"Teflon Mark"

The new NATO Secretary General drives a bicycle, walks with Nokia, is friends with Trump and does not like Putin. What else is known about him

The new NATO Secretary General will be the current Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte. His candidacy was approved by all 32 members of the alliance. 57-year-old Rutta is one of the most stylish politicians in Europe, who prefer to ride a bicycle. From the first day of the war, he unconditionally supported Ukraine, and has been in tense relations with Vladimir Putin for more than 10 years. But he made friends with Donald Trump and received the nickname "Teflon Mark" for the ability to avoid scandals. "Cold" tells what to expect from the new head of NATO.

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Rutte is a real old -timer of European politics. He heads the Government of the Netherlands for almost 14 years, the longer all his predecessors. In Europe, only Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is in power in Europe. The Dutch politician has a second job: he teaches social studies in high school in the Hague, where he lives. The Netherlands under Rutta is one of the few NATO countries that reached the alliance standard for expenses - 2% of GDP.

Rutta will replace Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg, who heads the alliance for almost 10 years as NATO Secretary General NATO. Stoltenberg will leave in early October after the official completion of his authority. He was supposed to leave this post in early February 2022, when he was already appointed head of the Central Bank of Norway, but plans changed due to Russian invasion of Ukraine. In March 2022, NATO members [agreed] (https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_193675.htm | Allies%20agreed%20tode%20 (24, Critical%20moment%20For%20inTernational%20SecURITY.) Provide the powers of Stoltenberg, although prominent European politicians claimed his post, including the former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Estonian Prime Minister KaiKallas .

The official procedure for the election of the Secretary General of NATO does not exist - the countries are simply trying to agree. The election of the Alliance Secretary General is called an extremely opaque procedure. As a rule, a candidate is chosen among senior European politicians, but the decisive word, according to the appointment of a new Secretary General, remains for Washington. The candidacy of Rutte was approved by all members of the alliance, including Hungary and Romania, which at first objected. And also Turkey, with the president of which Rutta had a conflict.

Modest and annoying

The Dutch prime minister is the youngest of seven children in the family. His father survived the Japanese labor camp for prisoners during the Second World War. One of his older brothers died during the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. Despite his status, Rutte lives very modestly: he rides a bicycle to the Royal Palace, until 2021 he did without security, and until 2022 he used the old button Nokia. In 2021, he was nevertheless appointed enhanced guard due to threats of abduction by drug mafia.

Nokia Rutte had to refuse in 2022. The phone survived the scandal with the removal of SMS of state importance (the phone was not enough memory), but the state visit to the USA was not: it just stopped working. Every year, Rutta goes to the same places on vacation: skiing to Swiss Alps and walk around New York. When he comes to the EU summits in Brussels, he always stops in the same room of his usual hotel.

Rutte is a hard negotiator. In 2020, he came to the European Union summit with the biography of composer Frederick Chopin. He took the book with him to negotiations to pass the time for reading - did not want to waste time on meaningless negotiations. “Our position is known, and I do not see what negotiations can be done,” Rutte said then. European leaders discussed a financing shortage of 75 billion euros, which was formed due to Britain's exit from the EU. The Netherlands were against increasing contributions to normalize the block budget. Former German Chancellor Angel Merkel became infuriated by this behavior of the Dutch prime minister.

Mark Rutte is called a long -standing critic of Vladimir Putin. He described the Russian president as a “cold -blooded, cruel and merciless” person. In 2021, Rutte said that he would not come to the EU summit if at the negotiation table to sit with Putin. “Do not overestimate Putin mentally. I talked a lot with this person. He is not a strong man, he is not a strong guy, ”the Dutch politician described Putin.

His position in Russia was greatly influenced by the collapse of the passenger Boeing over Ukraine in 2014. The aircraft performed the flight Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur and was shot down from the Buk anti-aircraft missile system, deployed in the Donetsk region. As a result, all 298 passengers were killed, 196 of whom were citizens of the Netherlands. The court in the Hague recognized the former Minister of Defense of “DPR” Igor Strelkov (Girkin) guilty of the crash of the airliner and sentenced him to a life sentence.

The Netherlands under Rutta advocated the active military support of Ukraine. Amsterdam supplies Kiev F-16 fighters and teaches Ukrainian pilots, and the Minister of Defense of the Government Rutte Kaisa Olllongren stated that there should not be restrictions in the military support of Ukraine. In March 2024, Rutte came to Kharkov, where he met with the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky to sign a bilateral security agreement. Despite the unconditional support of Ukraine, Rutte does not oppose negotiations with Russia, but the Netherlands are ready to support this step only when Russia begins to fulfill international law.

Trump caster

The United States was at least twice interested in whether Rutte wanted to take the post of Secretary General of NATO, but he refused due to employment as Prime Minister of the Netherlands. Moreover, the candidacy of Rutte is satisfied with both the current US President Joe Biden and his opponent in the upcoming elections -Donald Trump. Rutte was one of the few European leaders who found a common language with Trump. At the alliance summit in 2018, Trump sharply threatened to leave NATO if the alliance members do not increase military expenses. Behind the closed doors of the American leader, neither the French President Emmanuel Macron, nor Merkel, was able to lift the doors of the American leader. Then the scandal resolved Rutte. “I like this guy,” Trump said about him.

For the ability to communicate with the former US President Rutta, the nickname "Caster of Trump" was nicknamed. This is a positive quality for the future NATO Secretary General, since Trump can become one of the main problems for the alliance in case of his re -election to the presidency. Elections, which, probably Trump will participate, will begin a month after Rutta will intercede onto the post of head of NATO.

The re -election of Trump, most likely, will break the plans of Ukraine to join NATO: Kiev, which is in a state of active war for the third year, still hopes for partners in the military bloc and probably turn to them for additional help on the eve of winter. Moreover, Trump has already promised to reduce financing of Ukraine if he returned to the White House.

Potenberg, who was leaving for the post of Secretary General of NATO, proposed to protect Ukraine by putting additional air defense systems for it, since Ukraine needs to protect infrastructure and energy facilities. It is likely that Rutte will continue the policy of his predecessor. The new NATO Secretary General will have to negotiate not only with Trump, but also with right -wing politicians in Europe, who are skeptical of NATO and even more so to its expansion. The main rival of Macron, the leader of the ultra -right of the French Party “National Association”, Marine Le Pen directly said that Ukraine’s entry into the Alliance will destabilize Europe and lead to a permanent state of war. NATO plans for Ukraine are not supported by Hungary, led by Orban.