Romanian President Klaus Iohannis gives up the race for NATO leadership. In today’s CSAT meeting, he informed that he informed NATO allies, at the end of last week, about the withdrawal of his candidacy for the position of Secretary General of the Organization.
President Klaus Iohannis announced a day ago that he will present on Thursday, during the CSAT meeting, his position regarding the candidacy for the head of NATO.
“During the CSAT meeting, the President of Romania informed that he informed NATO allies, at the end of last week, about the withdrawal of his candidacy for the position of Secretary General of the Organization. President Klaus Iohannis asked the members of the Council to pronounce on his candidacy Mark Rutte for the position of Secretary General of NATO, declaring in favor of Romania’s support of the candidacy of the Dutch Prime Minister”, informed the Presidential Administration.
Hungary dropped its opposition to Mark Rutte’s appointment as NATO Secretary General, the Dutch press wrote on Tuesday.
According to the cited source, Slovakia also dropped its opposition to Rutte. Romania was the only one that still opposed.
The Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, declared on Tuesday his support for the candidacy of the interim Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte for this position and estimated that the Alliance is very close to making a decision on the one who will succeed him.
Stoltenberg’s mandate ends on October 1, after it was successively extended in the context of the war in Ukraine. Once he received the support of Slovakia and Hungary, Rutte only needed Romania’s support to obtain consensus on his appointment to the post of NATO Secretary General.