50 Facts About Mark Rutte

Mark Rutte previously served as prime minister of the Netherlands from 2010 to 2024 and leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy from 2006 to 2023.

Mark Rutte won the 2006 VVD leadership election and led the party to victory in the 2010 general election.

Mark Rutte was the first self-described liberal to be appointed prime minister in 92 years.

Mark Rutte began his fourth term in 2022 after another record-length formation period.

Mark Rutte has been described as ideologically flexible and pragmatic, willing to accommodate a broad range of political factions in order to address issues.

Mark Rutte was born in The Hague, in the province of South Holland, to a Dutch Reformed family.

Mark Rutte is the youngest child of Izaak Rutte, a merchant, and his second wife Hermina Cornelia Dilling, a secretary.

Izaak Mark Rutte worked for a trading company; first as an importer in the Dutch East Indies; he later ran a car dealership.

Mark Rutte's second wife was a sister of his first wife, Petronella Hermanna Dilling, who died while they were interned together in Tjideng, a prisoner-of-war camp in Batavia, during World War II.

Mark Rutte has seven siblings as a result of his father's two marriages.

Mark Rutte later described the deaths of his brother and his father as events that changed the course of his life.

Mark Rutte attended the Maerlant Lyceum from 1979 until 1985, specialising in the arts.

Mark Rutte combined his studies with a position on the board of the Youth Organisation Freedom and Democracy, the youth organisation of the VVD, and served as chair of the organisation from 1988 to 1991.

Until 1997, Mark Rutte was part of the human resource department of Unilever, and played a leading role in several reorganisations.

Between 1997 and 2000, Mark Rutte was staff manager of the subsidiary Van den Bergh Nederland.

In 2000, Mark Rutte became a member of the Corporate Human Resources Group, and in 2002, he became human resource manager for IgloMora Groep, another subsidiary of Unilever.

Between 1993 and 1997, Mark Rutte was a member of the national board of the VVD.

Mark Rutte disagreed with this and his appeal was upheld by the administrative judge.

Mark Rutte rejected the criticism, stating that a change in the law would then be necessary to be able to combat targeted fraud.

Mark Rutte later served as State Secretary for Higher Education and Science within the Education, Culture and Science Ministry in the Second Balkenende Cabinet from 17 June 2004 to 27 June 2006, replacing Annette Nijs.

In office, Rutte showed particular interest in making the Dutch higher education system more competitive internationally, by trying to make it more market oriented.

Mark Rutte resigned from his position in government in June 2006 to return to the House of Representatives, and he soon became the parliamentary leader of the VVD.

On 31 May 2006, it was announced that Mark Rutte would be the next lijsttrekker of the VVD.

The Youth Organisation Freedom and Democracy, the VVD's youth wing of which Mark Rutte had previously been chair, backed him.

The government was confirmed in office by a majority of one, and Mark Rutte was sworn in as Prime Minister of the Netherlands, becoming the first Liberal to serve in the role since Pieter Cort van der Linden in 1918.

In March 2012, seeking to comply with requirements from the European Union to reduce the nation's deficit, Mark Rutte began talks with his coalition partners on a budget which would cut 16 billion euros of government spending.

Mark Rutte's government had lasted for 558 days, making it one of the shortest Dutch cabinets since World War II.

Ahead of the 2012 general election, Mark Rutte was named the VVD's lead candidate for the third time.

The VVD quickly negotiated a coalition agreement with the Labour Party and Mark Rutte returned as prime minister of the Second Mark Rutte cabinet on 5 November 2012.

The 225 days between the general election and the installation of the third Mark Rutte cabinet was the longest such period in Dutch history.

At the 2019 provincial elections, Mark Rutte's VVD suffered a blow following the victory of right-wing populist newcomer Forum for Democracy.

Mark Rutte offered his resignation to King Willem-Alexander, accepting responsibility for the scandal.

In October 2022, Mark Rutte said that alleged war crimes and human rights violations committed during the Armenian-Azerbaijani war in Nagorno-Karabakh should be investigated.

Mark Rutte explained that this was necessary due to his phone memory filling up too quickly, which was not considered a plausible excuse by other ministers.

Three days later, Mark Rutte announced his departure both as political leader of the VVD and from national politics in general, after the installation of the next government.

Mark Rutte rejected calls for a ceasefire in the Gaza war but supported "humanitarian pauses" to provide aid to civilians in the Gaza Strip.

In February 2024, Mark Rutte visited Saudi Arabia and spoke with the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman about "broad cooperation".

Later that month, Mark Rutte threatened Israel with sanctions if the Israeli military launched a large-scale invasion of Rafah, saying the attack would be a "game changer" and have "political consequences".

Mark Rutte met with Chinese president Xi Jinping, where Rutte discussed the Russian invasion of Ukraine and tried to persuade China, which provided Russia with diplomatic cover and economic support through trade, to exert its influence on Russia.

On 14 April 2024, Mark Rutte condemned the Iranian strikes against Israel and reiterated the necessity for sanctions against Iran.

Mark Rutte stated that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps should be added to the EU's terrorism blacklist.

Mark Rutte's government authorized Ukraine to use Dutch-supplied F-16 fighters to strike targets inside Russia in May Mark Rutte attended the June 2024 Ukraine peace summit, interpreting Putin's proposal for peace talks near the end of this summit as a sign of panic.

Mark Rutte's bid received public support from the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France in February 2024.

Mark Rutte managed to overcome opposition from the last holdouts of Turkey, Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania in the months thereafter, with his only opponent, Romanian president Klaus Iohannis, dropping out a week before his official appointment on 26 June 2024.

In October 2024, Mark Rutte said that more than 600,000 Russian soldiers had been killed or wounded during the war with Ukraine.

Mark Rutte said that the additional spending would be necessary to guarantee a collective defense and to avert a Russian attack following its invasion of Ukraine.

Mark Rutte said that any future peace talks with Russia should be led by Ukraine from a position of strength.

In March 2025, following the new Trump administration's announcement that it does not support NATO membership for Ukraine, Mark Rutte stated that Ukraine had never been promised NATO membership as part of a peace agreement.

Mark Rutte is a member of the Dutch Protestant Church.

Mark Rutte is an admirer of American historian Robert Caro, especially his 1974 biography of Robert Moses, The Power Broker.