Klaus Iohannis Officially Loses Support for NATO Headship

By Romania Journal Last updated Jun 19, 2024

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The Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, officially announces that he will support Mark Rutte for the position of Secretary General of NATO, leaving the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, without any support in his race for the head of the North Atlantic Alliance. In a post on X in which Viktor Orban publishes a picture of himself and the Dutch prime minister, he says that Hungary is “ready to support” Mark Rutte’s candidacy.

“Following the recent European elections, where Hungarians voted in large numbers in favor of peace, we reached an important agreement with the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg. We agreed that no Hungarian employees would take part in NATO activities in Ukraine and that no Hungarian funds would be used to support them. Our next step this week was to make sure this agreement can stand the test of time. After yesterday’s meeting in Brussels, Prime Minister Mark Rutte confirmed that he fully supports this agreement and will continue to do so if he becomes the next NATO Secretary General. Given its commitment, Hungary is ready to support Prime Minister Rutte’s candidacy for the post of NATO Secretary General,” wrote Viktor Orban on X

Following the recent European elections, where Hungarians voted in huge numbers in favour of #peace, we reached an important agreement with #NATO Secretary General @jensstoltenberg . We agreed that no Hungarian personnel will take part in the activities of NATO in Ukraine and no… pic.twitter.com/Cliu4rZGCE

— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) June 18, 2024

Viktor Orban confirms the information appearing in the Dutch media that Hungary dropped its opposition to the appointment of Mark Rutte as the head of NATO, after the Dutch Prime Minister spoke with Viktor Orban in Brussels.

Moreover, Slovakia also gave up its opposition to Rutte, the only one still opposing is Romania, as the president of Slovakia, Peter Pellegrini, announced, also on Tuesday, that his country no longer opposes Rutte’s candidacy.

Therefore, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, who is also running for the NATO Secretary General position, has lost support of the two countries that had still opposed Rutte.

Klaus Iohannis officially announced on March 12 that he is running for the post of NATO Secretary General from Romania, although previously powerful countries such as the United States, Great Britain, Germany and France had announced their support for Mark Rutte.

The Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, also declared on Tuesday his support for the candidacy of the interim Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte for this post and estimated that the Alliance is very close to making a decision on who will succeed him, after Hungary and Slovakia raised its objections to Rutte.

“He is a very strong candidate. He has a lot of experience as prime minister. He is a close friend and a colleague,” Stoltenberg said of Rutte in Washington, where he met US President Joe Biden on Monday and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday.

“With today’s announcement by Prime Minister (Hungarian Viktor) Orban, I think it is obvious that we are very close to a conclusion (…) I strongly believe that the Alliance will soon decide who will be my successor”, Stoltenberg also stated at a joint press conference with Blinken.

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