk, the second candidate on the list, had obtained more votes than the VVD's lead candidate, Mark Rutte. Rutte had received 553,200 votes, while Verdonk had received 620,555. This led Verdonk to call for a party commission that would investigate the party leadership position, as a consequence of the situation of her obtaining more votes in the general election than Rutte, creating a short-lived crisis in the party. A crisis was averted when Rutte called for an ultimatum on his leadership, which Verdonk had to reconcile to, by rejecting her proposal for a party commission. During 2007, signs of VVD infighting continued to play in the media. In June 2007, the former VVD minister Dekker presented a report on the previous election, showing that the VVD lacked clear leadership roles, however the report did not single out individuals for blame for the party's losses.


Rita Verdonk and Mark Rutte in better times


Rita Verdonk and Mark Rutte in better times


Rita Verdonk, Mark Rutte's rival for the VVD party leadership in 2006

Rutte is single. He is a member of the Dutch Protestant Church (PKN). The Protestant Church in the Netherlands (Dutch: de Protestantse Kerk in Nederland, abbreviated PKN) is the largest Protestant denomination in the Netherlands, being both Calvinist and Lutheran. As prime minister, Rutte still taught social studies on Thursday mornings at the Johan de Witt College, a secondary school in The Hague. Rutte is known to be a big fan of the writing of Robert Caro, especially his 1974 book about Robert Moses, The Power Broker. He drives a Saab 9-3 estate. As of 2024, he has lived for several decades in an apartment in Benoordenhout, a neighbourhood of The Hague.




Rutte's commitment to the Dutch relatives of the MH17 disaster

2023 - EénVandaag (OneToday) is a current affairs programme broadcast on the Dutch public television network NPO 1 (formerly Nederland 1)

Relatives of the MH17 disaster couldn't have asked for a better Prime Minister, says Piet Ploeg of the MH17 Airplane Foundation. That is why he calls it 'extremely sad' that Mark Rutte has decided not to participate in the next elections.

The Prime Minister was a supporter of relatives (heirs) of the victims of the MH17 disaster from the start, says Piet Ploeg, who is also a relative of people whom were killed in the MH17 disaster himself. Rutte actively interfered with the file. "At least a few times a year we sat around the table with him and other involved parties," says Ploeg. "He was always approachable. You could tell him anything."


Piet Ploeg, a relative of Dutch MH17 plane disaster victims in Ukraine; "Relatives of the MH17 disaster couldn't have asked for a better Prime Minister than Mark Rutte. Rutte was always approachable. You could tell him anything. You really noticed that he wanted to do everything necessary for the relatives. And not only from his position, but also personally."

Involvement

"I assume that successors will take up the MH17 file. But I wonder whether they feel the same involvement," says Ploeg. Next year it will be 10 years since the flight was shot down over eastern Ukraine.

"You really noticed that he wanted to do everything necessary for the relatives. And not only from his position, but also personally."

No longer 'far away'

The good contact with Rutte was there from the start, says Ploeg, when the remains of the victims arrived at the airport in Eindhoven. "He mingled with us, talked to us. He was also present at the relatives' meetings that followed."

Before that he felt 'far away' because he was Prime Minister, but MH17 changed that. In the aftermath of the disaster, Rutte promised the relatives of the flight that the bottom stone would be uncovered. "That was extremely important to us. And as far as it was in his power, he succeeded."

[karl]

Pieter

NATO will do well with Mr. Rutte as the new Secretary General for as described of his capabilities in times of stress to demonstrate not only his leadership, but capabilities for getting the job done.

His handling of the past Flight MH 17 disaster is a prime example of his abilities as a leader and empathic understanding of those effected.

Karl