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Thursday 22 February 2024

The revolving door revolves again



Britain backs outgoing Dutch premier Mark Rutte for Nato secretary-general

Britain has given outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte its backing to be the next Nato chief.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Mr Rutte has “serious defence and security credentials” to be the alliance’s next secretary-general.

Nato is looking to appoint a successor to Jens Stoltenberg, who by October will have been in the job a decade.

Mr Stoltenberg had his tenure as the organisation’s top civilian official extended by a year in July, with Nato leaders opting to keep him in place during a period of global instability.



The Critic 21 November, 2023
Mark Rutte may already see himself in a prominent international position, such as NATO secretary-general, but his international record is not that impressive. In the run-up to Brexit, Rutte was considered by British Prime Minister David Cameron to be the most reliable and sympathetic ally to bring in EU reforms to ensure the British stayed in the EU. These amounted to strengthening national control over EU policy making and preventing a dangerous centralisation of power. Throughout Mark Rutte’s 13 years in power, the number of Dutch people wanting fewer powers for the EU increased from 46 to 54 per cent, but in practice the EU only gained more power.

2 comments:

Sam Vega said...

They should give Corbyn a crack at it.

A K Haart said...

Sam - or anyone but a warmonger.