Romania Now Last Hurdle For Rutte As NATO Chief After Hungary, Slovakia Sign On

(RFE/RL) — Romania remains the final country yet to give its support to longtime Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte becoming NATO’s next secretary-general after Hungary dropped its objections following meetings in Brussels and Slovakia’s president appeared to signal his country’s support.

The transatlantic military alliance is seeking the required consensus among its 32 members for someone to succeed Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg as secretary-general when he steps down in October.

The United States, Britain, France, Germany, and Turkey have all said they would support Rutte’s candidacy.

One of the main holdouts, Hungary, dropped its resistance on June 18 when Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Rutte had agreed to honor an agreement reached with Stoltenberg that that no Hungarian personnel will take part in the activities of NATO in Ukraine and no Hungarian funds will be used to support them.

“In light of his pledge, Hungary is ready to support PM Rutte’s bid for NATO Secretary-General,” Orban said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Stoltenberg, speaking at a news conference in Washington, said Orban’s announcement made it “obvious that we are very close to a conclusion in the alliance. I think that’s good news. I think that Mark Rutte is a very strong candidate.”

Rutte said on June 17 that he remained “cautiously optimistic about Hungary.”

Earlier on June 18, new Slovak President Peter Pellegrini said his country was prepared to support Rutte for the NATO top job.

“After a final discussion with Mark Rutte and consultation with the Slovak government, Slovakia can imagine Mark Rutte as the NATO chief,” Reuters quoted Pellegrini as telling a televised news briefing.

Rutte is now on the verge of the unanimous support he needs to be chosen for the position, with only Romania undeclared among the military alliance’s 32 members to approve the Dutch politician for a four-year term.

Slovaks are among the most pro-Russian of EU and NATO members, and left-wing populist Prime Minister Robert Fico halted arms shipments to Ukraine after his appointment as prime minister in October.

Like Orban, Fico has also publicly opposed Ukraine’s eventual membership in NATO.

Pellegrini, who is regarded as a Fico ally, was sworn in to replace staunch Ukraine supporter Zuzana Caputova as president on June 15.

Orban has been a staunch critic of sanctions and direct military assistance to Kyiv since Russia invaded Ukraine two years ago, and he has continued visits and other diplomatic overtures to Moscow despite Western calls for unity in the face of the Russian threat.

He and his national populist Fidesz party have also spearheaded anti-EU sentiment within and outside the bloc that seemingly contributed to right-wing gains in this month’s elections for the European Parliament.

Stoltenberg traveled to Hungary on June 12 and emerged from a meeting with Orban saying Budapest had agreed not to block assistance and military aid to Ukraine, although it would exercise an opt-out.

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has sought the NATO leadership job for himself.