Hungary has dropped its veto against the Netherlands' outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte as the new Secretary-General of Nato.
Thus, everything points to Rutte as the successor to Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg this autumn.
The decisive meeting took place in Brussels on Monday between Rutte and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, where the Dutchman promised to continue in Stoltenberg's footsteps.
I am cautiously optimistic, said Rutte at a press conference afterwards.
This is now followed by a formal announcement from Orbán via X, where he refers to the agreement he made with Stoltenberg in Budapest last week, when Hungary received a promise to stay out of Nato's Ukraine support.
"Ready to support"
"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 Secretary-General of Nato. In light of that promise, Hungary is ready to support Prime Minister Rutte", Orbán writes on X.
Even Slovakia, which had not previously publicly expressed support for Rutte, backed him on Tuesday, announced President Peter Pellegrini according to the Slovak news agency TASR.
Thus, at least 31 of Nato's 32 member states now support Rutte as Stoltenberg's successor.
What about Iohannis?
Only Romania remains, which has so far stuck to Rutte's only opponent: Romania's outgoing President Klaus Iohannis.
If Iohannis gives in, Rutte can be welcomed in time for Nato's upcoming summit in Washington on 10-11 July.
According to sources, Iohannis plans to withdraw "shortly".
The new Nato chief can then take office on 1 October, when Jens Stoltenberg's ten-year period as Secretary-General expires.
One of Rutte's first tasks will be to prepare for next year's Nato summit, which conveniently takes place in The Hague in the Netherlands on 24-26 June 2025.
Mark Rutte (born 1967) was party leader of the right-liberal VVD (People's Party for Freedom and Democracy) from 2006-23 and has been the Netherlands' Prime Minister since 2010.
Father Izaak (1909-88) was active in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) and lost his first wife, with whom he had three children, in a Japanese internment camp in 1945. He then married her sister Mieke (1923-2020) and had four more children, including Mark.
Rutte's latest governments have been in alliance with the conservative CDA, the left-liberal D66, and the small Christian party CU. When the current government collapsed in the summer of 2023 and new elections were called, Rutte announced that he would not run for re-election. Since then, he has acted as the outgoing Prime Minister, awaiting the new government expected to take office on 2 July.
