Still, that deep EU knowledge provides a marked distinction between Rutte (who was Dutch PM for 14 years) and his predecessor (who comes from non-EU Norway).
“I’m good friends with all the senior leaders in EU, and I’m looking forward to working with them,” Rutte said, adding that he’s scheduled meetings with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa, the incoming European Council president.
“I welcome, I must say, EU’s efforts on defense,” Rutte stressed, a somewhat more positive stance towards the EU than Stoltenberg, who was skeptical of the bloc’s plans on defense policy. “Nobody wants, let’s say, duplication of what NATO already is doing, so I think we can be on one page on this.”
As NATO chief, Rutte is supposed to be neutral on domestic politics and ensure continued support from all allies despite political changes.
That requirement is all the more necessary when it comes to the U.S.
“President Trump, thanks to him, we pushed up the defense spending, we sped up the defense spending since the summit here in 2018 particularly, but also what he said on China is now very much taken on board, I think, by many of us,” Rutte said.
Kamala Harris, on the other hand, “has a record as vice president and now as a candidate in defending American values.”
“I respect them both very much,” Rutte added.