Mark Rutte, with whom President Klaus Iohannis officially entered the race for NATO secretary general, is the longest-serving prime minister in the history of the Netherlands and is currently acting as an interim as coalition talks are deadlocked. in the Netherlands since November, when the Freedom Party led by Geert Wilders won a shock victory in the parliamentary elections, but without a clear majority.

• Klaus Iohannis: I decided to take part in the competition for the post of NATO Secretary General. I undertake this candidacy on behalf of Romania with all responsibility

The United States, Great Britain and France announced on February 22 that they support Prime Minister Mark Rutte to succeed Jens Stoltenberg as NATO Secretary General, which gives the Dutch politician a strong position to win the post, Reuters writes.

• How the Secretary General of NATO is elected and in what context Yohannis announced his candidacy for the position of Secretary General of the Alliance

The successor to Jens Stoltenberg, whose mandate at the top of NATO ends in October, will take over the leadership of the alliance at a crucial time, having to convince allies to continue supporting Ukraine in the war started by Russia, but at the same time to prevent a dangerous escalation that would drag NATO into open military conflict with Russia .

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

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 who do. not allocate 2% of GDP to defense.

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

But Rutte, who has been seen as the front-runner since last year to become the new head of the alliance, recently said that Europe “must stop whining, whining and nagging” 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.

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

Reuters has been photographing him since February, recalling that Rutte teaches sociology at a high school in The Hague for one hour a week and has previously said that after leaving politics he could not think of a better job than to become 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 that he still owns the same Saab he bought used more than ten years ago.

Rutte studied history at the prestigious Dutch university in Leiden and entered 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”.

A potential problem for Mark Rutte could be the fact that the Netherlands has cut military spending during the years of austerity during his time in office. But after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Netherlands again increased its military spending to about the 2% of GDP level agreed upon by the allies a decade ago.