New NATO chief Mark Rutte to support Ukraine, without concern ahead of US presidential election

Mark Rutte began his first day at the helm on Tuesday NATO's commitment by strongly reaffirming the Alliance's support for Ukraine, sweeping aside the fears surrounding a possible return of Donald Trump to the White House.

The arrival of the former Prime Minister Dutch president at NATO headquarters in Brussels, after ten years of “reign” by Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg, takes place in a climate of great uncertainty.

The war is still raging in Ukraine, two and a half years after the Russian invasion of that country, and the outcome of the US presidential election on 5 November is anxiously awaited on both sides of the Atlantic, but also in Kiev, which depends for its survival on continued Western military support.

At his first press conference, the new Secretary General of the Alliance was firm, in line with his predecessor, on the need to continue support for Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin “must realise” that NATO will not “give in” in its support for Ukraine, he stressed.

“We must focus on the war effort”. “The more we help Ukraine, the sooner” the war “will end,” he said shortly after taking office.

He also promised to ensure that NATO is well prepared to face the Russian threat. And to do that, he warned, it will take more spending. “There is no free alternative if we are to meet the challenges that lie ahead,” he said.

Only 23 of the alliance's 32 countries have met the goal set a decade ago of spending at least 2% of their gross domestic product (GDP) on military spending. And several of them assure that in the face of the Kremlin, much more is now needed.

– “Not worried” –

And, at a time when NATO is worried about the rise of China, Mark Rutte has again warned Beijing, in line with the conclusions of the Alliance summit in Washington last July.

“China cannot continue to stir up the most important conflict in Europe since World War II without its interests and reputation being affected,” he stressed.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the arrival of Mark Rutte on Tuesday, reminding him of his country's goal: to join the Alliance as a full member.

“Ukraine's place is in NATO,” assured the Dutchman, who will nevertheless have to arbitrate between Ukraine's desire to join the Alliance and the strong reluctance on this point of some of the 32 NATO member countries, including the United States and Germany.

Support for Ukraine also comes from Washington and Mark Rutte appeared confident, dismissing any concerns before the US presidential election.

“I'm not worried. I know both candidates very well and I worked with Donald Trump for four years,” said the former Dutch Prime Minister.

A possible victory for the American billionaire haunts the corridors of NATO headquarters in Brussels, where threats of a US withdrawal launched by the former US president still resonate.

The former Dutch head of government met Donald Trump several times, whom he stood up to during a meeting in 2018 in Washington. He also gained his trust by acknowledging that the American was right to stress the need for better burden-sharing within NATO between Americans and Europeans.

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