Mark Rutte
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Mark Rutte (born February 14, 1967, The Hague, Netherlands) is a Dutch politician who drew praise for his chameleonic ability to find common ground and broker unlikely alliances to form coalition governments during his four terms as prime minister of the Netherlands (2010–24). He eschewed visionary ideals in favor of practicalities, saying “vision is like an elephant that obstructs the view.” He was the longest-serving prime minister in the country’s history and a noted liberal voice on the European Council. In October 2024 he became secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Early life
Rutte was born in The Hague, where his father, Izaäk, settled after World War II. Izaäk Rutte, who had run a trading company in Indonesia, then a Dutch colony, survived being imprisoned there in a Japanese-run labor camp during World War II; his wife did not. After Izaäk Rutte returned to the Netherlands, he married his late wife’s sister. The couple had three children, including Mark, making him the youngest of seven. Mark Rutte was deeply affected by the death of one of his older brothers, Wim, from AIDS in the 1980s.
Single and childless, Rutte had an undramatic personal life that was a source of some speculation. He has repeatedly rebuffed media inquiries about his sexuality, commenting in a 2016 interview that “the last taboo in the Netherlands is living alone.” He is known to live quietly and modestly in the house he purchased in college. He routinely bikes to work, he had dinner weekly with his mother until her death in 2020, and he taught social studies at a local school. A talented musician, he considered becoming a concert pianist.
Education, business career, and early involvement in politics
Rutte’s initial foray into politics began at Leiden University, where he joined the student wing of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie; VVD), a center-right, socially liberal, fiscally conservative party. Rutte graduated in 1992 with a master’s degree in history. He began his business career in human resources at the multinational holding company Unilever. In 1997 Rutte became personnel manager of Van den Bergh Nederland (Calvé), also part of Unilever, before becoming director of human resources for a Unilever subsidiary in 2002.
That same year, Rutte became a junior minister for social affairs and employment. From 2004 to 2006 he was state secretary for education, culture, and science. In 2006 he became the leader of the VVD, defeating controversial immigration minister Rita Verdonk. The following year, Verdonk was expelled from the party, solidifying Rutte’s position.
Prime ministership
When the VVD won the most seats in the June 2010 election Rutte became prime minister at the head of a minority government in coalition with the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), a party positioned slightly to the left of the VVD. Rutte also had the endorsement of Geert Wilders and his far-right, anti-Muslim Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid; PVV). Although Wilders’s party was excluded from the cabinet, its role in policymaking was assured, as the minority government required the PVV’s parliamentary support in order to pass legislation. Modern Dutch politics had been dominated by Christian democratic and social democratic parties, and Rutte’s government was the first to be led by a liberal in more than 90 years. Rutte’s first term lasted until April 2012, when Wilders withdrew his support over deficit issues and the minority government collapsed.
Snap elections held in September 2012 saw Rutte returned to office, this time atop a coalition government with the Labour Party (Partij van de Arbeid; PvdA). With an economic crisis continuing to rock the euro zone, Dutch voters turned their backs on smaller parties such as the PVV, and the VVD and Labour secured a clear majority in parliament. Rutte’s second government would become the first to finish a full term in nearly two decades. The Netherlands’ multiparty system hinges upon the cooperation of governing coalitions, and—as Rutte saw in 2012—the delicate balance can be easily upset.
Rutte steered the Netherlands through the European debt crisis and recovery, and his stint as leader saw unemployment decline. Brexit disrupted the Netherlands’ alignment with the United Kingdom on matters of free trade and conservative fiscal policies. Rutte subsequently pivoted the country away from deeper integration within the euro zone, often opposing France’s Emmanuel Macron.
In general elections in March 2017 Rutte won a third term as prime minister after defeating Wilders, who had campaigned on the slogan “Make Netherlands Great Again,” a populist rallying cry borrowed from U.S. Pres. Donald Trump. Rutte’s response was “Act normal, or go away.” By holding on to power, Rutte broke what some political scientists had deemed a populist wave sweeping the globe. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rutte’s government emphasized public health and encouraged vaccination, but a delayed, heavily flawed vaccine rollout garnered criticism from various Dutch politicians, while curfews sparked protests within the country.
In 2021 Rutte’s government collapsed over a scandal involving false accusations of tax fraud against as many as 20,000 families—mainly ethnic minorities—who had made administrative mistakes and been forced to pay back child care benefits to which they were legally entitled. The cabinet resigned, but Rutte survived a no-confidence vote and rebuilt. By this point, Rutte’s ability to emerge relatively unscathed from political strife had earned him the moniker “Teflon Mark.”
The following year’s election saw Rutte returned to power as the head of a coalition with Democrats 66 (D66), the CDA, and the Orthodox Christian Union party—a record 271 days of negotiations later. This government set new restrictions on emissions from livestock that earned great pushback from farmers across the country.
Rutte’s four-party coalition government collapsed in July 2023 over thorny issues of asylum and immigration, specifically focusing on which refugees would be allowed to apply for family reunification and when. The centrist parties could not support the VVD’s far-right, hard-line stance. Rutte announced that he was resigning as leader of the VVD a short time later, with conjecture already suggesting that he would seek an international position with either NATO or the European Union.
Selection as NATO secretary-general
Rutte began campaigning to become NATO secretary-general in late 2023, although he remained prime minister in a caretaker capacity until July 2024. The only other prominent candidate, Romanian Pres. Klaus Iohannis, did not enter the race until March 2024, by which time most voters had already allied with Rutte. Rutte was seen as a stabilizing force, particularly in fiscal matters, and this would be an asset for an incoming secretary-general. Among the varied demands of NATO’s 32 member countries were the Russia-Ukraine War, Russia’s ongoing hybrid campaign against the West, and the conflict in the Middle East.
Rutte was selected as the next secretary-general of NATO on June 26, 2024, and he officially took office on October 1 of that year. He succeeded Jens Stoltenberg, who had held the post for a decade. In the capacity of secretary-general, Rutte serves as the organization’s top civil servant, chair of all major committees, and leader of the international staff. The initial term is four years, but it is renewable; Stoltenberg’s term was extended four times.