On Wednesday (26 June 2024), the North Atlantic Council decided to appoint Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte as the next Secretary General of NATO, succeeding Jens Stoltenberg. Mr Rutte will assume his functions as Secretary General from 1 October 2024, when Mr Stoltenberg’s term expires after ten years at the helm of the Alliance, NATO reports.
Rutte's appointment became a formality after his only rival for the post, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, announced last week that he had quit the race, having failed to gain traction, Reuters reports.
Rutte will take over on Oct. 1 from Jens Stoltenberg of Norway, who is stepping down after a decade in the post.
Ambassadors from the alliance's 32 members took the decision at a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
Rutte said he looked forward to taking up the job "with great vigour".
"The Alliance is and will remain the cornerstone of our collective security. Leading this organisation is a responsibility I do not take lightly," he posted on X.
After declaring his interest in the post last year, Rutte gained early support from key members of the alliance including the United States, Britain, France and Germany.
Others were more reticent, particularly Eastern European countries which argued the post should go to someone from their region for the first time.
But they ultimately rowed in behind Rutte, a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a staunch ally of Ukraine.
