Rutte’s seduction offensive for Orbán to be head of NATO: apologies and differential treatment

Although Orbán has not rectified his policies (and Brussels has denounced its law to the Luxembourg Court of Justice), Rutte now needs his support to become the new secretary general of NATO, a position that requires the unanimous support of all 32 member states. And the Budapest Government has not forgotten that stormy summit three years ago. “Certainly we cannot support for the post of NATO secretary general, a man who previously wanted to force Hungary to its knees,” said the Foreign Minister, Péter Szijjártó, when Rutte was already the undisputed favorite.

The threat of a veto from Hungary had been hanging over the Dutchman’s head for months – especially because there is an alternative candidate, the Romanian Klaus Iohannis– and has forced him to make a move. In the last few hours, Rutte has launched a seduction offensive to be forgiven by Orbán, which seems to have achieved results. Taking advantage of the failed summit on the distribution of senior EU officials, the Hungarian and the Dutch met this Monday in Brussels to seal the deal.

[La UE lanza un ultimátum a la Hungría de Orbán por su ley homófoba: “¿Por qué no te vas?”]

Rutte’s offer to Orbán consists of two pillars. On the one hand, the guarantee of differential treatment within NATO. The Atlantic Alliance accepts that Hungary does not participate in any way in the training of Ukrainian troops or in the shipment of military material to kyiv. In exchange, Budapest will not veto the assistance plan for Volodymyr Zelensky’s government that NATO plans to approve at the Washington summit in July. In reality, this special status had already been granted to Hungary by the outgoing secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg. Rutte has done nothing more than confirm that he will fulfill this previous commitment.

Secondly, the Dutch Prime Minister has apologized (albeit with a small mouth) for his words in 2021. He did so face to face in his meeting with Orbán this Monday and he has also done so in writing in a letter. “As we have discussed, I have noted that some statements What I did in 2021 as Prime Minister of the Netherlands caused displeasure in Hungary. “My priority in a possible future position as Secretary General of NATO will be to maintain unity and treat all allies with the same level of understanding and respect,” Rutte says in his letter.

“We have decided to focus on the future. He has not asked me for an apology and what I have said is that I have taken note of what happened in Hungary in terms of society’s reaction to what I said a couple of years ago. We have left it there: take note, look to the future and he has not asked for any apology,” the Hungarian Prime Minister said after his meeting with Orbán.

In any case, Rutte’s pseudo-apologies and assurances regarding Hungary’s role in the Atlantic Alliance have achieved the intended effect. “In light of his promise, Hungary is ready to support Prime Minister Rutte’s candidacy Secretary General of NATO,” Orbán announced on his social network account in which he has also published Rutte’s letter.

In parallel, the president of Slovakia, Peter Pellegrini -who also had many reservations towards Rutte- also announced this Tuesday that he will support the Dutchman. He does so after receiving assurances from you that he will strengthen the protection of NATO’s eastern flank.

“Today, Slovakia does not have any air defense systemby what Rutte and I talked about the fact that, if elected head of the Alliance, he should advocate for the protection and defense of Slovakia’s airspace. At least until Slovakia can use its own capabilities to protect this airspace. Rutte expressed his willingness to deal with it in the future,” explained Pellegrini.

The president of Slovakia has also asked the Dutch prime minister to take into account the geographical balance principle (and in particular the representation of the Eastern countries) when appointing intermediate positions in NATO.

The last obstacle that remains for Rutte in the race to be head of the Alliance is that the Romanian president, Klaus Ioannis, withdraw your candidacy. No one in NATO quite understood why Ioannis decided to run at a time when the Dutch prime minister already had very broad support, including that of all the great powers. Now they hope he will step back before the end of the month and clear the way for Rutte.