Worthy Christian News > World News > Hungary, Romania, Slovakia Opposing Mark Rutte as NATO Secretary General (Worthy News Investigation)

Hungary, Romania, Slovakia Opposing Mark Rutte as NATO Secretary General (Worthy News Investigation)

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – There is uncertainty over whether outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will become the next secretary general of the NATO military alliance, with Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia opposing the move.

Under NATO rules, the secretary general has to be supported by all 32 member states. However, Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said his country won’t support the Rutte candidacy as “full trust is a basic requirement in the alliance.”

Szijjártó recalled that Rutte had in the past talked about “bringing Hungary to its knees” as he supported withholding tens of billions of euros (dollars) in European support to Hungary amid concerns about the rule of law.

Instead, Szijjártó welcomed that Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, an “eastern candidate,” has emerged for the post.

He said Iohannis willingness to serve as secretary-general is essential. Much talk within the NATO alliance focused on strengthening the alliance’s eastern flank at a time of war in Ukraine.

However, “it doesn’t occur to anyone that if a threat is from the east,

then the secretary general might also be from the east” instead of Rutte, the Hungarian minister stressed in comments obtained by Worthy News.

Szijjártó also warned that Hungary rejects the idea of “European mandatory conscription,” saying it must be made clear that “no one will take young Hungarians to the Ukrainian front.”

MANPOWER CONCERNS

He spoke amid concerns that Ukraine lacks the manpower to halt the ongoing Russian invasion of that country in a war that has killed and injured hundreds of thousands of people.

Rutte had been accused by critics, including Hungary, of leaning towards sending ground troops toward Ukraine and asking Kyiv for such support.

Yet, Brussels sees Hungary as the most pro-Russian NATO and European Union member state.

The Hungarian government also stepped up security arrangements with China, whose leader Xi Jinping visited Budapest earlier this month, signaling to Brussels that Hungary has options beyond NATO and the EUnion for its defense and economy.

Besides Hungary and Romania, Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico, who is recovering after being shot this month, is also reluctant to support the 57-year-old Rutte as NATO secretary-general, Worthy News learned.

“We are waiting for a proposal from his side for our safety,” Slovakia’s foreign ministry said in a statement about Rutte, one of Europe’s longest-serving government leaders.

While Slovakia and Romania seem open to a compromise, such as receiving more military aid or filling high-ranking NATO positions in exchange for backing Rutte, Hungary is the most vocal against his candidacy.

TRUST REQUIRED

Szijjártó said that in the NATO alliance, “you even have to die for each other, so it must be led by someone we can trust one hundred percent.”

The minister confirmed he had a tough debate on this issue with his Lithuanian counterpart in Brussels this week. He said Gabrielius Landsbergis was “one of the most pro-war politicians” among the European Union foreign ministers. “No matter how much someone shouts at me … I still favor peace,” he added.

These remarks were music to the ears of former U.S. President Donald J. Trump, who has close ties with Hungary’s government, although he reportedly supports Rutte’s candidacy. “Look at [Hungarian Prime Minister] Viktor Orbán, ‘cause we don’t want to see wars, I don’t want to see wars,” he said in Hungarian podcast Timcast linked to the government-backed Centre for Fundamental Rights in Budapest.

Trump claimed that had he been president, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel would never have happened.”

The Republican presidential candidate said the U.S. had not taken part in wars besides the armed conflict with “the Islamic State terrorist organization.”

He cited the Hungarian prime minister as saying, “The problem with the world today is that Donald Trump is no longer president.”

Yet that did little to remove the uncertainty about who would lead NATO during the worst East-West tensions since the Cold War, which was, perhaps prematurely, declared over in the early 1990s.

Those difficulties have overshadowed NATO’s 75th-anniversary celebrations as a new chief should be agreed upon with consensus by October 1 when Jens Stoltenberg steps down.