1.
Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands
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The Vice Minister-President of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in English as the Deputy Prime Minister, is the official Deputy of the Head of Government of the Netherlands. Conventionally, all of the partners in the coalition get one deputy. They are ranked according to the size of their respective parties, incumbent Lodewijk Asscher is the sixth Deputy Prime Minister of the Labour Party. Official Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands Government of the Netherlands
2.
Jan Peter Balkenende
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Jan Pieter Jan Peter Balkenende, Jr. is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal. He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 until 14 October 2010, Balkenende, a jurist by occupation, worked for the Academic Council and the Christian Democratic Appeal Think tank from 1982 until 1998. Balkenende became a professor of Christian theology at the VU University Amsterdam in 1993 and he was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives after the Dutch general election of 1998, serving from 19 May 1998 until 22 July 2002. The Christian Democratic Appeal became the winner of the election. The Cabinet Balkenende I collapsed on 16 October after just 87 days in office after internal conflicts within the Pim Fortuyn List that destabilized the government, on 7 July 2006 a rump cabinet Balkenende III was formed and stayed in office until the Dutch general election of 2006. Balkenende again as Lijsttrekker lost three seats but the Christian Democratic Appeal remained by far the largest party with 41 seats, the following cabinet formation resulted in a coalition agreement with the Christian Democratic Appeal, the Labour Party and the ChristianUnion that formed the Cabinet Balkenende IV. On 20 February 2010 the Labour Party retracted their support for the Cabinet Balkenende IV after a disagreement over the extension of the ISAF mission in Afghanistan, Balkenende remained Prime Minister of the Netherlands until the Cabinet Rutte I was installed on 14 October 2010. During his childhood, Balkenende was a supporter of the Dutch football team PSV Eindhoven. He also regularly visited the music school and theatre. Balkenende went to a Reformed Protestant primary school in Kapelle and he attended secondary school at the Christian Lyceum for Zeeland in Goes, graduating in 1974. Balkenende resides with his wife, Bianca Hoogendijk, and his daughter, Amelie, in Capelle aan den IJssel, during his tenure as Prime Minister, he did not use the Catshuis, the formal residency of the Prime Minister. He began his career on the staff of the institute of the CDA. In 1992 he received his PhD with a thesis on Governance regulation and social organisations, one year later in 1993, he became an extraordinary professor of Christian-Social Thought at the Free University of Amsterdam. Balkenende first entered the House of Representatives on 19 May 1998 while the CDA was in opposition and he became the CDAs financial spokesman and was also involved with social affairs, justice, and domestic affairs. In this role he advocated a reduction of the national debt. He was elected Chairman of the CDA parliamentary fraction on 1 October 2001, on 3 November 2001, he was appointed lijsttrekker for the CDA in the tumultuous May 2002 parliamentary elections. These elections restored the CDAs former position as the largest political party in the Dutch parliament, Balkenende has been prime minister of four successive cabinets. On 4 July 2002 Queen Beatrix asked Balkenende to form a new government after the elections following the resignation of Prime Minister Wim Kok
3.
Wim Kok
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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
4.
Netherlands
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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
5.
Dries van Agt
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Andreas Antonius Maria Dries van Agt is a retired Dutch politician and diplomat of the Christian Democratic Appeal. He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 19 December 1977 until 4 November 1982, Van Agt became a professor of criminal procedure at the Radboud University Nijmegen in 1968. In 1971 he was appointed as a judge at the court of Arnhem, after the Dutch general election of 1971 Van Agt was asked by the Catholic Peoples Party to become Minister of Justice in the Cabinet Biesheuvel I. Van Agt accepted and resigned as a professor and judge the day he took office as the new Minister of Justice on 6 July 1971. Van Agt remained Minister of Justice in the Cabinet Den Uyl following the Dutch general election of 1972, on 22 October 1976 Van Agt was selected as the first Leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal and became the Lijsttrekker for the Dutch general election of 1977. Following the election the Christian Democratic Appeal became the second largest party in the House of Representatives. With the following Dutch general election of 1981, Van Agt again as Lijsttrekker lost one seat and a formation with the Labour Party. On 29 May 1982 the Cabinet Van Agt II collapsed after the Labour Party retracted their support, a rump cabinet Van Agt III was formed with Van Agt also serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Cabinet Van Agt III stayed in office until the Dutch general election of 1982, Van Agt again as Lijsttrekker lost three seats and the Christian Democratic Appeal became the second largest party. Van Agt remained Prime Minister of the Netherlands until the Cabinet Lubbers I was installed on 4 November 1982, after his premiership, Van Agt remained in active politics and became the Queens Commissioner of North Brabant taking office on 1 June 1983. On 22 April 1987 Van Agt resigned as Queens Commissioner because of criticism on his cooperation with the States-Provincial, following the end of his active political career, Van Agt occupied numerous seats on supervisory boards on international non-governmental organizations. Van Agt served as a professor of international relations at the Ritsumeikan University, the United Nations University. Van Agt is known for his abilities as a negotiator and debater, during his premiership, his cabinets were responsible for reforming the public sector and civil service and the struggle with the recession in the 1980s. He holds the distinction of being the first Christian Democratic Appeal Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Van Agt also has been active as an anti-war and human rights activist and as an advocate in promoting the Two-state solution for the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Van Agt continues to comment on political affairs as a statesman, with the death of Piet de Jong in July 2016, he became the oldest living former Dutch Prime Minister. Andreas Antonius Maria van Agt was born on 2 February 1931 in Geldrop in the Netherlands Province of North Brabant in a Roman Catholic family. After receiving his diploma Gymnasium-A at the Augustinianum he studied at the Catholic University of Nijmegen, after graduating, he practiced law in Eindhoven until 1957, after which he worked in the office of legal and business affairs of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries until 1962. From 1962 to 1968, he worked for the Ministry of Justice, Van Agt entered politics as a member of the Catholic Peoples Party, which merged with the other two major Christian Democratic parties in 1980 to form the Christian Democratic Appeal
6.
Democrats 66
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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
7.
House of Representatives (Netherlands)
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The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of the Netherlands, the States General, the other one being the Senate. It has 150 seats which are filled through elections using a party-list proportional representation and it sits in the Binnenhof in The Hague. Although this body is called the House of Representatives in English, this is not a translation of its Dutch name. Rather than representatives, members of the House are referred to as Tweede Kamerlid, the House of Representatives is the main chamber of parliament, where discussion of proposed legislation and review of the actions of the cabinet takes place. Both the Cabinet and the House of Representatives itself have the right to propose legislation, review of the actions of the cabinet takes the form of formal interrogations, which may result in motions urging the cabinet to take, or refrain from, certain actions. No individual may be a member of parliament and cabinet, except in a caretaker cabinet that has not yet been succeeded when a new House is sworn in. The House of Representatives is also responsible for the first round of selection for judges to the Supreme Court of the Netherlands and it submits a list of three names for every vacant position to the Government. Furthermore, it elects the Dutch Ombudsman and his subsidiaries, the normal term of the House of Representatives is four years. Anybody eligible to vote in the Netherlands also has the right to establish a political party, parties wanting to take part must register 43 days before the elections, supplying a nationwide list of at most 50 candidates. The candidate lists are placed in the hands of the voters at least 14 days before the election, each candidate list is numbered, with the person in the first position known as the lijsttrekker. The lijsttrekker is usually appointed by the party to lead its election campaign, two or more parties can agree to combine their separate lists, which increases the chance of winning a remainder seat. Only large parties usually have some regional candidates at the bottom of their lists, a single vote can be placed on any one candidate. Many voters select one of the lijsttrekkers, but alternatively a preference vote may be made for a lower down the list. Once the election results are known, the seats are allocated to the parties, the number of valid national votes cast is divided by 150, the number of seats available, to give a threshold for each seat, 1/150th is approximately 0. 67% of the valid votes. Each partys number of votes is divided by this threshold to give a number of seats. Any party that received fewer votes than the threshold fails to gain representation in the House of Representatives, the threshold is one of the lowest for national parliaments in the world, and there are usually multiple parties winning seats with 2% or less of the vote. Any party that received more than 75% of the threshold will have its deposit refunded, after the initial seats are allocated, the remainder seats are allocated using the DHondt method of largest averages. This system slightly favours the larger parties, list combinations compete for the remainder seats as one list of the combined size of all parties in the combination, thus having more chance to gain remainder seats
8.
Joop den Uyl
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Johannes Marten den Uijl, known as Joop den Uyl was a Dutch politician of the Labour Party. He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 11 May 1973 until 19 December 1977, Den Uyl previously served as a Member of the House of Representatives from 6 November 1956 until 5 June 1963. He became Minister of Economic Affairs from 14 April 1965 until 22 November 1966 in the Cabinet Cals, Den Uyl became Prime Minister of the Netherlands, leading the Cabinet Den Uyl. He served as a Member of the House of Representatives for the last time from 16 September 1982 until his death on 24 December 1987 and he was seen as an idealistic, but also polarizing politician. Throughout history, Dutch political leaders have tended to soothing manners - Den Uyl was one of a few exceptions. People either loved him or hated him, followers of his idealistic policies called him Ome Joop. He was criticized for creating a deficit and polarizing Dutch politics. Associated with Den Uyl was the maakbare samenleving, another idea associated with Den Uyl was de verbeelding aan de macht. Johannes Marten den Uijl was born on 9 August 1919 in the town of Hilversum and he was born in a Calvinist reformed family. His father, Johannes den Uyl, was a shopkeeper and a basketweaver who died when Den Uyl was only 10, Den Uyl attended the Christian Lyceum in Hilversum from 1931 to 1936. Following this he studied economics at the University of Amsterdam, during this period in his life he left the church. In 1942 he attained the doctorandus degree, until 1945 he was a civil servant at the National Bureau for Prices of Chemical Products, part of the Ministry of Economic Affairs. During that period he was part of the newspaper group that published the clandestine Het Parool. After the Second World War he worked for Het Parool, Vrij Nederland, from January 1949 to 1963 he was head of the Wiardi Beckman Stichting, the think tank of the Partij van de Arbeid. In 1953, at the invitation of the American government, Den Uyl stayed for a few months in the United States, in 1953 Den Uyl was elected to the city council of Amsterdam and in 1956 he was elected to the House of Representatives. In 1963 he became administrator for economic affairs in Amsterdam. He resigned that post in 1965 to become minister of economic affairs in the Cals administration, as the responsible minister, he decided to close the uneconomic coal mines of Limburg, causing high local unemployment. Following the parliamentary elections of 1967, he became leader of the Labour Party in parliament, Den Uyls Labour Party won the 1973 elections in alliance with the progressive liberal Democrats 66 and radical Christian Political Party of Radicals, but failed to achieve a majority in parliament
9.
Zwolle
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Zwolle is the capital city and municipality of the province of Overijssel, Netherlands. It has a population around 125,000, archaeological findings indicate that the area surrounding Zwolle has been inhabited for a long time. A woodhenge that was found in the Zwolle-Zuid suburb in 1993 was dated to the Bronze Age period, during the Roman era, the area was inhabited by Salian Franks. The modern city was founded around 800 CE by Frisian merchants, the name Zwolle is derived from the word Suolle, which means hill. This refers to an incline in the landscape between the four rivers surrounding the city, IJssel, Vecht, Aa and Zwarte Water, the hill was the only piece of land that would remain dry during the frequent floodings of the rivers. Zwolle was established on that incline, a document mentions the existence of a parish church dedicated to St Michael. That church, the Grote or Sint Michaëlskerk, was renovated in the first half of the 15th century, the church contains a richly carved pulpit, the work of Adam Straes van Weilborch, some good carving and an exquisite organ. On August 31,1230, the bishop of Utrecht granted Zwolle city rights, Zwolle became a member of the Hanseatic league in 1294, and in 1361 joined the war between the Hanseatic League and Valdemar IV of Denmark. In the 1370 Treaty of Stralsund that ended the war, Zwolle was awarded a vitte, zwolles golden age came in the 15th century. Between 1402 and 1450, the citys Gross Regional Product multiplied by about six, in July 1324 and October 1361, regional noblemen set fire to Zwolle. In the 1324 fire, only nine buildings escaped the flames, Zwolle was also, with Deventer, one of the centers of the Brethren of the Common Life, a monastic movement. 5 km from Zwolle, on an eminence called the Agnietenberg, once stood the Augustinian convent in which Thomas à Kempis spent the greatest part of his life. At least as early as 1911, Zwolle had a trade by river, a large fish market. The more important industries comprised cotton manufactures, iron works, boat-building, dyeing and bleaching, tanning, rope-making, in World War II, Zwolle was single-handedly liberated from the Germans by Canadian soldier Léo Major. He was made a citizen of Zwolle in 2005 and a street is named for him. Citizens of Zwolle are colloquially known as Blauwvingers and this dates back to 1682, when the St Michaels church tower collapsed. The authorities were strapped for cash and saw no option but to sell the church bells to neighbouring city Kampen, to make sure that Kampen would not make too much profit from the deal, the local authorities asked a high price for the church bells. Kampen accepted, yet after the arrival of the bells it became clear, in revenge, Kampen paid in copper coins of four duiten
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