Five new NATO chief's difficult challenges, Mark Rutte

The outgoing Dutch prime minister's campaign to be Secretary General ended Thursday, when he secured the support of the 32 NATO allies (with Romania), which announced its support). The current president, Jens Stoltenberg, will resign by 1 October.

Rutte, who has been leading the EU's fifth largest economy for 14 years, is widely praised as an effective consensus builder, also showing determination in supporting Ukraine, including the latest Dutch efforts in training Ukrainian pilots to fly F-16 fighter aircraft.

But even for an experienced politician, the next chapter of Rutte's political career will not be a walk in the park.

Below the five main challenges he will have to face.

1. Donald Trump's possible recovery

Four weeks after Rutte starts his new job, Americans go to the polls and can re-election Donald Trump, a sceptic of NATO.

During the campaign, Trump has threatened to cut US aid to Ukraine if it returns to the White House.

If it continues, it could give a serious blow to the credibility of NATO allies to help Ukraine defend against Russia, given that the US has so far been the biggest donor of military aid to Kiev.

The re-election of Trump will almost certainly derail NATO's plan to prepare Ukraine for its future membership, including efforts to complete the westernisation of Ukraine's first Soviet-style army.

NATO countries last year promised that “would be able to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the alliance when the allies agree and meet the” conditions.

However, judging the latest characterisation of Trump for Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, this commitment seems to be shaking.

2. Putin's Winter Attack in Ukraine

Once Rutte takes office, Ukraine will call him for help as winter approaches.

Over the past few months, Russia has intensified attacks against Ukraine's thermal power plants and dams -- infrastructure that requires months -- if not years to fully repair.

The Kremlin's book of games is not new. During the first winter of wartime, between 2022 and 2023, Ukraine's electricity network was heavily attacked.

The key, says the outgoing boss NATO, Stoltenberg, stands in more air defence systems that can protect power suppliers as well as maintenance staff working on repairing damaged facilities.

NATO countries are also struggling to send a messenger or, in the case of Rutte's country, to build air defence systems.

But Europe doesn't have much to send, progress in the US was delayed in Congress, and countries near Russia are less than willing to give up their air shields at this dangerous time.

3. NATO Members Forced to Pay

NATO this week celebrated a record number of allies that reached the 2 per cent GDP target for defence spending.

Actually, Holland just passed that threshold this year after several years of failure.

But a third of the alliance is still not reaching the mark.

South European countries are among the worst offenders.

In Italy, 2024 estimates see a slight decline from 1.5 per cent last year.

Spain will only spend 1.8 percent this year. Her neighbor Portugal hired 1.55 percent.

The weak record from our Mediterranean friends is the perfect weapon for Trump,” said a senior diplomat from the Baltic region, who was given the anonymity to speak freely about access within NATO.

The region has been a strong lawyer for a harsher approach to Russia.

However, closer to Trump's terrain, things are just as bad. Canada, a NATO member since the beginning of 1949, is committing only 1.37 percent of GDP, registering 0.1 percent growth since the beginning of Russia's war against Ukraine.

4. East wing antennas

Countries on the border with Russia are not Rutte's biggest fans.

They were angry at the low expenses of the Dutch defence and are particularly upset that the main role in NATO has always gone to a Western or northern European, even though eastern wing countries have been in alliance for a quarter century.

Estonia Prime Minister Kaya Kallas did not enter the race for NATO's top post after he was reminded that he would not receive support from countries such as the US, France and Germany (he is now the main candidate to be the next EU foreign policy chief). They feared that its appointment would be viewed by Moscow as an escalation of hostility. Romania's President Klaus Iohannis, who ran for the task, received only support from Hungary for tactical reasons only to support it.

East-wing countries are now likely to seek better representation at NATO's secondary level: Deputy Secretary-General (DSG) and various posts of assistant secretary-general (ASG).

Job distribution has been a painful point for eastern countries for some time. While the outgoing DSG is Romanian, seven A. The SGs are from the West, two from the US, from one from Germany, the Netherlands, Britain, Italy and France. Another post in ASG is a vacant.

In fact, one of Rutte's first tasks as head of NATO would be to appoint a replacement and would have pressure to appoint someone from an eastern country.

5. European Putin leaders

It's not just a Trump that Rutte has to convince him to keep. NATO alive and well.

Throughout Europe, the parties of the far-right sceptical towards NATO and the coveted Putin are flourishing.

France, for example, is on the verge of parliamentary elections that can see big profits for the far-right National Rally by forcing Stoltenberg to make a rare prayer for France that “holds Strong NATO” in an interview with POLITICO.

Rutte, of course, knows this story very well. In a way, he began to consider NATO's main task when it became clear that his centre-right People's Party for Freedom and Democracy would lose Dutch elections to the far-right Geert Wilders Freedom Party, which happened

Wilders, questioned last year about his view of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, told the Russian propaganda newspaper RT: “I applaud him as Mr. Trump applauds to be leader, who stand there on behalf of the Russian and American people”

One thing Rutte doesn't even need to worry about is that his new job won't be boring politico.eu/ Adapt in Albanian: Journal ) How?