Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is getting a rival in the race for the leadership of NATO after the announcement of the President of Romania, Klaus Ioannis, to claim the position.
After the withdrawal of Charles Michel, who had announced that he would run for the European Parliament, ultimately withdrawing also the announcements of Ursula von der Leyen’s candidacy for a second term in the presidency of the Commission, he is looking for another open door in Brussels.
However, he cannot claim the position of Secretary General of the Alliance with any pretensions either, with Mark Rutte considered “closed” for the time being and the final negotiations underway before final decisions are made.
However, Bucharest could claim other positions within the Alliance, since with the end of the term and the departure of the Romanian Deputy Secretary General Mircea Joana, who is looking forward to a presidential position in his country – and is even leading in the opinion polls – the deck is divided between new.
Of course, zero before the end was blessed. Hungary sees the Ioannis candidacy with a better eye, as does the Eastern wing. As for Turkey, it continues the endless haggling until it finds out who will be its chosen one and despite the already excellent warm relations it has with the Netherlands.
However, Mark Rutte appeared at the Munich Conference with the air of a winner and not as an outgoing prime minister, even sharply answering a question about Ukraine’s accession to the North Atlantic Alliance.
“As long as the war is going on, Ukraine cannot become a member of NATO. That’s the bad news. The good news is that we can learn from the EU. In the EU there are steps,” clarified Mark Rutte, who has the blessings of most of the Alliance such as the US, Germany, France, Greece.
“I don’t think it’s a secret, however, that we have heard from Prime Minister Rutte himself that he has expressed an interest. So this is a person the Alliance is looking at. But it’s an ongoing process,” US Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith said when asked by reporters ahead of the Defense Ministers’ Meeting on February 15, noting that the goal is to complete the process “probably” within first quarter of the year.
Turkey and its papers
Turkey, which is among the few countries that have not said their last word, could request and possibly claim a good post within NATO in order to give the green light to the election of Rutte. Currently, Turkala Borsu San holds the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Operations.
Ankara’s cards do not end here. She could ask for favorable treatment so that her positions are included in NATO texts, which are not always compatible with Greek interests, while it would not be at all improbable, a request with which she would like her positions to be reflected more in the part that concerns EU-NATO relations. In this case, the focus is on PESCO (Permanent Structured Cooperation in the Defense and Security Sectors) and especially on the Military Mobility program. The program is coordinated by the Netherlands (among the countries that already show special concern in the EU and NATO for the satisfaction of Turkish “sensitivities”), while Norway, the United States, Britain and Canada also participate.
However, in this case Ankara is running up against the safeguards that PESCO has had since it was established. A basic condition for a country to participate in a program is both that it does not oppose the interests of EU member states and that it respects the principles and values of the EU and that it has a security agreement with the EU for the exchange of classified information.
NATO and the EU have upgraded cooperation compared to the past and given the geopolitical changes of recent years. The NATO-EU joint statement of January 2023 underlines “the promotion of close consultation and cooperation with all NATO Allies and EU Member States”, but also the encouragement of the fullest possible participation of NATO Allies that do not are members of the EU in its initiatives.
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