Salo has caused the reserved message of Donald Trump to the Secretary -General of NATO, Mark Rutte To increase defense spending in Europe – a message that ultimately functioned as a “emptiness”, recalling that Route, as prime minister of the Netherlands, was a austerity and cuts, including military spending.
Route’s public flattery to US President Trump has sparked a wave of reactions with many to characterize it from “uncomfortable” and “slavery” to “degrading”. Nevertheless, Rutte not only did not get distances from the message, but he defended it openly.
“What I wrote to him is true. I have no problem published it, “NATO Secretary -General told reporters on the occasion of the Hague summit. When asked if he felt embarrassed about the incident, he replied: “Not at all. Absolutely no. “
OR Summit launched on Tuesday night (24.06.2025) with a dinner, At the invitation of the Dutch King William-Alexander, he continues on Wednesday with only one meeting. They are all designed to “Trump should not be bored with endless meetings that he has to stay for hours after speaking his speech.”explained by Jamie Si, a former NATO official.
There is no alternative to the increase in defense spending in the light of the continuing threat from Russia, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Wednesday (25.06.2025) while the 32 leaders of NATO members in Hague in Hague meet the 32 leaders of NATO. Apostle of US haircuts in three Iranian nuclear facilities.
Despite the fact that there was the undisputed ‘Austerity Master’ in the Netherlands For over a decade, applying billions of billions of public sector and cutting defense spending, 58 -year -old Mark Rutte appears as a staunch supporter of the increase in defense spending in Europe.
From the position of NATO Secretary General, he calls on the Member States to dramatically raise their military budgets, raising reasonable concerns about his political consistency-especially if one considers that he himself, for 12 years in prime minister, It reduced drastic social spending and public services in the name of fiscal discipline.
Conservative in character, fiercely in the changes, the toughest denial of the increase in the resources of the recovery fund, the “Lord No, no, no” as he was called the South’s counterparts – but also Merkel and a fan of austerity, Mark Route was 14 years old.
The Dutch politician proved to be a protagonist in implementing a very strict fiscal policy as colossal austerity packages were imposed on his days, enough to be characterized by bodies and analysts as some of the “biggest cuts” in the European period after the crisis.
In today, now, under the shadow of Trump and with the “peak” of defensive costs, the NATO summit is expected to approve a higher target of defensive expenditure of 5% of GDP – A response to Trump’s demand and Europeans’ fears that Russia is an increasingly immediate threat to their safety after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
NATO Secretary -General Rute acknowledged that It is not easy for countries to find the money for additional defensive costs, but stated that it is vital to do so.
“There is absolute belief with my colleagues at the table that given Russians, given the international security status, there is no alternative,” He told reporters on Wednesday morning, according to Reuters.
At the same time Trump gave an unusual picture of these efforts on Tuesday by posting a sms in which Rutte was praising him And he congratulated the “decisive action in Iran”, that is, on the US attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“Congratulations and thank you for your decisive action in Iran, it was great that no one else dare to do”, Mark Rutte says in the message he sent to Donald Trump, as shown by the screenshot uploaded by the US president on social media. “Make us all feel safer.”
At the same time, the NATO Secretary -General She is receiving the US president For the fact that it has pressed European countries to increase their defense spending sharply and triumphants on it: “Europe will pay a lot, as it owes, and that will be your own victory.”he writes to him.
Mark Rutte even defended the message he sent to Donald Trump He congratulates him on his intervention in the war between Iran and Israel.
When asked by reporters about publicizing the SMS content, he left spikes in countries that spent up to 2% of their GDP until recently:
“I have no problem with that, because there is nothing that had to remain secret. Look, what is in the messages I sent him. As for 2%, 2%fulfillment without him (Trump) would never have happened this year.
Let’s be honest, at the beginning of the year seven countries were saying “well, maybe (done) somewhere in 2031, 2032”, all these seven – eight countries are now in 2%. “
It is recalled that as early as Monday (9.6.2025), speaking at a London Chatham House event, Secretary -General Rutte made specific fiscal recommendations on how NATO member states could achieve the 5% goal.
“It is not up to me to decide, of course, how countries pay the bill. What I know is that if we want to keep our societies secure, and look, if you don’t, if you don’t go to 5%, including 3.5% of basic defense spending, You could still have the national health system, or in other countries, their health systems, the pension system, etc. But better to learn to speak Russian. That is, this is consistency, “he said in response to a journalist’s question.
Cuts and in NATO
A few months after NATO headed by NATO, Secretary General Mark Rutte decided redundancies as … another Elon Musk – in the context of a wider restructuring of the bureaucracy of the Alliance.
According to Politico, he held two internal meetings with staff to announce a wave of changes, including a reduction in NATO’s international staff from eight to six.
The departments that will be cut are the Department of Public Diplomacy, which functions as a NATO press service, and the Executive Management Department, the alliance’s human resources department.
Their functions will be largely absorbed by the other sections. But the Assistant Secretaries -General – Head of the Departments appointed by the Secretary -General with the contribution of alliance members – will simply cease to exist, a direct knowledge official confirmed to Politico.