Politico reported that 32 NATO member countries have unanimously nominated Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte as the next Secretary General of the alliance, replacing Mr. Jens Stoltenberg.
"Mark Rutte will be the next NATO Secretary General after all 32 members of the alliance agreed that the outgoing Dutch Prime Minister will replace Stoltenberg. After Hungary and Slovakia announced their support for Rutte on June 18, Romania also gave similar support on June 20, with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis withdrawing his candidacy for NATO leadership," the newspaper wrote.
NATO makes decisions by consensus. To become the next leader of NATO, a candidate needs the support of all 32 alliance members. In addition to Mr. Rutte, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis also announced his candidacy for the position in March. However, before the vote, Mr. Iohannis announced that he would withdraw his candidacy.
Mr Stoltenberg became NATO secretary general in 2014. His term was extended several times after the alliance failed to find a successor. But this year, after Mr Stoltenberg said he could no longer stay in the job, Mr Rutte stood up and quickly won the support of the US, UK, Germany and France.
Mr. Rutte began his candidacy for the NATO leadership position in November 2023. To become the leader of the alliance, a candidate needs to receive consensus from all allies. With the absolute support of NATO member countries, Mr. Rutte will assume the role of NATO Secretary General in October, after the alliance's summit in July in Washington (USA). This year, NATO also celebrates its 75th anniversary.
The next NATO secretary general will face the challenge of maintaining support from members for Ukraine in its conflict with Russia, while also avoiding any escalation that could push the bloc into war with Moscow.
Politico notes that one of Mr. Rutte’s main goals is to increase military spending by all NATO member states to 2% of GDP. Mr. Rutte has failed to meet that target during his tenure as prime minister. According to NATO data, the Netherlands will only reach 2% this year. A total of 23 of the 32 member states will reach that threshold by 2024.
In addition to seeking to support Ukraine, which has not yet become a full NATO member, Mr. Rutte may face a series of challenges from Donald Trump, the Republican candidate and Joe Biden's opponent in the upcoming US presidential election. Mr. Trump has repeatedly voiced skepticism about the value of NATO, even mentioning that he would withdraw the United States from NATO if re-elected amid complaints about the defense spending of other members.
According to Richard Grenell, the former acting director of the US National Intelligence Agency, who is said to have a close relationship with presidential candidate Donald Trump, the next US President will be the one to choose the NATO Secretary General, and that person may not be Mr. Rutte. "Mr. Mark Rutte has spent more than 10 years destroying the Netherlands with promises. He is dishonest and aggressive," Dutch political commentator Eva Vlaardingerbroek commented on the news that Mr. Rutte was elected NATO Secretary General.
Many experts also criticized Mr. Rutte for not helping the Dutch economy develop during his 14 years in power, and that the country has not even fulfilled the goal of increasing military spending to 2% of GDP as required by NATO.
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![[Photo] Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chairs a meeting of the Steering Committee for key projects in the transport sector.](https://vphoto.vietnam.vn/thumb/1200x675/vietnam/resource/IMAGE/2025/5/10/0f4a774f29ce4699b015316413a1d09e)
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