1.
Wim Kok
–
Willem Wim Kok is a retired Dutch trade union leader and politician of the Labour Party. He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 August 1994 until 22 July 2002, Willem Kok was born on 29 September 1938, in Bergambacht in the Netherlands Province of South Holland, the son of Willem Kok a carpenter and Neeltje de Jager. He has one younger brother born in 1945, in 1982, the NVV merged with Nederlands Katholiek Vakverbond, the Catholic trade union, to form the Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging, of which he served as chair until 1986. Then he left the union to enter politics, Kok was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives on 3 June 1986, after the Dutch general election of 1986. For the Dutch general election of 1994, Kok again as top candidate lost twelve seats and it was considered groundbreaking in Dutch politics this was the first Cabinet of the Netherlands since 1908 without a Christian democratic party. The main aim of the Cabinet Kok I was to create employment, the Dutch economy had been in a deep recession for years. The market was allowed more influence in the economy and this let to a policy of tax reduction, economizing, and trying to keep people out of the social care by supporting employment, large infrastructural projects were set in motion. Another aim was to make an end to the debt of the Dutch government. The Treaty of Amsterdam was signed during this cabinet, the Srebrenica massacre occurred under the responsibility of this government, which eventually would lead to the fall of the second Kok cabinet. Until today, this was the last Dutch cabinet in recent history to serve a full term, the second cabinet was the successor of the first cabinet was formed from the same coalition of PvdA, VVD and D66. It was also known as the second purple cabinet called such because it contained both the social-democratic PvdA and the liberal VVD. The aim of the cabinet was to continue the policy of cabinet Kok I, which was concerned with economizing, tax reduction, Wim Kok was the prime minister, Annemarie Jorritsma as the deputy prime minister for the VVD, and Els Borst for D66. The cabinet had both left-wing and right-wing political parties as a part of it, there was no strong opposition in the House of Representatives. This did not mean that Kok did not face any problems, in May 1999, D66 stepped out of the coalition when proposed legislation on referenda, entered by this party, was blocked, through negotiations the crisis was solved and the cabinet stayed together. Moreover, allegations of abuse were made against Minister of the Interior. On 13 March 2000 Peper resigned as minister, according to himself to no longer bring problems to the public government, on the other hand, during Koks second term is known for legalizing same-sex marriage and euthanasia. On 15 December 2001 Kok announced he would retire from politics after the elections of May 2002. He stood down as Leader of the Labour Party that same day, unfortunately, Melkert did not appeal to the voter
2.
Koos Andriessen
–
Jacobus Eye Andriessen is a former Dutch politician. Koos Andriessen joined the Social Economic Council in 1959, giving up that position when he was appointed Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs in 1963 and he held this position until 1965, when he became a board of the Van Leer Group of Companies. He rose to chair, before leaving in 1987 to become chair of the Dutch Christian Employers Association. Then in 1989 he returned to the role of Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs, koos has played an important role on the Supervisory Boards of such companies as Ballast Nedam, Elsevier, Randstad, ING Group, Hunter Douglas and Novograaf
3.
Annemarie Jorritsma
–
Annemarie Jorritsma-Lebbink is a Dutch politician of the Peoples Party for Freedom and Democracy. She was Mayor of Almere from 16 August 2003 till August 2015, since 9 June 2015, she has been a member of the Senate. Since 24 November 2015, she has also been Senate group leader, order of Orange-Nassau Officer Parlement. com biography
4.
Ministry of Finance (Netherlands)
–
The Ministry of Finance is the Dutch Ministry responsible for Finance, Taxation, Financial economic policy and supervision of the Financial markets. The Ministry was created in 1798 as the Department of Finance, the Ministry is headed by the Minister of Finance, currently Jeroen Dijsselbloem. The ministry was founded in 1798, in the early history of the ministry, the Prime Minister often served as Minister of Finance. Pieter Philip van Bosse served as Minister of Finance five times, since 1965 a State Secretary has been appointed each formation with responsibility for taxation. The most recent Prime Minister to serve as his own Minister of Finance was Jelle Zijlstra, the ministry has the duty to guard the treasury and aim for a financially sound and prosperous state of the Netherlands. It is responsible for the income and expenditure of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and it collects the taxes and develops fiscal legislation. It seeks to expend the budget of the government responsibly, efficiently and effectively and it is also responsible for financial-economic policy. It supervises the financial markets, banks and financial transfers, the ministry is currently headed by one minister and one State Secretary. The ministrys main office is located in the centre of The Hague at the Korte Voorhout and it employs almost 1,500 civil servants
5.
Gerrit Zalm
–
Gerrit Zalm is a Dutch banker and former politician of the Peoples Party for Freedom and Democracy. He served as Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister from 27 May 2003 until 22 February 2007 in the Cabinets Balkenende II and III and he served earlier as Minister of Finance in the Cabinets Kok I and II from 22 August 1994 until 22 July 2002. He served in this position for a year before becoming Minister of Finance. He was the longest serving Minister of Finance in the History of the Netherlands and has been responsible for reforms of the Economy of the Netherlands. Zalm retired from politics after the completion of the term of the Cabinet Balkenende III and he served as chief economist, then CFO, of DSB Bank in 2007–2008, and transferred to the newly nationalized ABN AMRO to become its CEO in February 2009. Following his graduation from school in Enkhuizen, Zalm began a study in economics at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. In the same year he joined the Ministry of Finance, from 1983 he worked for the Ministry of Economic Affairs, where he eventually became a director. In 1988 he was appointed deputy director of the Centraal Planbureau, in 1989 he became director of this institute. In that capacity Zalm had, although not formally a politician, from 1990 he also gave lectures at the Vrije Universiteit. Between 22 August 1994 and 22 July 2002, Zalm, member of the liberal party Peoples Party for Freedom and Democracy, was Minister of Finance in the first. On 27 May 2003 he started his term as Minister of Finance, in the second Balkenende administration. On 30 June 2006, he succeeded Laurens Jan Brinkhorst as Minister of Economic Affairs, ad interim, on 7 July 2006 Joop Wijn was appointed as the new Minister of Economic Affairs. On 26 November 2006, Zalm announced in the Sunday morning talk show Buitenhof that he would step down from politics and would probably seek employment in the private sector. He initially held the position of chief economist, but quickly became CFO of the bank after the Dutch central bank DNB had threatened to curtail DSBs financial autonomy. This new position came under scrutiny after Zalms previous employer DSB went bankrupt in 2009, Zalm is a fan of Pinball and during his second term as Minister of Finance he had a pinball machine in his department. He is a member of the Dutch Pinball Association. In 2004 he had a Cameo appearance in the movie Cool of Theo van Gogh, Netherlands Order of Oranje-Nassau Officer Commander Dr. G. Zalm
6.
Oostburg
–
Oostburg is a town in the south-western Netherlands. It is the largest town in the municipality of Sluis, in the province of Zeeland, as of 1 January 2015, its population is 4731, down from 5008 in January 2005. It received city rights in 1237, before 1 January 2003, Oostburg was also the name of a municipality. It merged with Sluis-Aardenburg to form the new municipality of Sluis, the municipality covered an area of 224.93 km², of which 1.05 km² was water. Every Wednesday is market day all year round but in the summer the town is a busy place with lots of fun events happening. Oostburgs symbol is the unicorn, from which the townsfolk are said to derive strength, the sculpture has been repositioned at least once since it first appeared during the period postwar reconstruction in 1952, and at one stage adorned a small car park. Currently it shares with a fountain a spot in Eenhoornplantsoen beyond the northern end of the old market square in the town centre. During world war 2 approximately 140 Oostburg townsfolk died and most of all the buildings, shops and this monument is a tribute to them and the rebuilding of the town. Around the lower part of the monument are the names of all the people that perished
7.
Netherlands
–
The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously
8.
Democrats 66
–
Democrats 66 is a social-liberal and progressive political party in the Netherlands. D66 was formed in 1966 by a group of politically unaligned young intellectuals, the partys main objective was to democratise the political system, it proposed to create an American-style presidential system. In the 1967 general election, the party won 7 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives, the electoral history of the party is characterised by large fluctuations. At one point they had 24 seats, currently they have 19, the party was in government from 1973 to 1977,1981 to 1982,1994 to 2002 and 2003 to 2006. Over time the party began to other issues in addition to democratic reform. In addition to its nineteen seats in the House of Representatives, it holds ten in the Senate, the party leader and Parliamentary leader is Alexander Pechtold. The party has a number of elected local and provincial politicians and supplies a relatively large proportion of mayors. The partys voters are concentrated in cities, especially among people who hold a university degree. The organisation of D66 is based on principles of direct democracy, important decisions are made per referendum. D66 is a member of the Liberal International and the Alliance of Liberals, Democrats 66 was founded on 14 October 1966 by 44 people. Its founders were described as homines novi, although 25 of the 44 had previously been members of a political party, the initiators were Hans van Mierlo, a journalist for the Algemeen Handelsblad and Hans Gruijters, a municipal councillor in Amsterdam. Van Mierlo became the political leader and Gruijters the partys chair. The foundation of the party was preceded by the Appeal 1966 on October 10, the party renounced the 19th-century political ideologies, which dominated the political system and wanted to end pillarisation. It called for democratisation of the Dutch society and its political system. The party entered in the 1967 general election with Hans van Mierlo as their top candidate, the party won an unprecedented seven seats in parliament. In the 1971 general election the party won an additional four seats and it formed a Shadow Cabinet with the Labour Party, in the 1972 general election, the three parties formed a political alliance called the Progressive Accord and presented a common electoral program. In the elections D66 lost nearly half its seats, leaving only six, the alliance became the largest political force in the country, but it did not gain a majority. After long cabinet formation talks the three PAK-parties formed an extra-parliamentary cabinet joined by members of the Protestant Anti Revolutionary Party
9.
Alma mater
–
Alma mater is an allegorical Latin phrase for a university or college. In modern usage, it is a school or university which an individual has attended, the phrase is variously translated as nourishing mother, nursing mother, or fostering mother, suggesting that a school provides intellectual nourishment to its students. Before its modern usage, Alma mater was a title in Latin for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele. The source of its current use is the motto, Alma Mater Studiorum, of the oldest university in continuous operation in the Western world and it is related to the term alumnus, denoting a university graduate, which literally means a nursling or one who is nourished. The phrase can also denote a song or hymn associated with a school, although alma was a common epithet for Ceres, Cybele, Venus, and other mother goddesses, it was not frequently used in conjunction with mater in classical Latin. Alma Redemptoris Mater is a well-known 11th century antiphon devoted to Mary, the earliest documented English use of the term to refer to a university is in 1600, when University of Cambridge printer John Legate began using an emblem for the universitys press. In English etymological reference works, the first university-related usage is often cited in 1710, many historic European universities have adopted Alma Mater as part of the Latin translation of their official name. The University of Bologna Latin name, Alma Mater Studiorum, refers to its status as the oldest continuously operating university in the world. At least one, the Alma Mater Europaea in Salzburg, Austria, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, has been called the Alma Mater of the Nation because of its ties to the founding of the United States. At Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, the ancient Roman world had many statues of the Alma Mater, some still extant. Modern sculptures are found in prominent locations on several American university campuses, outside the United States, there is an Alma Mater sculpture on the steps of the monumental entrance to the Universidad de La Habana, in Havana, Cuba. Media related to Alma mater at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of alma mater at Wiktionary Alma Mater Europaea website
