Politico: Mark Rutte to be NATO's next secretary-general

Mark Rutte will be the next NATO secretary-general after all 32 members of the alliance agreed that the outgoing Dutch prime minister will succeed Jens Stoltenberg, Report informs referring to Politico.

Following endorsements from Hungary and Slovakia on Tuesday, Romania confirmed its support for Rutte on Thursday, with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis withdrawing his candidacy for the NATO top job.

During a meeting of the Supreme Council of National Defence, Iohannis said he had notified NATO allies about the withdrawal of his candidacy.

Rutte will take over NATO’s leadership at a critical time. His new job will begin by October 2, just over a month before the US election, which will shape the fate of the military alliance that has served as Eastern Europe’s most successful deterrence to an aggressive Russia. Former US President Donald Trump, the current Republican candidate, has pledged to stay in NATO but threatened to cut US aid to Ukraine if reelected.

Observers, though, credit Rutte for being a “Trump whisperer,” thanks to his ability to make deals with politicians from different backgrounds, even earning the then-US president’s praise: “I like this guy!”

Having Rutte confirmed also means the succession issue is cleared up before July when NATO leaders head to Washington to mark the alliance’s 75th anniversary.

Rutte’s quest for the NATO top job has been a long journey. He has been campaigning for the job since last November.

Rutte has been criticized for not being active enough in canvassing support from Eastern European countries, who questioned his pre-2014 support for Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline project.

Rutte also continuously failed to bring Dutch defense spending up to NATO’s target of 2 percent of GDP throughout his 14-year premiership of the EU’s fifth-largest economy. The Netherlands is finally expected to meet that target this year, according to NATO’s latest figures.