Dutch Prime Minister Rutte is expected to be appointed Secretary General of NATO
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis announced Thursday that he is withdrawing his candidacy for the post of NATO Secretary General, clearing the way for Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to take over the military alliance.
Romania will back Mr Rutte and give Ukraine one of its two Patriot missile defense systems on the condition that the allies replace it with a similar system, Romania’s Supreme Defense Council, CSAT, which is led by President Iohannis.
The decision to provide Ukraine with the ‘Patriot’ system was made “taking into account the apparent escalation of the security situation in Ukraine following Russia’s continued attacks on civilians and infrastructure as well as… due to the consequences for the region, including for the security of Romania,” says the Council’s statement.
President Iohannis, according to this statement, notified NATO of the withdrawal of the candidacy last week.
NATO makes decisions based on consensus and each candidate needs the support of 32 allied countries. Only Romania still officially opposed Mr Rutte’s candidacy.
Since Hungary and Slovakia dropped their opposition on Tuesday, it has become clear that Prime Minister Rutte, a staunch supporter of Kiev and a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, will be the new NATO chief.
NATO’s new secretary general will face the challenge of maintaining allies’ support for Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression while taking care to avoid escalations that could involve the military alliance in outright war with Moscow.
Mr. Iohannis, who ends his second term as President of Romania this year, has repeatedly said that Eastern European countries need a better representation in the leading roles of the Euro-Atlantic alliance.
According to the European Union and NATO, Romania has increased its defense budget spending to 2.5 percent of its gross domestic product following Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
In 2017, Romania signed a $4 billion deal to buy the Patriot system, the largest contract in the country’s history. The first part of this defense system was sent to Romania in 2020.
