NATO Leadership Change: Mark Rutte Set to Succeed Jens Stoltenberg as NATO Secretary-General

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Outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte looks likely to become NATO's next Secretary-General. Romania's president, who was the sole challenger, has withdrawn his bid and is now endorsing Rutte to take over when Jens Stoltenberg stands down in October.    TAGS    #OIDW #DWVideos #MarkRutte #NATO #SecretaryGeneral #JensStoltenberg #Romania #DutchPrimeMinister #NATOLeadership #InternationalRelations #EuropeanPolitics #SecurityAlliance #GlobalSecurity #TransatlanticRelations #DefensePolicy #NATO2024 #LeadershipTransition                 ~HT.97~PR.152~ED.194~

Transcript

00:00As Jens Stoltenberg hands over to Mark Rutte, it's the outgoing Dutch prime minister's personal

00:06motto of go with the flow come to life.

00:09It's hard to imagine a successor more similar in nature to the stoic Norwegian who led the

00:14alliance for a decade.

00:16They're pragmatic, they're likable, they're very capable of forging coalitions and bringing

00:24difficult positions together.

00:26Mark Rutte is famously low-key.

00:28He lives alone in a modest apartment in The Hague, teaches weekly at a local school and

00:33gets around the city by bike.

00:35A few years ago, a video of him cleaning up his own spilled coffee went viral.

00:42This image of calm competence plus familiarity after more than a dozen years as Dutch prime

00:47minister won him early backing by most allies, dashing the hopes of Estonian prime minister

00:53Kaya Kallis that it was finally time for a female secretary general from an eastern

00:58flank country.

00:59Romanian president Klaus Ioannis, meanwhile, did throw his hat in the ring, holding up

01:04consensus until now.

01:06That also allowed regular EU consensus spoiler Viktor Orban to exploit a personal grudge

01:12against Rutte with whom he had clashed bitterly over the years on rule of law issues.

01:18The Dutch man is the real responsible man for whole mess we have.

01:22The goal is to bring Hungary to its knees.

01:24This time, Rutte had to compromise by signing a letter confirming he would maintain a pledge

01:30made by Stoltenberg to allow Hungary to opt out of supporting Ukraine at NATO.

01:36That deal is a controversial start to Rutte's term.

01:39In a way, you erode the unanimity, the consensus rule at NATO.

01:42So I hope Rutte will not make more of these kind of concessions to national leaders.

01:48Depending on the outcome of U.S. elections in November, Rutte may have bigger problems.

01:54Allies backing his candidacy seriously evaluated his ability to assume Stoltenberg's mantle

02:00of Trump whisperer.

02:01I think the most important task of any secretary general is to make sure that there's unity

02:08within the alliance.

02:10That's going to take all Rutte's considerable maneuvering skills, with now 32 allies, political

02:17shifts underway, and a war next door that's bound to run on long into his tenure, expected

02:23to begin October 1st.

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