Former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte took office as NATO chief on Tuesday. He is tasked with keeping the Western military alliance together with the war in Ukraine at a critical juncture and the approach of the decisive US presidential election. UNN reports this with reference to Reuters.
Mark Rutte replaced Jens Stoltenberg, who led NATO during a tumultuous decade marked primarily by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
NATO officials and diplomats expect Rutte to maintain Stoltenberg's priorities in the alliance: support for Ukraine, encouraging NATO countries to increase defense spending, and U.S. participation in European security.
Rutte, who stepped down as prime minister of the Netherlands this year after a record 14 years in office, is a strong supporter of Ukraine. He also called on Europeans to "stop whining" about former US President Trump and start strengthening the continent's defense.
While Western leaders emphasize that NATO is a defensive alliance, Moscow has long presented it as a threat to Russia's security.
According to diplomats and analysts, one of Rutte's main tasks will be to convince NATO members to allocate additional troops, weapons, and spending to fully implement the new defense plans.
Diplomats say that Rutte's many years of experience in running coalition governments makes him well suited for the new role.
But, they said, he may have to curb his tendency to be harshly critical of other European countries, which sometimes manifests itself, and insist on a frugal attitude to the budget, which irritates Eastern Europeans who want joint EU borrowing for defense projects.