Mark Rutte, the outgoing Prime Minister of the Netherlands, will be the next secretary-general of NATO.
The Dutch politician will take on the role from Jens Stoltenberg, who assumed office in 2014.
Mr Rutte’s accession was given the green light after all 32 members of the Western military alliance agreed on his new position.
Hungary and Slovakia endorsed him on June 18, while Romania confirmed its support on June 20 – a few days after the country’s president Klaus Iohannis withdrew his own candidacy.
Mr Rutte’s appointment came just weeks before the NATO summit to be held in Washington DC in July to mark the 75th anniversary of the alliance.
The outgoing Dutch Prime Minister started campaigning for the NATO top job in November, and not without hurdles.
He was accused of a lack of effort in canvassing support from eastern European nations, who questioned his support for the Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline project before 2014 – when the Kremlin illegally annexed Crimea.
It was also noted that, as Prime Minister of the Netherlands, he repeatedly failed to bring the country’s defence spending to two percent of GDP, the target set by NATO. The country is expected to reach the goal this year.
Mr Rutte, who was elected to lead his country in October 2010, will take on his new role by October 2 – at a critical time for geopolitical stability.
While tensions between Russia and NATO continue to rise and the alliance is on alert over China’s increasing aggressiveness in the South China Sea, Mr Rutte may soon have to deal with the re-election as US President of Donald Trump, who has often expressed scepticism towards NATO and has pledged to bring to an end the American military aid to Ukraine.
However, Mr Rutte has shown to be able to cut through the Republican candidate, earning the nickname “Trump whisperer”. During an official visit to the US in 2018, Mr Rutte was even praised by the then country’s leader, who said to “like this guy”, despite disagreeing with him on the possible fallout of the failure to agree on tariffs.
Mr Stoltenberg will bow out as NATO head after seeing the alliance’s members extend his term four times.