Liberal-conservative head of government Mark Rutte (57) is expected to become the new secretary general of the Western alliance. He is considered affable, informal and casual, but he is also one of the most experienced heads of government in Europe, a declared opponent of Vladimir Putin and is not afraid of Donald Trump.
The Hague/Amsterdam. The USA, Great Britain, Germany, France: Anyone who has these four core NATO powers behind them in the North Atlantic Defense Alliance, which currently includes 31 countries (soon to be 32 with Sweden), can be sure of your situation. After these four powers clearly and publicly declared themselves to be supporters of the current Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, as the new head of NATO, yesterday, Thursday, the 57-year-old will be in political command of the organization founded in 1949 with its headquarters in Brussels and military headquarters in Take over Mons (southern Belgium).
The current Secretary General of NATO, Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg (71), has been in office since 2014 and actually wanted to resign at the end of his second four-year term in 2022 at the latest, but the war in Ukraine started in February and people were pushing for Stoltenberg to stay. His mandate now expires in October, but it is unclear whether there could be a transfer sooner.
Part of NATO headquarters in Brussels. Imago/Thomas Trutschel
The Secretary General of NATO is traditionally a European (this is not legally fixed), the military commander-in-chief is an American, whose deputy is also European; hitherto the latter has generally been a Briton, rarely a German. The military commander-in-chief (SACEUR, Supreme Allied Commander Europe) is primarily responsible for actual military operations, but formally above him is the head of NATO's Military Committee, which is a body that primarily advises the civilian leadership on policy. and military strategy. The current head is Dutch admiral Rob Bauer (61).