What happened
Outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is set to become the next secretary general of NATO after his lone challenger, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, dropped his bid Thursday.
Who said what
Securing the support of all 32 NATO members "took a very long time," but "it's an honor that it appears to have happened," Rutte said. Romania, the last holdout, endorsed Rutte's candidacy after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán dropped his opposition Tuesday.
Iohannas joined the race to lead NATO amid grumbling from Central and Eastern European members about the prospect of yet another Western European leader when the alliance's biggest crisis was Russia's Ukraine war, on NATO's eastern flank. Rutte, who spent 14 years as Dutch prime minister, "is known for his pragmatism, his skill for building coalitions and his staunch transatlantic views," Politico said. He has been "so adept at preventing political stains sticking to him that he earned the nickname Teflon Mark," The Associated Press said.
What next?
NATO ambassadors are expected to formalize Rutte's selection within days, before a July 9-11 summit in Washington, D.C. He would take over from outgoing Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in October.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Political cartoons for November 29Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include Kash Patel's travel perks, believing in Congress, and more
-
Nigel Farage: was he a teenage racist?Talking Point Farage’s denials have been ‘slippery’, but should claims from Reform leader’s schooldays be on the news agenda?
-
Pushing for peace: is Trump appeasing Moscow?In Depth European leaders succeeded in bringing themselves in from the cold and softening Moscow’s terms, but Kyiv still faces an unenviable choice
-
Trump’s Ukraine peace talks advance amid leaked callSpeed Read Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff is set to visit Russia next week
-
Memo signals Trump review of 233k refugeesSpeed Read The memo also ordered all green card applications for the refugees to be halted
-
Pentagon targets Kelly over ‘illegal orders’ videoSpeed Read The Pentagon threatened to recall Kelly to active duty
-
Judge tosses Trump DOJ cases against Comey, JamesSpeed Read Both cases could potentially be brought again
-
US, Kyiv report progress on shifting Ukraine peace planSpeed Read The deal ‘must fully uphold Ukraine’s sovereignty,’ the countries said
-
Comey grand jury never saw final indictmentSpeed Read This ‘drove home just how slapdash’ the case is, said The New York Times
-
Summers out at Harvard, OpenAI amid Epstein furorSpeed Read Summers was part of a group being investigated by Harvard for Epstein ties
-
Trump ordered to fully fund SNAPSpeed Read The Justice Department is appealing the decision
