Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic
\n Euronews examines contenders and challenges for the top military post \u2013 with Mark Rutte\u2019s coronation still not guaranteed.
\n ADVERTISEMENTForeign ministers from NATO countries are gathering in Prague, Czechia, today and tomorrow (30-31 May).\u00a0Over them looms the major\u00a0decision of who should lead the transatlantic alliance in the coming years. \u00a0Norway\u2019s Jens Stoltenberg, who took office in 2014, has already seen his term extended four times, and is due to step down on 1 October.\u00a0Allies have nearly converged on a choice, but there are still obstacles in the way.\u00a0Their decision comes at a key time for the transatlantic military alliance, as it faces up to the threat of an increasingly belligerent Russia and a second Trump presidency. \u00a0How does NATO select its Secretary General?The Secretary General is NATO\u2019s top civil servant, selected by consensus of the military pact\u2019s members.\u00a0He \u2013 and historically it always has been a man \u2013 chairs NATO\u2019s major committees, acts as spokesperson and recruits international staff. \u00a0In practice selection for the role takes place via informal diplomatic channels \u2013 but finding a candidate amenable to all 32 allies isn\u2019t easy.\u00a0By longstanding tradition that\u2019s now more or less formalised, the job is held by a European senior political figure, and the usual term length is four years.\u00a0Who are the candidates?One candidate is leading the field by far \u2013 Mark Rutte, who\u2019s been Prime Minister of the Netherlands since 2010.\u00a0His candidacy has so far gained support from 29 of the defence alliance\u2019s 32 members, including the most influential, the US.\u00a0Rutte will likely halt his day job pretty soon. After months of post-election talks among four coalition partners, former spy chief Dirk Schoof seems set to be named as the next Dutch Prime Minister \u2013 meaning Rutte could step down within weeks.\u00a0As leader of the liberal VVD party, Rutte has successfully managed a series of tricky coalitions in the highly fractured world of Dutch politics \u2013 though VVD\u2019s latest decision to ally with Geert Wilder\u2019s far-right PVV is stoking controversy.\u00a0\u00a0But he\u2019s not the only candidate out there. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis still has his name in the ring after putting himself forward in March \u2013 though he has far fewer backers than Rutte.Other potential nominees, including Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas\u00a0and the UK\u2019s then-Defence Minister Ben Wallace, have now counted themselves out of the race, and both now support Rutte.Goldilocks and the bearRutte\u2019s appointment would follow something of a trend for NATO leaders, of whom the previous three were from Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands, whose foreign minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer took up the post in 2004.While that may lead to protests from elsewhere in Europe, Rutte\u2019s northern European pedigree\u00a0may count in his favour.Some have worried that naming a NATO head who\u2019s too anti-Russian could further escalate tensions \u2013 a factor that may have counted against the likes of Kallas.ADVERTISEMENTRutte is pro-Ukraine. A decade ago, he favoured the EU signing an Association Agreement with its eastern ally, though the PVV successfully campaigned against it in a 2016 referendum that saw 61% of Dutch voters reject ratification.But, neither too dovish nor hawkish, Rutte seems the Goldilocks candidate \u2013 in line with NATO consensus, but without risking provocation of the Russian bear.What are the remaining hurdles?While Rutte appears the favourite, there are also three significant holdouts still to be convinced \u2013 including Iohannis himself.Among them is Hungary, whose far-right leader Viktor Orb\u00e1n has repeatedly vetoed EU aid for Ukraine and sanctions on Russia, and which views the West as stoking war.Just a few days ago, Hungarian foreign minister P\u00e9ter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 confirmed he wouldn\u2019t support Rutte, favouring the eastern candidate.ADVERTISEMENTIt\u2019s also not clear how or when the third sceptic, Robert Fico, might get behind Rutte. The Slovakian Prime Minister suffered life-threatening injuries in a politically motivated attack in mid-May, and is currently recuperating in hospital. \u00a0What happens now?The Prague gathering may prove too politically junior to resolve the impasse. Hopes are more focused on a NATO Summit due to take place in Washington, DC in July, following a defence ministers\u2019 meeting in mid-June.\u00a0Pushing a decision until after 9 June European elections makes it likely to get caught up in a wider series of EU top jobs decisions on the leadership of other Brussels institutions. \u00a0Iohannis himself is sometimes tipped to lead the European Commission \u2013 though that job seems like more likely to go to the incumbent, Germany\u2019s Ursula von der Leyen. \u00a0Equally, Kallas may be Estonia\u2019s pick for EU commissioner, or even end up heading the bloc\u2019s diplomatic service.\u00a0ADVERTISEMENTAs such, side-deals struck in EU summits due on 17 and 27 June may help unblock NATO\u2019s quandary. \u00a0All eyes will be on US elections due in November, with some fearing the result might undermine the transatlantic alliance\u00a0entirely.\u00a0Republican candidate Donald Trump has urged allies to reach agreed targets for military spending, and even called on Russia to attack those who don\u2019t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Euronews examines contenders and challenges for the top military post \u2013 with Mark Rutte\u2019s coronation still not guaranteed. ADVERTISEMENTForeign ministers from NATO countries are gathering in Prague, Czechia, today and tomorrow (30-31 May).\u00a0Over them looms the major\u00a0decision of who should lead the transatlantic alliance<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":94573,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-94572","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94572"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94574,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94572\/revisions\/94574"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}