A everyday man who has been called "Teflon-Rutte", as scandals seem to slide right off him.
When Mark Rutte takes over the leadership of NATO – in the midst of a raging war – it may become harder to dodge the crises. But the 57-year-old Dutchman is described as an extremely skilled diplomat.
The year is 2022 and the Netherlands' Prime Minister is facing a vote of no confidence in The Hague. The newspaper De Volkskrant has revealed that Mark Rutte has been deleting SMS messages about official matters for years. Allegations of concealing government activities are pouring in.
Rutte's fondness for ancient technology becomes his salvation. The messages made his faithful servant's phone – a Nokia 301 from 2013 – too slow, he claims – and he emerges unscathed from the vote.
The Cycle to the King
The year before, he survived another scandal. Thousands of families were then forced to repay child benefits after false accusations of fraud and deception, and the government resigned to make amends to the affected. In true Dutch style, Rutte cycled to King Willem-Alexander to submit his resignation, according to Politico.
But the voters' trust remains intact. Barely a year later, he is sworn in for the fourth time as the Netherlands' leader. The coalition government consists of Rutte's liberal-conservative VVD and three other parties.
As a person, Rutte has always been described as normal, dutiful, and almost boring. As a lifelong bachelor, he lived with his mother for a long time, and every week he went out to eat Indonesian food with her. But when Mother Mieke died in a nursing home in 2020, 96 years old, her son was not there. The Prime Minister followed his government's pandemic restrictions and did not visit his dying mother, according to AFP.
No Visionary
Father Izaak had passed away much earlier – in 1988, when Mark was just 19. The same year, he took over as chairman of VVD's youth association. His reported ability to cooperate with almost anyone took him to VVD's party top – and from there to the Prime Minister's post.
Now, "Teflon-Rutte" has been elected as Jens Stoltenberg's successor as NATO chief. How he handles the defence alliance – in a time marked by the war in Ukraine, Cold War winds, and a Middle East in flames – remains to be seen. The Dutchman has made a name for himself as a skilled diplomat who has previously managed to wrap around his finger, among others, USA's ex-President Donald Trump, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Hungary's dito Viktor Orbán, according to Politico. Rutte is also described as one of Ukraine's most faithful allies – and one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's sharpest critics.
No innovative moves are to be expected, analysts predict. The 57-year-old Rutte is not exactly known as a visionary. In political conversations, he often quotes the former West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, who said that "those who have visions should see a doctor".
Dutchman Mark Rutte (born 1967) takes over the role as NATO's Secretary-General after Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg, according to a statement from NATO. Last week, the only remaining rival candidate for the top post, Romanian Klaus Iohannis, threw in the towel.
Between 2006 and 2023, Rutte was party leader for the liberal VVD (People's Party for Freedom and Democracy) and the Netherlands' Prime Minister between 2010 and July 2, 2024, when his successor Dick Schoof was formally sworn in.
He is thus the Dutch leader who has sat longest on his post, and also the second longest in the EU after Hungary's Viktor Orbán.
Father Izaak Rutte (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.
One of the siblings, brother Wim, died of AIDS in the 1980s. In interviews, Rutte has described the loss of his father and brother as life-changing.
The 57-year-old Rutte is unmarried and has no children.
