At 9am (0700 GMT) on Tuesday, wreaths will be laid at the granite monument to the men and women who have died fighting under the banner of Nato during the last 75 years. It will be a brief moment of solemnity at the headquarters of the transatlantic alliance in Brussels. Then, after retreating into the cavernous, windowless North Atlantic Council room, Mark Rutte will officially take charge as Nato secretary general.
Rutte, the blunt-speaking liberal who led four Dutch coalition governments over 13 years, takes the reins at a perilous moment for Ukraine, a defining test for the transatlantic alliance. Nato allies recently pledged to bolster long-term support to Ukraine “so it can prevail in its fight for freedom”.
