Rutte counts abroad – until now

taketonews

Two weeks ago, Mark Rutte received six NATO leaders in the Catshuis for dinner, at the request of NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg. Discord had to be resolved so that the NATO summit, which begins in Lithuania this Tuesday, can become a convincing demonstration of unity and support for Ukraine.

The pre-summit dinner was a symbol of Rutte’s international position. With thirteen years of experience, he was, together with Hungarian Viktor Orbán, the longest-serving European leader. He played a leading role in the international issue of 2022 – support for Ukraine. He not only championed financial support and Dutch arms supplies, but also mediated in the formation of coalitions for the supply of increasingly advanced weapon systems. Moreover, his prestige had risen in NATO because the Netherlands finally wanted to comply with the NATO expenditure norm.

Rutte has also become one of the leading figures at European conference tables. Within the EU he was often consulted when preparing compromises and became a central player, constantly calling and texting fellow leaders. Just two weeks ago, it was Rutte who flew to Tunisia together with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen to negotiate a deal on migrants.

The past few weeks made it clear: Rutte counts abroad. And since Monday it is also clear: from now on that influence will decrease rapidly.

Read also: Internationally, Rutte is well listened to

When he arrives at the NATO summit in Lithuania this Tuesday, he is not only a caretaker, but also a man on his way out. Dutch support for Ukraine will not immediately disappear – Rutte IV’s Ukraine policy could count on broad support from the House of Representatives and the public. The Netherlands also plays an important role in organizing training on the F-16 fighter aircraft for Ukrainian pilots. The training, which should start in Romania this summer and is the precursor to the delivery of modern fighter jets to Kyiv, is likely to continue.

Rutte also contributed to the diplomatic offensive of the Ukraine coalition in the “global south”, where many countries do not want to choose between Kyiv and Moscow. Last month, Rutte spoke with government leaders in Namibia and South Africa not only about Dutch trade interests, but also about Ukraine and the importance of international principles, such as the sovereignty of countries.

At first suspicious of Europe

His role as an international game distributor was not self-evident for Rutte. In his early years, his relationship with Europe was characterized by mutual distrust. From the Dutch prime minister to a Brussels that had to do more and more of him and got him into trouble because of the support packages for Greece. And from the rest of the EU to a prime minister at the head of a tolerance coalition (with the PVV) that was explicitly eurosceptic.

His role as an international game distributor was not self-evident for Rutte

Rutte himself also did not shy away from a eurosceptic outburst here and there. According to him, the European Parliament was a ‘party committee looking for a party’, the Commission an ‘anonymous, formal and impersonal layer of government where national sovereignty is exchanged for ‘Brussels’ rules’. Europe, Rutte initially thought, should mainly focus on the economy and the market and do as little as possible otherwise.

Read also: Rutte sometimes went to Brussels in a hoody

In 2018 he had to admit in a speech: his thoughts had “evolved” a bit by now. The EU, Rutte now believed, was also important as a community of values, for guaranteeing security and the rule of law. More than a personalWerdegangIt was mainly the circumstances that forced Rutte to do so. Influenced by an endless series of crises, the prime minister discovered that he simply could not do without Europe – and if he handled it wisely, he could use it well for his own good.

MH17 and migration deal as key moments

Party members point to two moments that strongly influenced his thinking about the importance of international politics and the importance of Europe. After the downing of flight MH17 over Ukraine in the summer of 2014, he received a lot of support from other countries. That solidarity did something to him.

A second key moment was the run-up to the migration deal with Turkey in 2016. Together with then Chancellor Angela Merkel, Rutte stood at the basis of that agreement that was supposed to limit the migration flow to Europe. The fact that a deal was successful, the crisis atmosphere in Europe ebbed and the number of refugees in the Netherlands also decreased, gave Rutte’s sense of Europe a significant boost. The EU, he seemed to realize, was not just a hindrance. It also turned out to be an instrument with which he could achieve something himself

In March, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni received Mark Rutte to discuss migration.
Photo Francesco Fotia/Shutterstock

In recent years, Rutte has grown into a hustler in Brussels, always looking for a new problem that he can solve. At European summits he visibly enjoyed the negotiating game and mediating between opponents. International journalists flocked afterwards for a witty quote from the Dutch prime minister.

mr. no

Rutte’s status also strengthened the position of the Netherlands in Brussels. But external factors also played an important role here, above all the departure of the United Kingdom in 2016. Rutte’s statement to “hate Brexit from all angles” was widely quoted in the European press. For the Netherlands, a crucial European partner disappeared behind whose back people liked to hide in difficult discussions.

It put the Netherlands more in the wind – visible during the fierce negotiations about a corona recovery fund when Rutte became internationally, by analogy with the British former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, to mr. no was renamed. Rutte could not prevent the fund from being created. But he also partly got his way in that negotiation: a special rule of law test was added to the fund, which still prevents Poland and Hungary from receiving subsidies.

For example, the Netherlands increasingly succeeded in finding its place after Brexit, as a hinge between France and Germany. Rutte played a crucial role in this, not least because of his excellent relations with fellow government leaders. The ties became particularly close with former Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron. And certainly since Rutte IV took office in Brussels, according to officials and diplomats, the Netherlands has played a remarkably constructive, positive role and has managed to get a lot done.

Inconvenient moment

Rutte’s departure now calls all that into question. As early as 2019, the Clingendael Institute established that Dutch diplomacy relied heavily on Rutte as a person and that any departure would seriously undermine the authority of the Netherlands internationally. Now that Rutte’s status has only grown since then, the hole he leaves behind is even bigger.

Acutely, the fall of the cabinet means that a caretaker prime minister will now appear at an important NATO summit in Vilnius this Tuesday. Important European discussions await later this year on reforming the fiscal rules, an extra contribution to the European long-term budget and a new asylum system. The Netherlands has quite a strong opinion on all these subjects, but with a caretaker cabinet that voice at the negotiating table sounds a lot weaker.

Meanwhile, the political uncertainty in the Netherlands also comes at an extremely inconvenient time for Brussels. Especially since the situation is also far from stable in other influential EU countries at the moment: in Germany a three-party coalition is fighting each other, in France the president is under heavy fire and in Spain, which recently took over the EU presidency, a exciting election.

Mark Rutte was twice in The Oval Office in the White House: in 2018 with Donald Trump, and at the beginning of this year he met Joe Biden.
Photo Bart Maat/ANP

The Netherlands has been a reliable factor under Rutte’s leadership in recent years. The fact that The Hague has probably not had a new cabinet for a year now is also inconvenient for the EU. Important talks will also follow later this year about the possible accession of Ukraine, Moldova and a handful of Balkan countries to the EU.

And Ruth himself? It is no longer a secret that his name is being mentioned for a European top position and next year the transfer season will start in Brussels in which all positions will be redistributed. Especially for the position of NATO boss and president of the European Council, Rutte seems most suitable. He himself has always firmly denied ambitions in that direction.

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