The military alliance declared on Wednesday, June 26, that Mark Rutte, the outgoing prime minister of the Netherlands, has been officially chosen to serve as the next secretary general of NATO.
His appointment follows the announcement last week by Klaus Iohannis, the president of Romania, who was his lone opponent for the job.
According to an alliance statement, Rutte will begin his new role on October 1st, when current NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg’s 10-year term ends.
“It is a tremendous honour to be appointed Secretary-General of NATO. The Alliance is and will remain the cornerstone of our collective security,” Rutte said in a post on X Wednesday.
The 57-year-old Dutch prime minister expressed his gratitude to his NATO partners for having faith in him. He remarked, “I do not take the responsibility of leading this organization lightly.”
On Wednesday, Stoltenberg expressed his “warm welcome” to the announcement of his successor.
“Mark is a true leader, a true transatlanticist, and a consensus-builder. He wrote on X, “I wish him every success as we continue to strengthen NATO.”
Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, also congratulated the incoming head of NATO on X. Zelensky remarked, “I know Mark Rutte as a strong, principled leader who has shown his decisiveness and vision on many occasions over the past years.”
“When Mr. Rutte takes over this post from @JensStoltenberg in October, we anticipate that our joint work to ensure the protection of people and freedom throughout our entire Euro-Atlantic community will continue at good pace.”
As Rutte takes over, NATO is assisting Ukraine in fending off Russia’s invasion while waging the bloodiest conflict on European soil since World conflict II.
