The United States, Great Britain and France announced on Thursday that they are backing Prime Minister Mark Rutte to succeed Jens Stoltenberg as NATO secretary general, giving the Dutch politician a strong position to win the job, Reuters writes.

Stoltenberg’s successor, whose term expires in October, will lead the alliance at a crucial time when he will have to convince allies to continue expensive support for Ukraine, but at the same time prevent a dangerous escalation that would plunge NATO into open military conflict with Russia.

“President Biden strongly supports Prime Minister Rutte’s nomination to be the next NATO Secretary General,” a US official told Reuters on Thursday.

“Prime Minister Rutte deeply understands the importance of the alliance, is a natural leader and orator, and his leadership will serve the alliance at this critical time,” the Washington official added.

Depending on the outcome of the U.S. presidential election in November, NATO’s next secretary general could go to a second term for former Republican President Donald Trump, who recently questioned the U.S.’s willingness to come to the aid of allies that don’t spend 2 percent of GDP on defense.

His comments at a campaign rally caused consternation among European allies and were roundly condemned by some leaders in Europe.

Mark Rutte said that NATO countries in Europe should “dance” with whoever comes to the White House

But Rutte, who was already seen as the favorite to become the new head of the alliance last year, said on Saturday that Europe “must stop whining, whining and pestering” about Trump and instead focus on what it can do for Ukraine.

“We have to work with whoever is on the dance floor,” he said at the Munich Security Conference.

Rutte, the longest-serving prime minister in the Netherlands’ history, unexpectedly announced last July that he would retire from politics but is staying on in an interim role as Dutch parties failed to form a governing coalition after parliamentary elections in November, which he won Freedom Party led by Geert Wilders.

NATO’s Secretary General is appointed by consensus among the 31 member states at the end of an often opaque procedure and after negotiations between ambassadors within the Alliance at the behest of their capitals. The dean of permanent representatives (ambassadors) to the alliance, currently Croatian Mario Nobilo, is the one tasked with testing the waters to reach consensus.

Two diplomats told Reuters on Thursday that Rutte currently has the support of 20 member states. Sweden will soon become NATO’s 32nd country after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced last Sunday that Budapest would drop its opposition and ratification of the Scandinavian country’s membership was finally put on the agenda for a vote in the Hungarian legislature.

The Prime Minister of the Netherlands is running without an official opponent

Britain’s Foreign Office announced in a press release on Thursday ahead of Washington’s announcement that it was backing Rutte as secretary-general, saying he was a politician respected by the alliance, had the necessary security and defense expertise and was the , who will ensure that NATO remains strong and ready to defend itself should the need arise.

Stoltenberg, a former prime minister of Norway, has been NATO’s secretary general since 2014. His mandate was extended for a fourth time last July as the alliance wanted to retain a leader who knows his allies well, rather than appointing a new chief, while its eastern flank is embroiled in the biggest military conflict since the end of World War II.

Diplomatic sources told Reuters that while names such as Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and Latvian Foreign Minister Kristianis Karins are in the news, Rutte is currently the only candidate in the NATO leadership race.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who has also been mentioned by some as a possible successor to Stoltenberg, ruled out that possibility last Thursday, including saying she would turn down the job if offered.

As for Rutte, a possible problem for him could be the fact that the Netherlands has cut military spending during years of austerity during his time in office. But since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Netherlands has again increased its military spending, reaching the level of about 2% of GDP agreed by the allies a decade ago.

And France also announced on Wednesday afternoon, hours after the US and UK announcements, that it would back Rutte. Given this latest announcement, it is almost certain that the Dutch Prime Minister will not face any serious obstacles on his way to office. France and Germany are usually countries that try to limit too much influence of the Anglo-Saxon countries in the alliance, but Rutte maintains good relations with Paris and Berlin.

NATO has been led three times in its history by secretaries general from the Netherlands, the last time between 2004 and 2009 by former foreign minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

Joseph Loons, another former Dutch foreign minister, led the alliance for 12 years and 268 days between 1971 and 1984, becoming the longest-serving secretary-general in its history.

Less known are the details of Mark Rutte, who was nicknamed the “Teflon brand” in Holland.

The fact that Rutte will become NATO’s next secretary-general after the support announced by Washington, London and Paris seems so certain that Reuters has already taken a portrait of him, in which he mentions that he teaches sociology at a high school in The Hague. hour a week and previously said that after leaving politics he couldn’t think of a better job than becoming a full-time teacher.

But he changed his mind last October when he publicly announced his interest in becoming NATO’s next secretary general.

Rutte, 57, is single, has no children and has not been romantically involved in the 18 years since he became leader of the Dutch VVD party. Born and raised in The Hague, he lived his entire life in this city, which is the seat of the Dutch government.

He has lived in the same modest house for years and is proud to still own the same Saab he bought used more than a decade ago.

Rutte studied history at the prestigious Dutch university in Leiden and joined the government in 2022 as deputy minister for social affairs. Prior to that, he worked for several years as an HR manager at the multinational consumer goods company Unilever.

For most of his time as the head of the Netherlands, he was known primarily as a politician focused on domestic politics, becoming a European player only in recent years. He survived several scandals that rocked the Dutch political class, causing the local press to call him a “teflon brand”.