Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images
Mark Rutte, a former Dutch Prime Minister who is set to become the next Secretary General of NATO, attended an official luncheon held at Noordeinde Palace in The Hague, Netherlands on June 24.
CNN
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As the NATO alliance prepares to celebrate its 75th anniversary this week with a summit in Washington, it is also preparing to welcome its first new leader in a decade, someone with experience negotiating with former President Donald Trump who many hope will keep the alliance united amid a swirl of challenges, including Trump’s possible reelection.
Former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte was formally selected as the next NATO Secretary-General in late June and will take up the post on October 1. Rutte will succeed longtime Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who has led NATO since 2014.
Diplomats and officials who spoke to CNN said Rutte is a staunch supporter of transatlantic cooperation and is seen as a consensus builder.
“He’s a really skilled political actor, which is essential to keep the alliance cohesive,” the European official said.
Officials told CNN that Rutte is seen as someone who could work with whoever is elected US president, and some hope that Rutte’s past relationship with Trump, when they led the two countries, might deter the former president from undermining the alliance if re-elected.
Former President Trump publicly criticized the alliance during his first term in office and repeated similar rhetoric during the recent election campaign, even going so far as to suggest that Russia could “do whatever it wants” to member states that do not meet their defense spending targets. Trump’s campaign stance that membership in the alliance is conditional has raised concerns in the international community.
“Trump likes people who fight back, especially people who fight back in a very respectful way,” said Piet Hoekstra, Trump’s ambassador to the Netherlands.
Hoekstra recalled that during a meeting where Trump had spoken about the “trade deficit”, Rutte “smiled” and responded that the trade deficit between the US and the Netherlands did indeed need to be addressed.
“It was a very polite, slightly humorous response to Trump, and Trump was pleased with it,” Hoekstra told CNN. “There was no ‘you son of a bitch’ or anything like that. It was just like, ‘Well done Mr Rutte, you got me.'”
Still, Hoekstra said that just because the former president and Rutte “really like each other and have a good working relationship” did not mean that Trump would shy away from “his policies”.
The former ambassador insisted that “Trump was never against NATO,” but pointed to the fact that at the time many European countries were spending less than 2% of their GDP on defense, claiming that “he was against NATO, which Europe did not support.”
A European diplomat told CNN that Rutte was “no superhero” and “you can’t fool President Trump to please him, so what ultimately matters for NATO is real action and, most importantly, real money.”
“While many of our allies are concerned about the possibility of Trump being re-elected, the picture is brighter,” a senior NATO official said. Of the 32 allies, 24 have met the 2% spending target, and six are spending more than 3%.
“We’re not there yet, but we’re better than when Trump left,” the official told CNN.
Rutte was appointed NATO secretary-general not only because of his experience with Trump, but also because of his “moderate” stance on the Ukraine war, and was seen as someone who could balance the gap between hardline Eastern Europe and prudent Western Europe and command the support of all 32 NATO member states.
NATO allies will be looking to him to maintain alliance unity as the war drags on with few signs of a quick diplomatic or military victory for Kiev, as well as on issues such as countering the Chinese threat, ramping up arms production and innovating on cyber.
Diplomats and government officials who spoke to CNN noted that Rutte is the Netherlands’ longest-serving prime minister, having stepped down in early July after 14 years in office.
“He has had to manage a range of coalition governments in his country’s parliamentary democracy, which is no easy task,” the U.S. official said.
A former senior US diplomat described him as “a very good politician who understands coalitions and building consensus, and that’s what this is all about.”
Rutte was widely seen as the front-runner to succeed Stoltenberg this year and was quickly endorsed by the United States.
U.S. officials said President Joe Biden encouraged Rutte to run for secretary-general about a year and a half ago, when Stoltenberg was ready to step down, but Rutte said at the time he was not interested.
Biden likes Rutte personally and they get along well, and the US president believes they share the same values, the official told CNN. The two see the challenge from China similarly, and Biden was “very impressed” with “Rutte’s early commitment to supporting Ukraine” and his quick understanding of the importance of the Ukraine war.
“Prime Minister Rutte has long held one of the most realistic views among European leaders about who Putin really is,” the official said.
