Mark Rutte is already on his way to the White House when he quickly calls Berlin from the car. It is January 17, soon the Dutch Prime Minister will meet President Joe Biden in the Oval Office. But Rutte first wants to hear how he can help German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Ukraine has been asking for Western tanks, including Leopard 2s, for months. Poland and Finland are willing to supply them, but because these are German-made tanks, Berlin must agree. Scholz hesitates. The use of German tanks against Russian soldiers is a sensitive matter, given the history.
Rutte wants to convince Scholz. “What do you need to take that step,” the prime minister asks the chancellor, as a blinded SUV takes him through Washington. According to an insider, Rutte is told that Germany can only agree if there is a broad Western tank coalition, with the US. Until then, Washington has been unwilling to supply US Abrams tanks to Ukraine. But without the US, Berlin cannot participate.
In the Oval Office, Rutte explains to Biden how the US can get Scholz on board. He also has something to offer: the Netherlands will take the lead together with Germany in the supply of Patriot anti-aircraft missiles – another urgent request from Kyiv. Biden nods in agreement, the atmosphere is relaxed. Rutte has sat down behind Biden’s desk and jokingly holds the receiver of a telephone to his ear.
A week later, both the US and Germany announce that they will donate tanks. Scholz has his political backing, Ukraine gets its guns.
deal maker
It is not the only deal that has come about with the help of Rutte. The Hague is a pivot in arms supplies to Ukraine. The Netherlands supplies what it can itself, or buys military equipment abroad. In addition, The Hague acts as a mediator in the forging of new weapon coalitions: armored howitzers, Patriots, tanks, fighter planes.
According to insiders at the Binnenhof, the Netherlands already started lobbying the US in December to obtain permission for the delivery of F-16s – eventually with success. The US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, praised the Netherlands as one of the lead nations of the F-16 coalition, which will soon start training Ukrainian pilots: “The way they are handling this is impressive.”
It was also Rutte who traveled to Tunisia earlier this month with Italian Prime Minister Meloni and EU President Von der Leyen to present a deal on behalf of Europe on limiting the number of boat people across the Mediterranean. Two weeks earlier, at the summit of the European Political Community (a new association of European countries) in Moldova, he was allowed to give the opening speech. Rutte said he did not know why that honor had fallen to him.
In the Netherlands people often seem to be looking forward to Mark Rutte. In 2021, during the affair surrounding MP Pieter Omtzigt in the formation (‘Position Omtzigt, function elsewhere’), his fate hung by a thread. His fourth cabinet, which was only formed after nine months of formation, seems to be on the verge of collapse due to the nitrogen and asylum crises. In the meantime, he is haunted by scandals from the past: the Supplementary Affair, the disastrous consequences of gas extraction for Groningen. There are open doubts about his integrity in the House of Representatives. “I tell the Prime Minister straight to the face,” said PvdA spokesman Henk Nijboer during the Groningen debate on June 7: “I think you lied.”
Exfoliated domestic image
The flaking domestic image contrasts with Rutte’s role on the international stage. He is seen as an important player both within NATO and the EU, after thirteen years as one of the longest-serving heads of government in Europe. It is a contradiction that you often see among veterans, says VVD party member and foreign spokesman Ruben Brekelmans: “It is appreciated internationally if you have made many flying hours. You also saw that with Angela Merkel.”
Rutte’s network is in order. The relationship with Scholz has become better and better, it is said in The Hague: “They always visit each other during conferences.” Contact with French President Macron is cordial. Rutte takes advantage of this, says Brekelmans: “He sometimes said in the run-up to a NATO summit: I first call Macron, then Scholz, and then I ask what Erdogan thinks about it.”
Rutte as European Macher – in the past people in Brussels would have frowned at that thought. Not so long ago, the Netherlands, and with it its prime minister, was regarded as a troublemaker. Rutte liked to emphasize that he was not enthusiastic about the political aspirations of the EU: as far as he was concerned, it was primarily a ‘market’.
According to foreign spokesman Brekelmans, Rutte’s vision of Europe and the world has evolved. The shooting down of flight MH17 in 2014, resulting in 196 Dutch victims, was a turning point. The EU immediately announced sanctions. “Europe stood behind the Netherlands as one man. Rutte saw that the EU is more than an economic partnership.” The 2016 Turkey deal – in which Ankara promised to host Syrian refugees in exchange for billion-dollar European aid – was also a key moment. Brekelmans: “Rutte realized that the EU can also be a useful instrument to serve Dutch interests.”
When Mark Rutte tries to get something done internationally, insiders say, he consciously pushes the boundaries – until he encounters resistance. “If people get angry, you have to stop,” the prime minister himself said during a conversation with Dutch journalists in Moldova. “After which you call them again after a few days.”
Check off list
Rutte always takes one to-do-list to conferences: who should be pulled by his sleeve, with whom can he consult for ten minutes? On the plane back, Rutte ticks off the chores and makes plans about progress. “He never stops,” says one official. “When everyone is tired, he sits in a corner again, thinks about a follow-up, sees another opportunity.”
Brexit has strengthened the role of The Hague. The Atlantic-minded Netherlands has always been an important partner of the US within NATO, but since the departure of the British, The Hague has also become the American liaison within the EU. Brexit has also put the Netherlands on the map in Berlin and Paris. The key to a European compromise used to lie in London, but now it is difficult for the major countries to ignore the Netherlands.
Now that the number of asylum seekers is growing again, it is Rutte who in turn is looking at Brussels. The distribution law, which obliges municipalities to house asylum seekers, led to grumbling within the VVD in November. Only after Rutte had solemnly promised to do everything possible to contain the influx did the group agree.
But the Netherlands alone can do little to reduce the number of asylum seekers – that can only be done in a European context. And in Brussels there was little enthusiasm for the theme. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Europe would like to radiate unity, and if there is one thing that the member states can never agree on, Charles Michel, President of the European Council, sighed, it is migration. However, in the run-up to an EU summit, Rutte persevered: migration was on the agenda.
On February 9, the heads of government met in Brussels for the ‘migration summit’, but the appearance of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky disrupted the planning: everyone wanted to speak to Zelensky first. Mark Rutte was waiting his turn in a small room. A room away, Italian Prime Minister Meloni was smoking. Rutte was restless, says an eyewitness. “At one point he stood up and said: ‘I’m going to knock next door, I feel like espresso.’” The Dutch prime minister spoke with Meloni for an hour and a half, without officials, mainly about small talk. It clicked: “Rutte said: ‘What a nice person that Meloni is.’”
Italy is a key player on the migration file. According to the Dublin Convention, Rome is responsible for the intake of the tens of thousands of asylum seekers who land there every year. But Italy lets the refugees pass through, leaving many in northwestern Europe. The Netherlands would like Italy to fulfill its obligations, but taking in more asylum seekers is not a popular message for the right-wing Meloni government. Italy wants the EU to restrict NGO rescue ships in the Mediterranean – but Brussels has so far been unwilling to do so.
Late in the evening, Rutte and Meloni visit each other. Charles Michel also adds: if the Netherlands and Italy come to an agreement together, that will be the basis of the joint statement. Negotiations go on late into the night. The final statement states that asylum seekers must be better registered upon arrival in Italy (which is what The Hague wants), but also that the EU must work on measures against ‘transporters’ who ‘facilitate’ people smuggling (read: the NGO ships). It is, says an official, the beginning of a breakthrough. “There had been a North-South problem in Europe for years. The power of that summit was that confidence was restored. That cup of coffee helped with that.”
The ‘migration deal’ – reception at the external border and a fairer distribution of asylum seekers among the member states – has yet to be approved by the European Parliament. The Tunisia deal has not been finalized at the end of June as intended. With almost 3,600 applications, the asylum influx in the Netherlands was higher in May than in the previous five months. Rutte’s attempts to ‘arrange’ asylum in Europe have so far not borne fruit.
Dinner at Catshuis
Last Tuesday, Rutte gave a dinner for a group of government leaders at the Catshuis. The agenda included the NATO summit in Vilnius at the beginning of July. Point of contention are the terms used to describe the relationship between Ukraine and NATO. Ukraine wants a firm commitment to become a member. Eastern European NATO countries support this, but other countries, including the US, do not want it.
Another sore point is the question of how much money NATO countries will have to spend on their armed forces from next year. Stoltenberg would like all countries to spend 2 percent of GDP as standard. The Netherlands – until recently a defaulter – is now also making a case for this, together with the British and the US. It marks the new, pro-active role of the Netherlands.
When the succession of Stoltenberg was discussed in Brussels over the past year and a half, the name of Rutte invariably came up. According to The Economists was the Dutch Prime Minister Washington’s favourite, but he refused twice. The position of NATO SG is a tightly regulated job with little room for initiative, says one employee: “He can do a job like that in three days a week. Nothing for Rutte.”
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