In the search for unanimity on the appointment of the new NATO chief, the number of supporters for Mark Rutte is now estimated at 28. This should convince four more NATO member states of the candidacy of the current Dutch Prime Minister. There is cautious optimism in government circles about Rutte's chances, although it is emphasized that unanimity is a condition for the appointment. It's not that far yet. For example, there is resistance from Hungary. Romania has put forward its President Klaus Johannis as an opposing candidate. Last month, the American capital Washington announced that President Biden supports Rutte's appointment. Shortly afterwards, expressions of support followed from the United Kingdom and France, among others. At that time, the number of supporters for Rutte was still estimated at 20 out of 31 countries by the website Politico. Sweden is now also a member of NATO and the support of 28 of the 32 member states is assumed. Dutch soldiers Rutte is in Lithuania on Tuesday. He arrived in the morning at the NATO base Rukla, west of the capital Vilnius. Dutch soldiers are also stationed at the camp. Later he meets Lithuanian President Nauseda. The day ends with a European working dinner with several fellow government leaders, at the invitation of European President Charles Michel. The European meeting is the reason for the lightning visit to Lithuania, but above the visit there is of course the fact that Rutte is in the race to become Secretary General of NATO. At the beginning of the day, Lithuania did not yet know whether it considers Rutte to be the right candidate for the post. However, in The Hague it can be heard that things are also 'looking good' with support around the Baltic states, in addition to Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia. Later on Tuesday, Rutte will hold a joint press conference with his Lithuanian host, President Nauseda. This week, a formal decision on the successor to Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg would be made at a ministerial NATO summit. The American ambassador to the organization had indicated that Washington would like to complete the appointment in the first quarter of this year. That turns out not to have worked; A number of countries in Eastern Europe in particular are not yet outspoken in favor of Rutte's candidacy. People in that region believe that they deserve a stronger say within the alliance, because the secretaries-general are usually supplied from the west of Europe. For example, the Hungarian Foreign Minister said that his country could not vote for Rutte because of his strong position at European level towards Budapest.
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