BRUSSELS, September 11 () –
NATO announced on Wednesday that it will hold a ceremony on October 1 to mark the handover of power at the head of the organization, when the current Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, will give way to former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte as the new political head of the Atlantic alliance.
According to the military organisation, Stoltenberg and Rutte will hold several events on that day to mark the transition at the top of NATO. Specifically, they will first lay a wreath together at 9:00 a.m., then the current Secretary General will hand over to his successor at the head of the Atlantic Council, NATO’s decision-making body, at which point Rutte will formally become Secretary General.
Following brief speeches by both at the Atlantic Council and statements to NATO staff, Rutte is expected to address the media at a press conference scheduled for 11:30 a.m.
Rutte’s new team will formally start on October 1. The Dutch president confirmed the odds and obtained the unanimous support of the allies to lead NATO last June, after obtaining the yes of Romania and Hungary, the last countries that had not expressed their support.
Stoltenberg, meanwhile, will step down after a decade as the face of NATO and one of its most influential leaders, having overseen major changes to the alliance and coordinated the response to Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 and Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Under his leadership, NATO has agreed to revamp its military posture, create eight combat battalions on the eastern flank, provide unprecedented aid to Ukraine to counter the Russian invasion, and incorporate Montenegro, North Macedonia, Finland and Sweden as new members of the alliance.
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