Dutch PM Mark Rutte signals interest in Nato top job
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he only saw a small chance of being picked for the job.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
AMSTERDAM - Outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Saturday he would be interested in succeeding Mr Jens Stoltenberg as secretary-general of Nato, although he only saw a small chance of being picked for the job.
"Such a role would be interesting as it would offer the chance to contribute for a few years on the international stage in a period of dramatic global changes," Mr Rutte said in an interview with radio station Den Haag FM.
"But there is a very big chance, given the political support for it, that this job will go to a European woman, which would also be very good."
Mr Rutte, who unexpectedly announced his departure from Dutch politics
Mr Stoltenberg has been in post since 2014 and is due to step down in October 2024
His term was extended in July for a fourth time, as the alliance's 31 member countries opted to stick with an experienced leader rather than try to agree on a successor with Russia's war in Ukraine
Before the alliance decided to stick with Mr Stoltenberg, diplomats said Mr Rutte would have been a strong candidate to succeed him, but the Dutchman had insisted he was not available at that time.
Some Nato governments had signalled that they thought it was time Nato had its first female secretary-general, but no candidate emerged to garner the necessary consensus.
Mr Rutte is the longest serving prime minister in Dutch history, a job he will keep in a caretaker capacity after elections on Nov 22
Asked about other international roles, Mr Rutte said he wasn't interested in the "part-time job" of president of the European Council, and he did not belong to the right political family to be considered for president of the European Commission. REUTERS
