Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg meet, at the Alliance’s headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

Outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on June 20 clinched the race to become the next head of NATO at a pivotal time for the alliance, after sole challenger Romanian President Klaus Iohannis pulled out.

The veteran politician, 57, is expected to be formally named by NATO’s 32 nations in the coming days and should take over when current chief Jens Stoltenberg’s term ends on October 1.

Mr. Rutte will come in at a perilous moment for the Western allies as Russia’s war in Ukraine drags on and Donald Trump battles to reclaim the presidency in the United States come November.

After staking his claim for the job last year following the collapse of his coalition, staunch Ukraine backer Rutte quickly won the support of heavyweights the United States, Britain, France and Germany.

But he had to use all the diplomatic skills gleaned during almost 14 years in charge of the Netherlands to win over hold-outs led by Turkey and Hungary.

Mr. Rutte overcame Turkish reticence with an April visit to Istanbul, before finally sealing a deal with Hungary’s Viktor Orban at a European Union summit this week.

That left the last sticking point as Iohannis, whose surprise bid had ruffled feathers among allies banking on a smooth appointment for Rutte ahead of a NATO summit in Washington next month.

Romania’s security council on June 20 announced Mr. Iohannis had formally withdrawn and that the country backed Mr. Rutte.

Trump looming?

Mr. Rutte will have a lot on his plate when he assumes the reins from Norway’s former premier Mr. Stoltenberg, who led the alliance through its most consequential decades since the end of the Cold War.

Just weeks after his four-year term is expected to start, voters in the United States will go to the polls in a crunch vote to chose between incumbent Joe Biden and Mr. Trump.

The prospect of the volatile former President returning to the Oval Office has rattled allies fearful that he could weaken superpower Washington’s role as Europe’s ultimate security guarantor.

Mr. Trump fuelled those fears on the campaign trail by saying he would encourage Russia to attack NATO countries not spending enough on their own defence.

Like Mr. Stoltenberg, Mr. Rutte won plaudits for his careful handling of Mr. Trump during his first term in power— when the ex-reality TV star reportedly even mulled pulling the United States out of NATO.

“I think Mark Rutte is a very strong candidate,” Mr. Stoltenberg said on a visit to Washington Tuesday. “He has a lot of experience as Prime Minister. He’s a close friend and colleague.”

While Mr. Trump’s return could pose one major challenge— to NATO’s east Mr. Rutte will face the far more pressing menace from Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

The Kremlin’s forces are currently on the front foot in Ukraine after more than two years of brutal conflict, and the NATO chief will have a key role in marshalling aid from Kyiv’s weary backers.

At the same time, Mr. Rutte will have to ensure the alliance is ready to defend against any potential future attack from Moscow— if, or more likely when, Mr. Putin is able to rebuild his forces.

Part of that will involve corralling European allies to spend more on defence— a key demand from Mr. Trump, and other U.S. leaders.

This week NATO announced that 23 out of its 32 member countries had hit the alliance’s target of spending two percent of their gross domestic product on defence.

‘Teflon Mark’

Dubbed “Teflon Mark” for his ability to remain in power for so long in the Netherlands, Mr. Rutte will become the fourth Dutchman to lead NATO since it emerged from the ashes of World War II to confront the Soviet Union.

The bicycling conservative threw his country’s economic weight behind Ukraine in the wake of Russia’s 2022 invasion— leading efforts to deliver F-16 fighter jets to Kyiv.

While NATO countries along the alliance’s eastern flank had pushed for one of their own to get the NATO job, Mr. Rutte’s backers insist he is fully aware of the threat posed by Russia.

Among the most formative events during his time in charge of the Netherlands was the 2014 shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine, with 196 Dutch among the 298 killed, that was blamed of Moscow-backed fighters.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks during a news conference with Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the State Department on June 18, 2024, in Washington.
| Photo Credit: AP

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on June 17 that 23 of the alliance’s 32 members were on track to meet a decade-old pledge to spend at least 2% of GDP on defence, a long-standing demand of Washington.

“Twenty-three allies are going to spend 2% of GDP or more on defence this year,” Mr. Stoltenberg told President Joe Biden in the Oval Office.

“NATO allies are this year increasing defence spending by 18%. That’s the biggest increase in decades,” he said.

Mr. Biden’s rival in the November elections, Donald Trump, has long voiced anger at NATO allies he sees as not carrying their fair share, even recently suggesting he would encourage Russia to attack them if they do not pay.

When NATO allies made the pledge at a 2014 summit, only three countries met the target — the United States, Britain and Greece, which has longstanding tensions with neighboring Turkey.

Mr. Stoltenberg last reported that around 20 allies were meeting the target, with once hesitant nations such as Germany ramping up defence spending following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on May 31 dismissed warnings by Russian President Vladimir Putin that allowing Kyiv to use Western weapons for strikes inside Russian territory might lead to an escalation.

Speaking on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Prague, Mr. Stoltenberg said the alliance had heard such warnings many times before.

“This is nothing new. It has (…) been the case for a long time that every time NATO allies are providing support to Ukraine, President Putin is trying to threaten us to not do that,” he told reporters. “And an escalation — well, Russia has escalated by invading another country.”

Mr. Putin on Tuesday warned NATO members against allowing Ukraine to fire their weapons into Russia and raised a new risk of nuclear war after several allies lifted restrictions imposed on the use of weapons donated to Kyiv.

Policy shift

In a marked policy shift, U.S. President Joe Biden has also authorised Kyiv the limited use of U.S.-supplied weapons inside Russia, four officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Thursday.

Mr. Biden’s decision applies only to targets inside Russia near the border with the Kharkiv region, where an offensive launched by Moscow on May 10 has overrun some villages, they explained. The U.S. is by far the largest arms donor to Kyiv.

Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, is 30 km from the border with Russia.

In Berlin on May 31, a German government spokesman said Ukraine could use weapons supplied by Berlin to defend itself against attacks launched from just inside Russia against the Kharkiv border region, in accordance with international law.

‘Ukraine has the right to self-defence’

Mr. Stoltenberg said Ukraine had the right to strike legitimate military targets inside Russia, especially since the borderline and the frontline near Kharkiv were more or less the same, and it was not reasonable to assume Kyiv should not hit back.

“Of course, it makes it very hard for Ukraine to defend themselves if they are not allowed to use advanced weapons to repel those attacks,” he said. “Ukraine has the right to self-defence, we have the right to help Ukraine uphold the right for self-defence, and that does not make NATO allies a party to the conflict,” Stoltenberg added.

“That was the case back in February 2022, that was the case last year, that remains the case.”

Frankfurt, Germany:

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has warned there will be no swift end to the Ukraine war, in an interview published Sunday, as Kyiv pushes on with its counteroffensive against Russia. “Most wars last longer than expected when they first begin,” Stoltenberg said in an interview with Germany’s Funke media group.

“Therefore we must prepare ourselves for a long war in Ukraine.”

The conflict began in February, 2022 when Moscow sent its forces into Ukraine, bringing war back to Europe for the first time in decades.

Kyiv launched its counteroffensive in June, pushing back against entrenched Russian positions in the south and east, but it has made limited gains.

“We are all wishing for a quick peace,” said Stoltenberg.

“But at the same time we must recognise: if President (Volodymyr) Zelensky and the Ukrainians stop fighting, their country will no longer exist.

“If President (Vladimir) Putin and Russia lay down their weapons, we will have peace.”

On Ukraine’s ambitions to join the alliance, Stoltenberg said: “There is no doubt that Ukraine will eventually be in NATO.”

Kyiv had “moved closer to NATO” at a summit of the alliance in July, he said.

“When this war ends, we need security guarantees for Ukraine. Otherwise, history could repeat itself,” he added.

At the July summit in Vilnius, NATO leaders agreed that Ukraine could join the alliance once certain conditions are met, and US and German officials made it clear that these would include Kyiv carrying out reforms to protect democracy and the rule of law.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)