NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte visited the 1st German-Netherlands Corps in Münster on Thursday alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten.
Rutte thanked Merz and Jetten for their “resolve” during the trip, describing the 1st German-Netherlands Corps as an example of European allies “stepping up and doing more,” NATO announced on Friday.
The corps is a “warfighting headquarters” where personnel from 16 NATO nations work side by side, and it can command an international force of 50,000 soldiers to defend Estonia and Latvia.
Later the same day, Rutte received the 2026 International Award of the Peace of Westphalia on NATO’s behalf from the Economic Society for Westphalia and Lippe.
Award speech in Münster
At the ceremony in Münster’s Historic Town Hall, Rutte said he was accepting the prize for “all the incredible people that make up the Alliance”, adding: “They are the ones — civilian and military — doing the hard work every day to keep our one billion people across Europe and North America safe.”
NATO’s mission for more than 75 years has been to prevent war, protect allied territory and populations, and preserve peace, Rutte declared.
He said NATO was “redoubling our efforts to build stronger defences. Faster and together.”
Referring to what he called a growing list of “malign hybrid attacks” across Europe and Russia’s war against Ukraine, he said: “Keep calm, carry on, and support Ukraine.”
