Mark Rutte, potential new NATO secretary general – DW – 06/21/2024

Almost exactly a year ago, at the beginning of July 2023, Mark Rutte gave up. After thirteen years as the head of the Netherlands’ government, he announced, “I am retiring from politics.” This is the longest term of a prime minister in a European Union (EU) country with 17 million inhabitants. What caused you to leave?

Rutte’s right-wing liberal party, the VVD, considered his asylum policy too soft. The fragile four-party government coalition collapsed and new elections were held, which the right-wing extremist Geert Wilders won. That was possibly Mark Rutte’s biggest political defeat.

Finally, on 2 July he resigned as Prime Minister, although he would still remain at the head of the executive for almost a year due to the complicated process of government formation in the Netherlands.

Brief political comeback

In October, a few months after announcing his retirement, Mark Rutte no longer remembered that he wanted to retire from politics and made clear his aspirations for the post of NATO Secretary General. For several months, he directed a discreet one-man electoral campaign with heads of state and government he knew from international meetings over the years.

With a convincing transatlantic spirit and a strong supporter of Ukraine, Rutte, 57 years old and a historian, managed to convince first the United States and then the vast majority of his allies. It took him a little longer to convince his closest European enemy, the Hungarian Viktor Orban.

Mark Rutte had to promise him that during his future term as Secretary General Hungary would never have to participate in NATO activities for Ukraine outside the alliance’s territory. Viktor Orbán also refused arms deliveries.

Within the framework of the European Union, clashes between Rutte and Orban were frequent. In 2021, Mark Rutte publicly criticized Viktor Orban and told him that if he did not like being in the EU, he could leave. Hungary had previously passed anti-LGBTIQ+ legislation in the country.

With bicycle and piano

Until that moment, Mark Rutte stood out for his usual good humor and his brilliant phrases. He used to travel by bicycle from his modest apartment in The Hague to his official residence. A talented pianist, he once played the piano in public at The Hague’s main railway station.

As NATO secretary general, he will likely have to step back and be more diplomatic, since ultimately his main task will be to balance the interests of the alliance’s 32 member states and ensure that it projects an image of unity. In this, his predecessor, Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg, was a firm master.

Successful crisis manager

Mark Rutte once said in a speech, “True leadership requires the ability to listen and understand different points of view.” No doubt this is a potential motto for his new position at NATO.

“He is a successful manager in crisis situations,” newspaper columnist Sheila Sitalsing says of Rutte. Volkskrant, who wrote a biography about the former Dutch prime minister.

Despite the change in the coalition’s majority in parliament, many Dutch people have long been satisfied with the stability Mark Rutte provided during the financial crisis and the coronavirus pandemic. There were a few minor scandals during that time that caught his attention, in fact earning him the nickname “Rutte Teflon” in the Netherlands.

Rutte knows how to deal with Trump

If Donald Trump becomes US president again and turns his attention to NATO, Mark Rutte is ready. Surprisingly, Rutte had a good relationship with Trump during his first term. Trump even describes him as a ‘friend’, although Rutte has fiercely opposed the Republican’s economic policies.

Unlike Trump, Mark Rutte advocated sending arms to Ukraine while he was prime minister, and even provided the country with howitzers and combat aircraft from the Dutch army, a poorly funded institution during Rutte’s 13 years of government. In 2024, the Netherlands will reach NATO’s target of spending two percent of GDP on defense for the first time.

Dutchmen have viewed Vladimir Putin with suspicion and disapproval for years. After all, Russia was probably partly responsible for shooting down the MH-17 passenger plane over eastern Ukraine in 2014. The Malaysia Airlines plane was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. Nearly 300 people died, most of them Dutch.

not a visionary

According to a report by an EU diplomat, Mark Rutte was considered “Mr. No” in the EU. French President Macron’s long-term reform plans and vision were anathema to him.

In contrast, Mark Rutte gets along well with the quiet German chancellor, Olaf Scholz. He also gets along well with Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister. Together with her he advocated outsourcing asylum procedures to third countries.

According to his biographer Sheila Sitalsing, Rutte is a sort of Houdini of politics. Like an escape artist, you can get out of almost any crisis. A quality that could prove useful in the post of NATO Secretary General.

(M / s)