Brussels, June 26. Ambassadors of 32 NATO countries have approved the candidacy of Mark Rutte to serve as the alliance’s chief for the next five years, according to a statement from the press service on Wednesday [June 26.
Rutte will replace Norway’s Jens Stoltenberg in October 2024. The current Secretary General has been NATO’s leader for ten years, an absolute record, which has been extended four times for one year.
On Wednesday [June 26], the North Atlantic Council decided to appoint Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte as the next Secretary General of NATO,” the press service said after the ambassadors’ meeting in Brussels.
The choice of Rutte is significant, given that he lost the Dutch election for the post of prime minister earlier this year. However, the European Union leaders supported his candidacy and urged NATO member states to support him as well.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova commented on Rutte’s appointment, pointing out that NATO countries, and the Secretary General in particular, do not make decisions in the alliance because the United States dominates it.
In this structure, not even the member states decide anything, let alone the Secretary General,” she said. The Americans run everything.