NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will hand over the post on October 1 to his successor Mark Rutte, stated in a statement of the alliance, quoted by BTA.
It is planned that the two will participate in a ceremony on this occasion and pronounce the words. The handover of the post will take place in the presence of the participants in the North Atlantic Council – the representatives of the countries of the pact. Stoltenberg and Rutte will address the staff at the NATO headquarters in Brussels.
Jens Stoltenberg (65) took over NATO on 1 October 2014 as the 13th Secretary General of the military-political alliance. His mandate has been extended several times and in the history of the alliance, he is in second place for the longest tenure – 10 years. Only the Dutchman Josef Loons, who held the position for 13 years (from 1971 to 1984), has been the leader of the Pact longer.
Mark Rutte (57) was Prime Minister of the Netherlands for 14 years (from 2010 to 2024). A year ago, he expressed his willingness to lead the alliance and managed to get unanimous support until the NATO summit in Washington in early July this year.