Orbán will support Rutte for top NATO position only if conditions are met

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has said he could support outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte for the role of NATO Secretary General – if certain conditions are met.

Rutte must apologize for the “insulting comments” he made against Hungary, Orbán said in an interview with the government-funded Mandiner news portal published late on Wednesday.

Rutte must also agree that Hungary does not have to participate in any NATO military missions directed against Russia in Ukraine, Orbán said.

But no one is calling for, planning or preparing such a military operation by the Western defense alliance. And although individual Member States can carry out initiatives on their own, in these cases other members are not obliged to join.

The mandate of the current NATO secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg of Norway, expires in October. A unanimous vote in the 32-nation alliance is needed to choose a successor. Currently, all members except Romania and Hungary support Rutte.

Romania currently has its own candidate for the top job, President Klaus Iohannis, whose second term ends in the autumn and who cannot run again.

“We support Romania,” Orbán said in the interview with Mandiner.

His comments about the prerequisites for Rutte would apparently apply in the event of Bucharest withdrawing Iohannis’ candidacy.

Hungary has been a member of NATO since 1999. Under Orbán, who has held power without interruption since 2010, the country has adopted an increasingly favorable stance towards Russia.