Hans Dijkstal

Hans Dijkstal
Hans Dijkstal
	Hans Dijkstal in 1985
Parliamentary leader in the ; House of Representatives
	In office; 30 July 1998 – 23 May 2002
Preceded by	Frits Bolkestein
Succeeded by	Gerrit Zalm
Leader of the ; People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
	In office; 30 July 1998 – 16 May 2002
Preceded by	Frits Bolkestein
Succeeded by	Gerrit Zalm
Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands
	In office; 22 August 1994 – 3 August 1998 Serving with Hans van Mierlo
Prime Minister	Wim Kok
Preceded by	Wim Kok
Succeeded by	Els Borst ; Annemarie Jorritsma
Minister of the Interior
	In office; 22 August 1994 – 3 August 1998
Prime Minister	Wim Kok
Preceded by	Dieuwke de Graaff-Nauta
Succeeded by	Bram Peper ; as Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations
Member of the House of Representatives
	In office; 19 May 1998 – 1 September 2002
	In office; 30 July 1986 – 22 August 1994
	In office; 11 November 1982 – 3 June 1986
Personal details
Born	Henri Frans Dijkstal; 28 February 1943; Port Said, Egypt
Died	9 May 2010 (aged 67); Wassenaar, Netherlands
Cause of death	Bone cancer
Political party	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ; (from 1966)
Spouse	Anneke Dijkstal (m. 1966)
Children	2 daughters and 1 son
Alma mater	University of Amsterdam ; (Bachelor of Law)
Occupation	Politician · Financial adviser · Management consultant · Corporate director · Nonprofit director · Teacher · Critic · Political pundit · Lobbyist · Activist
Military service
Allegiance	Netherlands
Branch/service	Royal Netherlands Air Force
Years of service	1965–1967 (Conscription) ; 1967–1973 (Reserve)
Rank	Lieutenant
Unit	Air Operations Control ; Station Nieuw-Milligen
Battles/wars	Cold War

Henri Frans "Hans" Dijkstal (28 February 1943 – 9 May 2010) was a Dutch politician and financial adviser,^[1] who served as leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD)

Early life, education, military service and early career

Dijkstal was born in Port Said, Egypt, where his father and grandfather worked in shipping. He was able to speak fluent Arabic before moving to the Netherlands at age five. Dijkstal applied at the University of Amsterdam in March 1961 majoring in Law and obtaining an Bachelor of Laws degree in June 1964. Dijkstal was conscripted in the Royal Netherlands Air Force serving as a Lieutenant and was stationed at the Air Operations Control Station Nieuw-Milligen as an air traffic controller from April 1965 until May 1967. Dijkstal worked as a financial adviser, management consultant and civics teacher in Wassenaar from August 1967 until November 1982. Dijkstal served on the Municipal Council of Wassenaar from May 1974 until April 1986 and served as an alderman in Wassenaar from March 1978 until July 1983.

National politics

Dijkstal became a member of the House of Representatives after Wim van Eekelen was appointed as State Secretary for Foreign Affairs in the Lubbers I cabinet after the election of 1982, serving from 11 November 1982 until 3 June 1986. Dijkstal returned to the House of Representatives after Ed Nijpels was appointed as Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment in the Lubbers II cabinet after the election of 1986, taking office on 30 July 1986 serving as a frontbencher chairing the parliamentary committee for Petitions and the Citizen Initiatives and spokesperson for minorities and welfare. After the election of 1994 Dijkstal was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands and Minister of the Interior in the Kok I cabinet, taking office on 22 August 1994. After the election of 1998 Dijkstal returned to the House of Representatives, taking office on 19 May 1998.

Following the cabinet formation of 1998 Dijkstal per his own request asked not to be considered for a cabinet post in the new cabinet, he was seen by the party's leadership as the "favorite son" to succeed Frits Bolkenstein as Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy. In July 1998, Bolkestein announced he was stepping down, and the party leadership approached Dijkstal to succeed him. Dijkstal accepted and became the Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives on 30 July 1998.

For the election of 2002 Dijkstal served as lead candidate. Dijkstal and Labour Leader Ad Melkert were the front runners to become the next Prime Minister, but the unexpected arrival of Pim Fortuyn of Livable Netherlands (LN) and later the Pim Fortuyn List (LPF), turned the polls. Fortuyn blamed the problems in the country on the Purple cabinets (in which both Dijkstal and Melkert served as ministers). Fortuyn depicted Dijkstal and Melkert as two bureaucrats who did not understand the feelings and problems among the population. After a heated campaign a mere days before the election, Fortuyn was assassinated in Hilversum. The VVD suffered a big loss, losing 14 seats and now had 24 seats in the House of Representatives. Dijkstal accepted responsibility for the defeat, and announced his resignation as leader on 16 May 2002. He continued to serve in the House of Representatives as a backbencher until his resignation on 1 September 2002.

When his former party started taking a heavy stance on allochtonen (immigrants and their children) he teamed up with former politicians from a wide range of other parties in protest, to strive for a more tolerant society, under the name Een Land Een Samenleving ("One Country One Society").^[2]^[3]

Post-politics

Dijkstal retired from national politics and became active in the private and public sectors and occupied numerous seats as a corporate director and nonprofit director on several boards of directors and supervisory boards (Institute for Multiparty Democracy, International Institute of Social History, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Public Pension Funds APB and the Anne Frank Foundation) and served on several state commissions and councils on behalf of the government (Council for Public Administration, Kadaster and the Netherlands Film Fund) and as an advocate, lobbyist and activist for social justice and democracy.

Personal life

On 29 July 1966 he married Anneke Dijkstal and became the father of two daughters.^[4]

He was a fan and admirer of Star Trek.^[5]

Death

Dijkstal continued to comment on political affairs until his death from bone cancer at the age of 67.^[6]

Decorations

Honours
Ribbon bar	Honour	Country	Date	Comment
	Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau	Netherlands	30 October 1998

References

^ (in Dutch) VVD'er Hans Dijkstal (67) overleden, NOS, 10 May 2010
^ (in Dutch) VVD trekt ten strijde tegen Fortuyn, Volkskrant, 18 March 2002
^ (in Dutch) Het vrolijke, beminnelijke oliemannetje van Paars Archived 2012-04-02 at the Wayback Machine, NRC Handelsblad, 11 May 2002
^ (in Dutch) Hans Dijkstal^{[permanent dead link]}, Nova TV, 25 March 2004
^ (in Dutch) Gesprek over de nieuwe Startrek-film Archived 2013-10-29 at the Wayback Machine, NOS, 4 May 2009
^ (in Dutch) Hans Dijkstal (67) overleden, Volkskrant, 10 May 2010

External links

(in Dutch) H.F. (Hans) Dijkstal Parlement & Politiek

Party political offices
Preceded by Frits Bolkestein	Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy 1998–2002	Succeeded by Gerrit Zalm
Preceded by Frits Bolkestein	Parliamentary leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy in the House of Representatives 1998–2002	Succeeded by Gerrit Zalm
Preceded by Frits Bolkestein 1998	Lead candidate of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy 2002	Succeeded by Gerrit Zalm 2003
Political offices
Preceded by Wim Kok	Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands 1994–1998 Served alongside: Hans van Mierlo	Succeeded by Annemarie Jorritsma Els Borst
Preceded by Dieuwke de Graaff-Nauta	Minister of the Interior 1994–1998	Succeeded by Bram Peper as Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations
Non-profit organization positions
Preceded by Unknown	Chairman of the Netherlands Film Fund 2003–2007	Succeeded by Unknown
Preceded by Unknown	Chairman of the Naturalis Biodiversity Center 2004–2010	Succeeded by Elco Brinkman

[1] (in Dutch) VVD'er Hans Dijkstal (67) overleden, NOS, 10 May 2010

[2] (in Dutch) VVD trekt ten strijde tegen Fortuyn, Volkskrant, 18 March 2002

[3] (in Dutch) Het vrolijke, beminnelijke oliemannetje van Paars Archived 2012-04-02 at the Wayback Machine, NRC Handelsblad, 11 May 2002

[4] (in Dutch) Hans Dijkstal^{[permanent dead link]}, Nova TV, 25 March 2004

[5] (in Dutch) Gesprek over de nieuwe Startrek-film Archived 2013-10-29 at the Wayback Machine, NOS, 4 May 2009

[6] (in Dutch) Hans Dijkstal (67) overleden, Volkskrant, 10 May 2010

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

v t e First Kok cabinet (1994–1998)
Preceded by: Third Lubbers cabinet Succeeded by: Second Kok cabinet
Prime Minister	Wim Kok (General Affairs)
Deputy Prime Ministers	Hans Dijkstal (Interior) Hans van Mierlo (Foreign Affairs)
Ministers	Gerrit Zalm (Finance) (1994–1996) Hans Wijers (Finance) (Ad interim) Gerrit Zalm (Finance) (1996–1998) Winnie Sorgdrager (Justice) Hans Wijers (Economic Affairs) Joris Voorhoeve (Defence) Els Borst (Health, Welfare and Sport) Ad Melkert (Social Affairs and Employment) Jo Ritzen (Education, Culture and Science) Annemarie Jorritsma (Transport and Water Management) Jozias van Aartsen (Agriculture, Nature and Fisheries) Margreeth de Boer (Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment)
Minister without portfolios	Joris Voorhoeve (Netherlands Antilles and Aruba Affairs) Jan Pronk (Development Cooperation)
State Secretaries	Tonny van de Vondervoort (Interior) Jacob Kohnstamm (Interior) Michiel Patijn (Foreign Affairs) Willem Vermeend (Finance) Elizabeth Schmitz (Justice) Anneke van Dok-van Weele (Economic Affairs) Jan Gmelich Meijling (Defence) Erica Terpstra (Health, Welfare and Sport) Robin Linschoten (Social Affairs and Employment) (1994–1996) Frank de Grave (Social Affairs and Employment) (from 1996) Tineke Netelenbos (Education, Culture and Science) Aad Nuis (Education, Culture and Science) Monique de Vries (Transport and Water Management) Dick Tommel (Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment)