On Tuesday, the Hungarian government said it would not support the appointment of Acting Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte to the post of NATO Secretary General, AFP and EFE news agencies reported.

“We cannot support the election as NATO Secretary General of a person who wanted to bring Hungary to its knees,” said Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijarto, Agerpres reports.

Thus, he referred to Rutte’s statement related to the dispute that continues today between Brussels and Budapest over a new law by which Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán says he wants to ban the promotion of homosexuality in schools, especially actions of this kind from non-governmental organizations. a law that the European Commission and Western European politicians consider discriminatory against LGBT people.

With this law, Hungary “has nothing more to look for in the European Union” and the country must be “brought to its knees,” Rutte said in June 2021 at a European summit dominated by the dispute.

The current Secretary General of the Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, will complete his mandate in October 2024 after it has already been extended four times in the context of the war in Ukraine.

Mark Rutte has already made it clear that he wants this position, the USA, Great Britain, France and Germany have expressed their support for him. But the appointment of the NATO Secretary General requires the consensus of the member states.

Hungary, the only EU member state that maintains close bilateral relations with Russia, was the latest country to ratify Sweden’s entry into NATO in late February after delays that frustrated allies, AFP noted.