The main NATO countries support the Dutchman Rutte as the next secretary general

The acting Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, has achieved this Thursday an enormous advantage to become the next Secretary General of NATO, after receiving the support of the United Kingdom, Germany and France and, above all, the United States.

Representatives of Joe Biden's Administration have confirmed that he supports the Dutchman's candidacy - although the president has not yet made a public statement - for a position in which he will have to manage the Alliance's support for Ukraine against the Russian invasion. and, in the event of Donald Trump's return to the White House, foreseeable tensions between the organization's main partner and the rest of the member countries.

“President Biden strongly supports Prime Minister Rutte's candidacy to be the next secretary general of NATO,” said a senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, to the Reuters agency.

“Prime Minister Rutte deeply understands the importance of the Alliance, he is a born leader and communicator, and his leadership will be very useful to the Alliance at this critical time.”

The British vote of confidence has come in a similar way.

“Rutte is highly respected within the Alliance, has significant defense and security experience, and will ensure that NATO remains strong and ready to defend itself and deter attacks,” said a representative of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's government, also under the condition of anonymity.

In addition, a senior French official expressed support from Paris, adding that President Emmanuel Macron was an early supporter of the Dutchman and sounded him out about the position last year.

A spokesman for the German Government, for its part, also expressed the support of the Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, according to Reuters.

Rutte, 57, is accumulating support to replace Jens Stoltenberg.

Only the Dutch politician has openly run for office and already has the support of a majority of the 31 members of the Alliance.

Hungary, as with everything, is dragging its feet and has not expressed its position on the candidacy.

Neither does Turkey, which is moving to condition its support on the leader of the Netherlands promising it a more prominent role in the Alliance and trying to get Ankara to be part of the NATO-European Union association, according to allied sources.

Turkey has been a candidate for the EU since 1999, but its accession process has been paralyzed for years because it does not meet the requirements to advance on the path to membership.

The Secretary General of the Alliance is elected unanimously, and for now no ally has vetoed the Dutchman, diplomatic sources say.

Stoltenberg has been in office since 2014 and has extended his term several times, most recently last year, with Russia's war against Ukraine underway and when none of the candidates on the table gathered the support of the 31 allies.

Stoltenberg's term officially ends in October, although NATO wants an appointment sooner, so that the election does not coincide with that of the most important EU positions after the European Parliament elections in June.

The moment for Rutte's appointment would come at the Alliance summit in Washington next July.

The organization will then commemorate the 75th anniversary of its founding and the Biden Administration is determined to make efforts to celebrate it: a symbolic gesture, but one in which it wants to underline Washington's support for the institution and distance itself from the attacks of a Trump who, as president first and now as a Republican candidate, he threatens to reduce the principle of mutual defense to mere waste paper.

What may happen within the Alliance if the former Republican president returns to the White House in November will be one of the main problems for Stoltenberg's successor.

Trump set off alarm bells in European capitals when, two weeks ago, he declared at a campaign rally that he would let Russia “do whatever the hell it wants” with NATO members that do not dedicate at least 2% of their its GDP to defense.

“I am not going to defend them,” he maintained, in comments that he has continued to repeat on social networks.

Rutte has been blunt about these comments.

During his participation in the recent Munich Security Conference, the acting prime minister urged Europe to “stop complaining and moaning, and complaining” about Trump.

“We have to work with whoever is on the dance floor,” he recalled, calling on Alliance members to focus on their main task right now: what they can do to help Ukraine, whose troops were withdrawing last week. last week from the city of Avdiivka to avoid being surrounded.

Washington, the main provider of aid to Kiev, has attributed this Ukrainian decision to an increasingly pressing shortage of ammunition, caused by the delay of the US Congress in approving new funds for economic and military assistance to the invaded country.

NATO is studying how to fill the gap created by the

impasse

in the United States.

Biden knows Rutte well, who has led the Dutch Government for the last 14 years.

The acting prime minister - after the elections held in the Netherlands last November - has visited the White House five times, and both met in the Oval Office in January of last year to address issues such as aid to Ukraine or the response to the strength of China.

“We look to you to make sure that we have a coherent response from Europe, from all of Europe, for Ukraine,” the president then declared to his guest at the beginning of the meeting.

In NATO there was interest in the next person to coordinate the organization being a woman and, preferably, from the southern members (the general secretary has always been held by a man and the latter all from Nordic countries), but at the moment it does not seem that will be the case.

Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas was talked about last year, although some allies considered her too

hawkish

on Russia.

The name of the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, was also put on the table, but it did not attract unanimity either.

Both ended up discarding each other and supporting Stoltenberg to extend his mandate for another year.

There was even talk of Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, but in her country, Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, did not agree, according to allied sources.

France also showed reluctance.

The head of the Community Executive - who, as EL PAÍS announced, has run for a second term at the head of the Commission - never officially spoke out or took a step towards candidacy.

Follow all the international information on

Facebook

and

X

, or in

our weekly newsletter

.

Subscribe to continue reading

Read without limits

Keep reading

I am already a subscriber

_