US President Joe Biden has endorsed Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte for the post of NATO Secretary General, sending a signal to Eastern Europe to “calm down”. This opinion was shared by the senior editor of the magazine The American Conservative Sumantra Maitra.
The journalist suggested that Rutte will become the next head of the North Atlantic Alliance. According to him, the fact that his candidacy is supported by the leader of the United States, “the hegemon of NATO,” is important.
However, the appointment of the Dutch Prime Minister is unlikely to mean changes in defense spending in Western Europe, Maitra said. He is convinced that the eastern and western parts of Europe will not be able to reach a mutually beneficial compromise due to differences in spending culture, interests and threat perceptions.
“The reality is that if this news (about Biden's support for Rutte – Ed.) is true, then Biden, despite all his deteriorating cognitive abilities, has made an interesting calculation here, tacitly supporting the old Europe to lead the continent rather than the former communist East . This is a power play, a signal to the East to calm down,” the journalist writes.
The appointment of Estonian Prime Minister Kai Kallas or Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland to the post of head of the alliance, according to Maitra, would lead to even greater confrontation with the Russian Federation.
Rutte is one of the contenders for the post of NATO Secretary General. On November 28, 2023, the France 24 television channel, citing sources in diplomatic circles, named him the leader among contenders for the position of the next head of the alliance. It was indicated that Rutte tops the list of possible candidates, ahead of Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and Latvian Foreign Minister Krisjanis Karins.
In addition, on February 17 of this year, the Welt am Sonntag newspaper reported that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz did not allow the nomination of the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, as a candidate for the post of NATO Secretary General. According to Scholz, von der Leyen is too critical of the Russian Federation, and this could become a “negative moment.”
Later, on February 21, Politico learned that Biden supported Rutte's candidacy to lead NATO. As the publication noted, the support of the American leader will certainly force the allies to accept Rutte's candidacy after several months of struggle between him and other European leaders for this position.
On February 22, the White House announced support for this candidacy. John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator at the US National Security Council, said his country had made it clear to its allies that Rutte would be an excellent new secretary-general of the alliance. A similar statement was made by the British Foreign Office.
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