The acting Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, will be the next Secretary General of NATO, as agreed this Wednesday by the ambassadors of the 32 countries of the Atlantic Alliance. The North Atlantic Council, NATO’s main decision-making body, decided to appoint Rutte as the organization’s next secretary general to succeed Jens Stoltenbergwho has been in office for ten years, as reported by the Alliance in a statement.

Rutte will assume his duties as secretary general from next October 1, when the Norwegian politician’s term expires. “I very much welcome the election of Mark Rutte as my successor by the NATO allies,” said Stoltenberg through a message on the social network X. Stoltenberg described Rutte as a “true transatlanticist, a strong and a consensus builder.”

For his part, the Dutch liberal celebrated his appointment as “a tremendous honor” and promised that, under his leadership, the Alliance “will continue to be the cornerstone of our collective security.” In a brief reaction to his appointment as the new head of the Alliance, Rutte assured that his position is “a responsibility he will not take lightly” and was honored that the organization had “trusted” him.

Last week the Romanian president, Klaus Iohannis, withdrew his candidacy to lead NATO and left Rutte, who already had the support of the rest of the allies, as the only candidate. In any case, it was necessary for the North Atlantic Council to formalize the decision to appoint Rutte, which it did in the meeting called by the allied ambassadors for this Wednesday. The decision is then expected to be ratified by Alliance leaders at their July 9-11 summit in Washington.