Politico reports:

Two decades after joining the European Union and NATO, Eastern European countries fear they’ll once again be passed as the top jobs of both institutions are reshuffled later this year.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s likely appointment as the new head of NATO this summer may have received the endorsement of Washington, London, Paris and Berlin. Among many of the alliance’s newer members, however, in particular those bordering Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, the welcome was far less warm.

“What moral credibility does this guy have?” said former Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, pointing to the Netherland’s failure to meet its NATO commitment to spend 2 percent of GDP on defense during Rutte’s 13 years as prime minister.

Other contenders for the position included Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, whose government notified NATO of his potential candidacy in February, and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, who has not submitted a bid but expressed interest last year.

“If we think about a geographical balance, it’s going to be the fourth [NATO] Secretary-General from the Netherlands,” Kallas told POLITICO’s Power Play podcast last week. “And then there is a question [of] whether there are first-rank and second-rank countries in NATO.”

“Are we equals or are we not equals? So these questions still remain,” she added. [Continue reading…]