Hungary expressed its opposition on Tuesday to the appointment of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to succeed Jens Stoltenberg as head of NATO, a crucial position in the midst of the war in Ukraine.
“We absolutely cannot support the appointment of a secretary general who in the past wanted to bring Hungary to its knees
,” Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto declared at a press conference in Budapest.
“It would be surprising on our part
,” he added.
Mark Rutte has regularly criticized nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban's attacks on the rule of law in recent years.
In 2021, furious at a Hungarian law deemed homophobic, he estimated that the Central European country had
“nothing more to do in the European Union”
.
And that if the values of the EU did not suit him, Orban only had to activate article 50 of the treaty
“which was created for this”
and leave the Union.
Intention to leave the political scene
The name of the resigning head of the Dutch government, who is responsible for current affairs, has been circulating insistently for months.
The decision is made by consensus.
Mark Rutte, 57, has the public support of NATO's leading diplomatic and military power, the United States, as well as Germany and the United Kingdom.
Liberal prime minister since 2010, he announced his intention to leave the Dutch political scene but remains in office pending the formation of a new government.
Negotiations have been slipping since the November elections won by far-right leader Geert Wilders.
Viktor Orban, whose longevity equals that of Mark Rutte, then welcomed
“the winds of change”
.
Hungary, the only EU member to maintain close bilateral ties with the Kremlin, was the last country to ratify, at the end of February, Sweden's accession to NATO, delays which aroused the frustration of its allies.