NOS News
•
Yesterday, 8:21 PM
Orbán is not yet convinced, but does not rule out Rutte as NATO chief either

Hungary still has great difficulty with Mark Rutte as the new Secretary General of NATO, but is not ruling him out either. Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán says in an interview with the French magazine Le Point that he is not yet convinced of Rutte.

Rutte is almost all NATO member states' favorite to become NATO's new leader. Three countries still have reservations: Romania, Slovakia and Hungary. In addition to Rutte, there is one other candidate, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.

'Problematic positions'
Orbán says Rutte has expressed "problematic" views in the past. "On the one hand he said that Hungary should leave the European Union and on the other hand that we should be forced to our knees. That is not the best way to get our support," Orbán said in the interview.

While Orbán says today that he is not yet convinced, the Hungarian Foreign Minister was more certain yesterday. He indicated that the Hungarian government does not support Rutte's candidacy and would prefer to see the Romanian president as the new Secretary General of NATO.

An informal two-day NATO summit starts tomorrow in Prague. The American ambassador to NATO said today that there will certainly be discussions in Prague about the succession of current NATO chief Stoltenberg. "Not every member state is ready yet to support Mark Rutte. I think we have made progress. Our goal is to have this arranged before the NATO summit in Washington in July."