THE WAY HAS been cleared for Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to take over from Jens Stoltenberg as NATO secretary general.

Rutte, who has been a vocal critic of Vladimir Putin and the invasion of Ukraine, is one of two candidates for the top job, the other is Romanian President Klaus Iohannis as the sole other candidate.

Rutte’s candidacy looks to be a certainty after a major stumbling block was removed yesterday as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban offered his support. 

Orban posted on X after a meeting with Rutte yesterday: “Hungary is ready to support PM Rutte’s bid for NATO secretary general”.

It is understood that the Dutch PM gave Orban an assurance that he could opt out of support mechanisms for Ukraine. Orban had already secured the assurance from current NATO chief Stoltenberg last week but Rutte has agreed to honour it. 

Under the compromise deal, Budapest would “not block” plans for the alliance to play a bigger role in arms shipments to the Kyiv Government, but Hungary would not have to contribute to the initiative.

“Our next step this week was to ensure that this agreement can stand the test of time,” Orban posted, along with a photo of him and Rutte shaking hands and a letter signed by Rutte.

In the letter posted by Orban, Rutte also “took note” of critical remarks he made in 2021 of Orban’s populist right-wing government that “have caused dissatisfaction in Hungary”.

He pledged to “maintain unity and treat all allies with the same level of understanding and respect”.

Media reports in Slovakia, which had been sitting on the fence on Rutte’s appointment, said yesterday that President Peter Pellegrini had endorsed Rutte in return for help from the Dutch in securing air defence equipment.

It is now believed that Romania’s Iohannis will announce shortly that he is ending his candidacy.

The way will then be clear for Rutte to assume office when Stoltenberg’s term ends on October 1.

Stoltenberg, a former Norwegian prime minister, has been NATO’s secretary general since 2014. His tenure has been extended on a number of occasions when the alliance failed to find a successor.

The Norwegian put a stop to that this year when he said he no longer wanted to serve. While there was wide speculation on Stoltenberg’s successor Rutte made the running early as he was supported by the US, UK, Germany and France.

Rutte is a centre-right politician, who was known as a social studies lecturer. He served as prime minister of the Netherlands for 14 years. He is known at home as “Teflon Mark” for his ability to avoid leadership challenges. 

With reporting from AFP.