Hardly anyone believes that Viktor Orbán in Budapest or Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Ankara will give up another slip to push forward negotiations on completely different things.
Such is the essence of bazaar politics.
On Tuesday, the Hungarian foreign minister said their support for Mark Rutte would be “bizarre”.
In 2021, the then Prime Minister of the Netherlands stated that Hungary should not be a member of the EU, after the country introduced restrictions against homosexuals.
A lot still needs to be done to ensure that Rutte (57) does not become NATO’s next secretary-general when Stoltenberg (64) steps down in October.
The Dutch liberal-conservative head of government for 13 years has the support of the US president, Joe Biden, according to Politico.
No one gets the top job in Brussels without the acceptance of the Americans. The appointment itself must be unanimous in the entire defense alliance, but the United States claims the initiative.
Hungary tried until the end to sabotage Sweden’s NATO application, in order to achieve its own advantages. In the end, Viktor Orbán had to give in.
The idea is to present the new Secretary General when NATO marks its 75th anniversary on 4 April.
HANDLING TRUMP: Mark Rutte knows how to handle Donald Trump. He can benefit from that as the new NATO chief. Photo: Susan Walsh / AP / NTB
Ironically, it is the prospect of a possible new Trump term in the White House that means that NATO’s other member states have already begun to gather around Biden’s candidate.
Mark Rutte is compared to a so-called horse whisperera person who tames and trains wild horses using body language and voice, rather than the use of physical force.
As head of government, Rutte handled the former president in a way that gave him the unofficial nickname “Trump whisperer”. An ability that must also be attributed to NATO’s current Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg.
Coping with Donald Trump’s possible return to the Oval Office requires “a combination of flattery and a firm hand,” writes the conservative newspaper Daily Telegraphciting a British government source.
Rutte received a lot of attention – and applause from the US president at the time – when he called Trump’s critics in Europe a “white wine-sipping elite”.
At the same time, the Dutchman is remembered for clear speech when Donald Trump at a joint press conference said it would be good if negotiations between the US and the EU on a trade agreement fail. “No!”, Rutte interrupted the American president.
Also read: Several support Rutte as the new NATO chief
Consequently, no one doubts Rutte’s spinal cord reflex if a future President Trump should decide to repeat his attack on NATO countries that do not meet the two percent target. – countries which, according to Donald Trump, can easily be invaded by Putin-Russia, as he himself expressed it.
Mark Rutte is the Netherlands’ longest-serving head of government, which in itself testifies to an extraordinary ability to maneuver over time – and hold on to power – in a fragmented political landscape of extreme populist parties, strong special interests and ideological contradictions.
After Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide (Ap) gave Mark Rutte the thumbs up at the weekend, about two-thirds of NATO’s 32 member states (Sweden included) have expressed support for his candidacy.
In other words, the ambition for a female secretary-general this time seems to be falling.
“NO!”: Mark Rutte was blunt in his interruption of Donald Trump when the former president thought it was no accident if the negotiations on a trade agreement between the US and the EU broke down. Photo: Evan Vucci / AP / NTB
Apart from the signals from Washington, DC, the UK’s view weighs particularly heavily when the chief cabal in Nato headquarters is to be laid.
And London says yes to Rutte.
As a significant net contributor to Europe’s defence, and with military lines dating back to NATO’s founding and first secretary-general, the British general Hastings Ismay, the British believe they have a historical claim to lead the alliance.
Preferably since the Netherlands last had the Secretary General, Jaap de Hoop Schefferwho sat for most of the 2000s and was the third Dutchman in the row, Great Britain has reminded other members that, after Baron Ismay in 1952, they have only had lord Carrington mid 1980s and George Robertsonwho was appointed in 1999.
So the British government has in turn launched just about every one of its Tory prime ministers in recent decades: David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson.
In addition, they have nominated two serious candidates: William Hague and Ben Wallace.
FAVOURITE: Britain’s former defense minister Ben Wallace (tv) is a former officer in the Scots Guards, one of the five guard regiments, and has taken part in winter exercises in Norway. He was long a favorite for the position of secretary-general, but President Joe Biden thought it was a better solution for Jens Stoltenberg to continue in the job. Photo: Pavel Golovkin / AP / NTB
Former foreign minister and party leader, Lord Hague, could probably have got the job if the Ukraine war had not broken out.
Recently resigned Minister of Defence, the decorated officer Ben Wallacewould also be a likely choice in a situation where it was not an even better choice to persuade Jens Stoltenberg to continue.
The British have also had to surrender the chief position in NATO’s military committee, the highest ranking military position at the alliance headquarters, to a Dutchman.
If Mark Rutte is appointed secretary general in April, both the civilian and the top military job will go to the Netherlands.
Also in light of this, the UK’s support for Rutte is such a strong signal to the rest of the alliance’s member states that, for all practical purposes, the election has already taken place.
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2024-03-07 18:30:31
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