Mark Rutte

Mark Rutte (born 14 February 1967) is a Dutch politician who has been the 14th Secretary General of NATO since 2024. He was the Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 2010 to 2024. He was leader of the conservative liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) from 2006 to 2023.^[1][2] In July 2023, Rutte and his government announced their resignations.^[3]

Mark Rutte
Rutte in 2025
14th Secretary General of NATO
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 October 2024
Deputy	Radmila Šekerinska
Preceded by	Jens Stoltenberg
Prime Minister of the Netherlands
In office 14 October 2010 – 2 July 2024
Monarch	Beatrix Willem-Alexander
Deputy	See list Maxime Verhagen (2010–2012) Lodewijk Asscher (2012–2017) Hugo de Jonge (2017–2022) Kajsa Ollongren (2017–2022) Wopke Hoekstra (2022–2023) Carola Schouten (2017–2024) Sigrid Kaag (2022–2024) Karien van Gennip (2023–2024) Rob Jetten (2024)
Preceded by	Jan Peter Balkenende
Succeeded by	Dick Schoof
Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
In office 31 May 2006 – 14 August 2023
Preceded by	Jozias van Aartsen
Succeeded by	Dilan Yeşilgöz
State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science
In office 17 June 2004 – 27 June 2006
Prime Minister	Jan Peter Balkenende
Preceded by	Annette Nijs
Succeeded by	Bruno Bruins
State Secretary for Social Affairs and Employment
In office 22 July 2002 – 17 June 2004
Prime Minister	Jan Peter Balkenende
Preceded by	Hans Hoogervorst
Succeeded by	Henk van Hoof
Member of the House of Representatives
In office 31 March 2021 – 10 January 2022
In office 23 March 2017 – 26 October 2017
In office 20 September 2012 – 5 November 2012
In office 28 June 2006 – 14 October 2010
In office 30 January 2003 – 27 May 2003
Personal details
Born	(1967-02-14) 14 February 1967 (age 58) The Hague, Netherlands
Political party	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
Education	Leiden University (BA, MA)
Signature

Political career

In 2010, Rutte won the elections with his party. He did not gain a majority in parliament, he won 31 out of 150 seats. Before he could form his government, there were four weeks of negotiations with the Christian-democratic CDA and the right-wing PVV of Geert Wilders. Wilders was not in the government, but he was supporting the government on several issues. These issues were discussed in those four weeks. When he was sworn in on 14 October 2010, he became the first liberal Prime Minister in the Netherlands since 1918.^[4]

The First Rutte cabinet, consisting of VVD, CDA, and PVV, lasted from 2010 to 2012. The Second Rutte cabinet, consisting of VVD and PvdA, lasted from 2012 to 2017. The Third Rutte cabinet, consisting of VVD, D66, CDA, and CU, lasted from 2017 to 2022.

On 15 January 2021, Rutte announced his resignation and that of his government because of a child welfare scandal.^[5]

Rutte has been leading the Fourth Rutte cabinet, consisting of VVD, D66, CDA, and CU, since 10 January 2022.

On 7 July 2023, Rutte announced his government's resignation after his coalition failed to agree on how to handle increasing migration.^[6] His government will take on a caretaker role until the next general election.^[7] Rutte said that he will be leaving domestic politics all together.^[8]

Rutte announced his candidacy to replace Jens Stoltenberg as Secretary General of NATO in October 2023, and his bid received public support from the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France in February 2024.^[9][10] With his only opponent, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, dropping out in June 2024 Rutte secured the position of Secretary General.^[11][12] He was sworn-in on 1 October 2024.

Personal life

Rutte is single and lives in The Hague. He frequently uses his bike for government duties at the Binnenhof and the Catshuis. He is also a part-time teacher at a high school in The Hague.