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.
Gerrit Zalm
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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
3.
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
4.
Thom de Graaf
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Thomas Carolus de Graaf is a Dutch jurist and politician. He is a member of social liberal party Democrats 66, since 7 June 2011 he has been a member of the Senate, and since 1 February 2012 he is President of the Netherlands Association of Universities of Applied Sciences. Previously he was Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Minister for Government Reform and Kingdom Relations, De Graaf was born in Amsterdam and studied law at the Catholic University Nijmegen where he obtained his LL. M. in 1981. He was a member of the House of Representatives in the period 1994-2003, De Graaf served in the second Balkenende cabinet as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Government Reform and Kingdom Relations from 23 May 2003 until 23 March 2005. The proposal was especially important as it had become a symbol of the government reform that D66 had wanted since its creation, alexander Pechtold took his place in the cabinet. From 8 January 2007 until 1 February 2012, De Graaf was mayor of Nijmegen, De Graafs father, Theo de Graaf, was a KVP member of parliament and from 1968 until 1977 mayor of Nijmegen. Since 1 February 2012 Thom de Graaf is President of the HBO-raad
5.
Hans Hoogervorst
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Hans Hoogervorst is a Dutch political and business figure. He is chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board, Hoogervorst was the Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport of the Netherlands between May 2003 and February 2007. His previous positions in the Dutch government include Minister of Finance and State Secretary of Social Affairs, after completing his secondary education, he studied history at the University of Amsterdam, graduating in 1981. He then went on to obtain a Master of Arts degree in international relations from Johns Hopkins University SAIS in Washington, D. C. in 1983. From 1988 to 1994 he was an assistant on finance to the Peoples Party for Freedom and Democracy parliamentary party in the House of Representatives. From 3 August 1998 Hoogervorst was State Secretary for Social Affairs, on 22 July 2002 he was appointed Minister of Finance in the first Balkenende government. From 16 October 2002 he was responsible for the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. On 27 May 2003 he was appointed Minister of Health, Welfare, in this position, Hoogervorst introduced a basic health insurance policy, mandatory for all registered inhabitants, but executed by private insurers. In 2007 Hoogervorst succeeded Arthur Docters van Leeuwen as director of AFM, on 1 July 2011 he became chairman of the IASB upon the retirement of Sir David Tweedie. Hoogervorst is faced many challenges as the new IASB chairman. For instance, countries such as the U. S. and Japan have not yet adopted IFRS
6.
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
7.
Haijo Apotheker
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Harm Haijo Apotheker is a Dutch politician for the Democraten 66 party. He was mayor of several Dutch townships, including Leeuwarden, from 1998 to 1999 Apotheker was Minister of Agriculture in the Second Kok cabinet, but he couldnt find his way in the national political arena. He resigned in 1999 and returned to his position as mayor in various townships. Apotheker became acting mayor of Sneek in 2010, which went up in the new township of Súdwest-Fryslân in 2011, as mayor of that township, he blindly signed a forged multimillion-euro contract for a residential construction project in Sneek. This caused the township to pay 7 million euro more than expected
8.
Cees Veerman
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Cornelis Pieter Veerman is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal. He served as Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality from 22 July 2002 until 22 February 2007, Veerman attended Erasmus University in Rotterdam, then went on to attain a doctorate degree of economic science at Wageningen University in 1983. After attaining his degree, Veerman taught economics at a secondary school, in 1989 he taught agricultural business economics and sociology at Tilburg University. A year later, Veerman became a professor of agribusiness at his alma-mater, Erasmus University, then in 1997, Veerman served as the Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality for the Netherlands in the third and fourth cabinet Balkenende. He was also President of the EU Council of Agriculture Ministers and he is very influential in international environmental affairs. He was succeeded by Gerda Verburg on 22 February 2007, Veerman has sat as a member on various supervisory boards throughout his career. Parlement. com biography Biography on the Ministry of General Affairs
9.
Member of the European Parliament
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A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament was first established, MEPs were directly appointed by the governments of states from among those already sitting in their own national parliaments. Since 1979, however, MEPs have been elected by universal suffrage. Each member state establishes its own method for electing MEPs – and in some states this has changed over time –, in some member states the MEPs are elected to represent a single national constituency, in others they are elected from sub-national regions. For a list of current MEPs, see Members of the European Parliament 2014–2019, from 1 January 2007, when Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU, there were 785 MEPs, but their number was reduced to 736 at the elections in 2009. With effect from the elections held in May 2014 the number has risen again and now stands at 751, with member state having at least six. Elections are held every five years, on the basis of universal adult suffrage. The electoral area may be subdivided if this will not generally affect the nature of the voting system. Any election threshold on the level must not exceed five percent. As the number of MEPs granted to each state has arisen from treaty negotiations. No change in this configuration can occur without the consent of all national governments. The most recent elections to the European Parliament were the European elections of 2014 and they were the largest simultaneous transnational elections ever held anywhere in the world, since nearly 500 million citizens were eligible to vote. The European Parliament has a turnover of members compared to some national parliaments. For instance, after the 2004 elections, the majority of elected members had not been members in the parliamentary session. Only one has served continuously since the first elections in 1979, MEPs are organised into seven different cross-nationality political groups, except the 15 non-attached members known as non-inscrits. The two largest groups are the European Peoples Party and the Socialists & Democrats and these two groups have dominated the Parliament for much of its life, continuously holding between 50 and 70 percent of the seats together. No single group has held a majority in Parliament. Although, the European groups, between 2004 and 2009, were more cohesive than their US counterparts
10.
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
11.
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
12.
Jan Terlouw
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Jan Cornelis Terlouw is a retired Dutch politician of the Democrats 66 party. Terlouw a physicist by occupation, worked as a physics researcher for the research institute Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter from 1958 until 1971. Terlouw also worked as a researcher for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1960 until 1962, Terlouw was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives after the Dutch general election of 1971 serving from 11 May 1971 until 11 September 1981. Terlouw was elected to succeed him and became Leader of the Democrats 66, for the Dutch general election of 1977 Terlouw became the Lijsttrekker, with the Democrats 66 winning two seats. Terlouw was born in Kamperveen, Overijssel and grew up in the Veluwe and he was the eldest son a family of five, having two younger brothers and two sisters. After high school, Terlouw studied at Utrecht University, where he obtained an MSc degree in mathematics and physics, after graduating from Utrecht University, he worked as a physics researcher in the Netherlands, the United States, and Sweden. After working for thirteen years, he became a politician, joining the Dutch House of Representatives as a member of the Democraten 66 political party in 1967. Terlouw acted as party leader from 1973–1982, was minister of Economic Affairs from 1981-1982, and was Queens Commissioner of Gelderland from 1991-1996 and he joined the Dutch Senate in 1999. Terlouw is married to Alexandra van Hulst, Terlouw is a father of four and grandfather of ten. Terlouw wrote 24 childrens books, most notably Winter in Wartime and How to Become King, J. C. Terlouw Parlement & Politiek Dr. J. C. Terlouw Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal
13.
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
14.
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
15.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Netherlands)
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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is a Dutch Ministry responsible for foreign relations and international development. Although the Dutch Republic already engaged in diplomatic activity, the present Ministry was created in 1798 as the Department of Foreign Affairs of the then Batavian Republic. It was renamed in 1876 to become the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the head of the Dutch Foreign Ministry is the Minister of Foreign Affairs, currently Bert Koenders. To help developing countries accelerate their social and economic development through international cooperation, to promote the interests of Dutch nationals and the Netherlands abroad. To collect information on other countries and international developments for the Government, to provide information on Dutch policy and the Netherlands position on international issues and developments. To present the Netherlands to the world, to deal with applications from and the problems of foreigners living in the Netherlands or seeking to enter or leave the country. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Development Cooperation, currently Lilianne Ploumen, the ministry consists of four directorates-general, which deal with a particular policy area, The Directorate-General for Political Affairs is concerned with peace, security and human rights. This includes the EUs Common Foreign and Security Policy, the role of NATO. The Directorate-General for European Cooperation concerns itself with the European Union and it is responsible for Dutch relations with EU members and candidate countries. The Directorate-General for Foreign Economic Relations promotes the interests of Dutch businesses abroad, the Netherlands has about 140 diplomatic missions abroad, see list of diplomatic missions of the Netherlands. The Ministry was formed in 1798 as the Department of Foreign Affairs, since 1965 a special Minister for International Development has been appointed in each government with the exception of the First Balkenende cabinet and the First Rutte cabinet). See List of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands
16.
Pieter Kooijmans
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Pieter Hendrik Peter Kooijmans was a Dutch jurist, politician and diplomat. He was a member of the Anti Revolutionary Party and later a member of its successor party the Christian Democratic Appeal and he was State Secretary and later Minister of Foreign Affairs. In between these periods of office he worked for the UN as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and he served as a Judge on the International Court of Justice. Pieter Hendrik Kooijmans was born on 6 July 1933 in Heemstede in the Netherlands and his father was Johannes Kooijmans, an engineer and a member of the city council of Heemstede, and his mother was Alida Jonker. Kooijmans went to the secondary school Eerste Christelijk Lyceum in Haarlem, in 1951, he started his studies economics and Dutch law at the Free University in Amsterdam. He received his degree in economics in 1955 and his masters degree in law cum laude in 1957. Following graduation, he joined the Universitys faculty as Professor of Public International Law and European Law and he joined the Dutch Foreign Ministry, as State Secretary for Foreign Affairs from 1973 to 1977. In 1976 and again in 1991, he served as a Lecturer at the Hague Academy of International Law, from 1978 to 1992, he served as a Professor of Public International Law at the University of Leiden. From 1993 to 1994, he served as Foreign Minister of the Netherlands, in 1995, he returned to his former position as Professor of Public International Law at the University of Leiden, serving until his appointment to the International Court of Justice. On 13 July 2007, Kooijmans was appointed as Minister of State by the Cabinet of the Netherlands, on 5 February 2014, Kooijmans alma mater, the Vrije Universiteit started the Kooijmans institute
17.
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
18.
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
19.
Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands
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Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands is the wife of Prince Constantijn and sister-in-law of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima. Petra Laurentien Brinkhorst was born in Leiden on 25 May 1966 and she is known by her middle name, Laurentien, a portmanteau of her parents given names. Princess Laurentien started primary school in Groningen and her family then moved to The Hague, where she completed her primary education. She spent four years at the Christelijk Gymnasium Sorghvliet, and a year at the Eerste Vrijzinnige Christelijk Lyceum, in 1984, she passed the Baccalauréat A examinations at the Lycée français in Tokyo. Her father was working in Japan at the time, being the Permanent Envoy of the European Union, Princess Laurentien studied History at the University of Groningen, where she received her propaedeuse in 1986. The engagement of Prince Constantijn and Laurentien Brinkhorst was announced on 16 December 2000, the civil marriage was conducted by Wim Deetman, the mayor of the Hague, in the Oude Raadzaal, Javastraat, the Hague, on 17 May 2001. The church wedding took place two days later on 19 May in the Grote of St Jacobskerk, with Reverend Carel ter Linden officiating, Princess Laurentien wore a wedding gown designed by Edouard Vermeulen. Her husbands 1st cousin 1x removed, Princess Laurentien is also the godmother of Leah Isadora Behn, the daughter of Princess Märtha Louise of Norway and Paola Cecilia Laurentien, daughter of Princess Margarita of Bourbon-Parma. Prince Constantijn, Princess Laurentien, and their children moved from Brussels to The Hague. Laurentiens full title and style is, Her Royal Highness Princess Petra Laurentien of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, Laurentien was not legally created a princess, but custom allows a wife to use her husband’s titles. All children of the hold the titles Count or Countess of Orange-Nassau. By Royal Decree of 15 January 2003, nr,36, Princess Laurentien was granted her own personal standard. In 2010 she was co-recipient of the Major Bosshardt Prize for her work in combating illiteracy, official duties, Spokesperson for Scouts for Climate for the World Organization of the Scout Movements initiative up to COP15 in Copenhagen. Vice-President of Fauna & Flora International, chair of the European Cultural Foundation
20.
Leiden
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Leiden is a city and municipality in the Dutch province of South Holland. Leiden is located on the Oude Rijn, at a distance of some 20 kilometres from The Hague to its south, the recreational area of the Kaag Lakes lies just to the northeast of Leiden. A university city since 1575, Leiden houses Leiden University, the oldest university of the Netherlands, Leiden is a city with a rich cultural heritage, not only in science, but also in the arts. One of the worlds most famous painters, Rembrandt, was born, other famous Leiden painters include Lucas van Leyden, Jan van Goyen and Jan van Steen. The city has one of Europes most prominent scientific centres for more than four centuries. Modern scientific medical research and teaching started in the early 18th century in Leiden with Boerhaave, many important scientific discoveries have been made here, giving rise to Leiden’s motto, ‘City of Discoveries’. It is twinned with Oxford, the location of the United Kingdoms oldest university, Leiden University and Leiden University of Applied Sciences together have around 35,000 students. Leiden is a university city, university buildings are scattered throughout the city. Leiden was formed on a hill at the confluence of the rivers Oude. In the oldest reference to this, from circa 860, the settlement was called Leithon, the name is said to be from Germanic *leitha- canal. Leiden has in the past erroneously been associated with the Roman outpost Lugdunum Batavorum and this particular castellum was thought to be located at the Burcht of Leiden, and the citys name was thought to be derived of the Latin name Lugdunum. However the castellum was in closer to the town of Katwijk. The landlord of Leiden, situated in a stronghold on the hill, was subject to the Bishop of Utrecht. This county got its name in 1101 from a domain near the stronghold, Leiden was sacked in 1047 by Emperor Henry III. Early 13th century, Ada, Countess of Holland took refuge here when she was fighting in a war against her uncle, William I. He besieged the stronghold and captured Ada, Leiden received city rights in 1266. In 1389, its population had grown to about 4,000 persons, burgrave Filips of Wassenaar and the other local noblemen of the Hook faction assumed that the duke would besiege Leiden first and send small units out to conquer the surrounding citadels. But John of Bavaria chose to attack the citadels first and he rolled the cannons with his army but one which was too heavy went by ship
21.
Alma mater
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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
22.
Leiden University
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Leiden University, located in the city of Leiden, is the oldest university in the Netherlands. The university was founded in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, the Dutch Royal Family and Leiden University still have a close relationship, Queens Juliana and Beatrix and King Willem-Alexander are all former students. Leiden University has seven faculties, over 50 departments and enjoys an international reputation. Shanghai Jiao Tong Universitys 2011 Academic Ranking of World Universities ranked Leiden University as the 29th best university worldwide, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings consistently rank Leiden University as the best university in Continental Europe for Arts and Humanities. During this time Leiden was home to figures as René Descartes, Rembrandt, Christiaan Huygens, Hugo Grotius, Baruch Spinoza. The university is a member of the Coimbra Group, the Europaeum, Leiden University houses more than 40 national and international research institutes. In 1575, the emerging Dutch Republic did not have any universities in its northern heartland, the only other university in the Habsburg Netherlands was the University of Leuven in southern Leuven, firmly under Spanish control. It is said the choice fell on Leiden as a reward for the defence of Leiden against Spanish attacks in the previous year. Ironically, the name of Philip II of Spain, Williams adversary, appears on the foundation certificate. Philip II replied by forbidding any subject to study in Leiden, renowned philosopher Baruch Spinoza was based close to Leiden during this period and interacted with numerous scholars at the university. At the end of the century, Leiden University again became one of Europes leading universities. At the world’s first university low-temperature laboratory, professor Heike Kamerlingh Onnes achieved temperatures of one degree above absolute zero of −273 degrees Celsius. In 1908 he was also the first to succeed in liquifying helium, Kamerlingh Onnes was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1913. In 2005 the manuscript of Einstein on the theory of the monatomic ideal gas was discovered in one of Leidens libraries. Of the seventy-seven Spinozapremie, nineteen were granted to professors of the Universiteit Leiden, literary historian Frits van Oostrom was the first professor of Leiden to be granted the Spinoza award for his work on developing the NLCM centre into a top research centre. Among other leading professors are Wim Blockmans, professor of Medieval History, the portraits of many famous professors since the earliest days hang in the university aula, one of the most memorable places, as Niebuhr called it, in the history of science. The University Library, which has more than 5 and it houses the largest collections worldwide on Indonesia and the Caribbean. Scholars from all over the world visit Leiden University Library, the oldest in the Netherlands, the anatomical and pathological laboratories of the university are modern, and the museums of geology and mineralogy have been restored
23.
Bachelor of Laws
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The Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate degree in law originating in England and offered in most common law jurisdictions. The LL. of the abbreviation for the degree is from the genitive plural legum, creating an abbreviation for a plural, especially from Latin, is often done by doubling the first letter, thus LL. B. Stands for Legum Baccalaureus in Latin, today in Canada the predominant first degree in common law is the Juris Doctor degree having replaced the LL. B. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the first degree in Scots law and South African law awarded by a number of universities in Scotland and South Africa, the first academic degrees were all law degrees in medieval universities, and the first law degrees were doctorates. The foundations of the first universities were the glossators of the 11th century, the first university, that of Bologna, was founded as a school of law by four famous legal scholars in the 12th century who were students of the glossator school in that city. The University of Bologna served as the model for law schools of the medieval age. The bachelors degree originated at the University of Paris, whose system was implemented at Oxford, the arts designation of the degree traditionally signifies that the student has undertaken a certain amount of study of the classics. On continental Europe the bachelors degree was phased out in the 18th or early 19th century but it continued at Oxford, the teaching of law at Oxford University was for philosophical or scholarly purposes and not meant to prepare one to practise law. The original method of education at the Inns of Court was a mix of moot court-like practice and lecture, as well as court proceedings observation. By the seventeenth century, the Inns obtained a status as a kind of university akin to the University of Oxford, with the frequent absence of parties to suits during the Crusades, the importance of the lawyer role grew tremendously, and the demand for lawyers grew. The apprenticeship programme for solicitors thus emerged, structured and governed by the rules as the apprenticeship programmes for the trades. The training of solicitors by apprenticeship was formally established by an act of parliament in 1729, therefore, formal schools of law were called for, but not finally established until later in the century, and even then the bar did not consider a university degree in admission decisions. When law degrees were required by the English bar and bar associations in other common law countries, historically, law students studied both canon law and civil law. Today, this is less common. In most common law countries, the Bachelor of Laws programme is generally entered directly after completion of secondary school, Masters courses are also offered to university graduates, those who graduate from such courses are entitled to use the initials LL. M. Additionally, of the thirty-six Law Schools thirteen of those universities have started offering the Juris Doctor as a Graduate entry degree. Bangladesh is a common law country, like other Common Law countries, Bachelor of Laws degree is a condition precedent to practise as an Advocate in the Courts of Law of Bangladesh. Both LL. B. and LL. B. degrees are offered in different Public, only seven Public Universities offer LL. B. degree
24.
Master of Laws
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The Master of Laws is a postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In some jurisdictions the Master of Laws is the professional degree for admission into legal practice. To become a lawyer and practice law in most states and countries, while in most common law countries a Bachelor of Laws is required, the U. S. and Canada generally require a professional doctorate, or Juris Doctor, to practice law. The Juris Doctor is a doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law. The degree is earned by completing law school in the United States, Canada, Australia, the majority of individuals holding a J. D. must pass an examination in order to be licensed to practice law within their respective jurisdictions. If a person wishes to gain specialized knowledge through research in a area of law. The word legum is the plural form of the Latin word lex. When used in the plural, it signifies a body of laws, as opposed to the general collective concept embodied in the word jus, from which the words juris. The highest research degree in law is the S. J. D. and it is equivalent to the Doctor of Philosophy in Law, Doctorat en Droit, or the Doktor der Rechtswissenschaften in Germany. There are also variant doctoral degrees, such as the D. C. L. degree bestowed by McGill University in Canada, most schools require an LL. M. before admission to a SJD or a PhD in law degree program. Like the PhD, the SJD degree generally requires a dissertation that is graded, orally defended, the Doctor of Laws degree in the United States of America is usually an honorary degree. Historically, the LL. M. degree is an element particular to the system of English speaking countries. Over the past years, however, specialized LL. M, Programs have been introduced in many European countries, even where the Bologna process has not yet been fully implemented. Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Cyprus, Italy and Switzerland require a Masters with a two to five years to become a lawyer. As of 2014, Spain requires a degree in addition to a 4 years degree to become a lawyer. In Finland, an LL. M. is the graduate degree required to practice law. To be allowed to practice law in the Netherlands, one needs an LL. M. degree with a course in litigation law. The Dutch Order of Lawyers require these courses for every potential candidate lawyer who wants to be written in the district court for three years
25.
Columbia University
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Columbia University is a private Ivy League research university in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It was established in 1754 as Kings College by royal charter of George II of Great Britain, after the American Revolutionary War, Kings College briefly became a state entity, and was renamed Columbia College in 1784. Columbia is one of the fourteen founding members of the Association of American Universities and was the first school in the United States to grant the M. D. degree. The university also has global research outposts in Amman, Beijing, Istanbul, Paris, Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago, Asunción, Columbia administers annually the Pulitzer Prize. Additionally,100 Nobel laureates have been affiliated with Columbia as students, researchers, faculty, Columbia is second only to Harvard University in the number of Nobel Prize-winning affiliates, with over 100 recipients of the award as of 2016. In 1746 an act was passed by the assembly of New York to raise funds for the foundation of a new college. Classes were initially held in July 1754 and were presided over by the colleges first president, Dr. Johnson was the only instructor of the colleges first class, which consisted of a mere eight students. Instruction was held in a new schoolhouse adjoining Trinity Church, located on what is now lower Broadway in Manhattan, in 1763, Dr. Johnson was succeeded in the presidency by Myles Cooper, a graduate of The Queens College, Oxford, and an ardent Tory. In the charged political climate of the American Revolution, his opponent in discussions at the college was an undergraduate of the class of 1777. The suspension continued through the occupation of New York City by British troops until their departure in 1783. The colleges library was looted and its sole building requisitioned for use as a hospital first by American. Loyalists were forced to abandon their Kings College in New York, the Loyalists, led by Bishop Charles Inglis fled to Windsor, Nova Scotia, where they founded Kings Collegiate School. After the Revolution, the college turned to the State of New York in order to restore its vitality, the Legislature agreed to assist the college, and on May 1,1784, it passed an Act for granting certain privileges to the College heretofore called Kings College. The Regents finally became aware of the colleges defective constitution in February 1787 and appointed a revision committee, in April of that same year, a new charter was adopted for the college, still in use today, granting power to a private board of 24 Trustees. On May 21,1787, William Samuel Johnson, the son of Dr. Samuel Johnson, was unanimously elected President of Columbia College, prior to serving at the university, Johnson had participated in the First Continental Congress and been chosen as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. The colleges enrollment, structure, and academics stagnated for the majority of the 19th century, with many of the college presidents doing little to change the way that the college functioned. In 1857, the college moved from the Kings College campus at Park Place to a primarily Gothic Revival campus on 49th Street and Madison Avenue, during the last half of the 19th century, under the leadership of President F. A. P. Barnard, the institution assumed the shape of a modern university
26.
Jurist
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A jurist, also known as legal scholar or legal theorist, is someone who researches and studies jurisprudence. Such a person can work as an academic, legal writer or law lecturer, thus a jurist, someone who studies, analyses and comments on law, stands in contrast with a lawyer, someone who applies law on behalf of clients and thinks about it in practical terms. Many legal scholars and authors have explained that a person may be both a lawyer and a jurist, but a jurist is not necessarily a lawyer, nor a lawyer necessarily a jurist, both must possess an acquaintance with the term law. The work of the jurist is the study, analysis and arrangement of the law — work which can be wholly in the seclusion of the library. Any highly civilized society requires both lawyers and jurists, both philosophers and doers and it is important however to note the fundamental difference between the work of the lawyer and that of the jurist. The term jurist has another sense, which is wider, synonymous with legal professional, i. e. anyone professionally involved with law, in some other European languages, a word resembling jurist is used in this major sense. This is a classification of some notable jurists. History of the legal profession Law professor Legal profession List of jurists Paralegal Media related to Jurists at Wikimedia Commons
27.
Board of directors
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A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a corporation or organization, which can include a non-profit organization or a government agency. A board of directors activities are determined by the powers, duties and responsibilities conferred on it by an authority outside itself and these matters are typically detailed in regulations or in the organizations constitution and bylaws. These authorities may specify the number of members of the board, how they are to be chosen, and how often they are to meet. In an organization with voting members, the board is accountable to, and might be subordinate to, the full membership. In a stock corporation, non-executive directors are voted for by the shareholders, the board of directors appoints the chief executive officer of the corporation and sets out the overall strategic direction. In corporations with dispersed ownership, the identification and nomination of directors are often done by the board itself, in a non-stock corporation with no general voting membership, the board is the supreme governing body of the institution, its members are sometimes chosen by the board itself. Other names include Board of directors and advisors, board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees and it may also be called the executive board and is often simply referred to as the board. For companies with publicly trading stock, these responsibilities are typically much more rigorous, typically, the board chooses one of its members to be the chairman, who holds whatever title is specified in the bylaws or articles of association. However, in organizations, the members elect the president of the organization. The directors of an organization are the persons who are members of its board, several specific terms categorize directors by the presence or absence of their other relationships to the organization. An inside director is a director who is also an employee, officer, chief executive, major shareholder, inside directors represent the interests of the entitys stakeholders, and often have special knowledge of its inner workings, its financial or market position, and so on. Executive directors often have an area of responsibility in the organization, such as finance, marketing, human resources. An outside director is a member of the board who is not otherwise employed by or engaged with the organization, a typical example is a director who is president of a firm in a different industry. Outside directors are not employees of the company or affiliated with it in any other way, outside directors bring outside experience and perspectives to the board. One of the arguments for having outside directors is that they can keep a eye on the inside directors. Outside directors are unlikely to tolerate insider dealing between insider directors, as outside directors do not benefit from the company or organization, outside directors are often useful in handling disputes between inside directors, or between shareholders and the board. They are thought to be advantageous because they can be objective, director - a person appointed to serve on the board of an organization, such as an institution or business. This practice results in an interlocking directorate, where a small number of individuals have significant influence over a large number of important entities
28.
New York City
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
29.
Shearman & Sterling
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Shearman & Sterling LLP is a multinational law firm headquartered in New York City, United States. It is organized as a single, integrated partnership with approximately 850 lawyers in many of the centers of the world. The firms lawyers practice US, English, EU, French, German, Italian, Shearman & Sterling was founded in New York City in 1873 and is considered a part of the group of elite American white shoe law firms. Shearman & Sterling was founded in 1873 by Thomas Shearman and John William Sterling, the firm experienced international expansion in the post-World War II era under the direction of Boykin C. Wright, a partner who joined the firm from Cahill Gordon & Reindel with a group of lawyers. The firms first international office was established in Paris in 1963, in postwar Germany, Shearman & Sterling helped German companies such as Siemens and BASF restructure their debts and re-emerge as credible exporters to the United States. The firms lawyers assisted Daimler in its listing on the New York Stock Exchange in 1993, the firm then represented the German automaker in its purchase and subsequent sale of Chrysler. Elsewhere, the played a important role in the establishment of state-owned oil and gas companies, including Sonatrach in Algeria. In 1979, Shearman & Sterling lawyers represented Citibank during the negotiations that ensued during the Iranian Hostage Crisis. Shearman & Sterling has been involved in Latin America for decades, the firms lawyers helped restructure the debts of many Latin American nations in the 1980s in the Brady transactions. It also won mandates in the privatization of numerous state-owned entities, in 2004, the firm launched an office in São Paulo, Brazil and has since represented Brazilian companies in a number of important transactions. Shearman & Sterling has a pro bono practice. Globally, the firm is pro bono counsel to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Shearman routinely assists the ICTR through seconding one lawyer there per month to work on particular projects. The firm also assists FINCA International, the pioneering microcredit and village banking non-profit organization, other pro bono initiatives include asylum cases, Violence Against Women Act petitions, criminal appeals and art law representations. Advising long-time client Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited in its proposal to acquire BlackBerry Limited for $9 per share in cash, counseled Merrill Lynch in its sale to Bank of America for $50 billion. Advised the Dow Chemical Company in its $18 billion acquisition of specialty chemicals manufacturer Rohm & Haas, represented the underwriters in the $8 billion IPO of Banco Santanders Brazilian subsidiary, the largest IPO of 2009. Representing GE in its acquisition of the business of Avio S. p. A. an Italian manufacturer of aviation propulsion components and systems for civil and military aircraft. Advised on the $11.5 billion cross-border financing for Toyota, advised on the approximately HK$3.88 billion primary listing on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited and global offering of the H shares of the China Machinery Engineering Corporation
30.
Voorburg
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Voorburg is a Dutch town and former municipality in the western part of the province of South Holland, the Netherlands. Together with Leidschendam and Stompwijk, it makes up the municipality Leidschendam-Voorburg and it has a population of approximately 39,000 people. It is considered to be the oldest city in The Netherlands, in 2002, the cities of Leidschendam and Voorburg were merged under the new municipality named Leidschendam-Voorburg. Situated adjacent to the city of The Hague, it is regarded as one of its suburbs. It was positioned along the Fossa Corbulonis, a canal connecting the Rhine and this waterway is now known as the Rijn-Schie canal and is still a dominant landmark of the present day borough. His son, the astronomer and mathematician Christiaan Huygens, spent several years in his fathers country house in Voorburg. The house, located next to the railway station, now functions as a museum. Philosopher Baruch Spinoza also lived in Voorburg from 1663 to 1670, in Voorburg, Spinoza continued work on the Ethics and corresponded with scientists, philosophers, and theologians throughout Europe. Until 2009 Voorburg hosted the major branch of the statistics institute, the CBS. The latter two are now part of the Randstad Rail network, Voorburg used to be an Intercity station, because there was an eternal agreement with the railways that every passing train should stop there. It lost that status, as the new station is elevated. Voorburg Cricket Club Sportpark Westvliet cricket ground was approved by the ICC as the Netherlands latest ODI venue and it joins the VRA ground in Amstelveen and the Hazelaarweg ground in Rotterdam in gaining ODI status. Bangladesh played one Twenty20 International match each against Scotland and Netherlands there in July 2012. org, Fossa Corbulonis
31.
The Hague
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The Hague is a city on the western coast of the Netherlands, and the capital city of the province of South Holland. With a population of 520,704 inhabitants and more than one million including the suburbs, it is the third-largest city of the Netherlands. The Rotterdam The Hague Metropolitan Area, with a population of approximately 2.7 million, is the 12th-largest in the European Union and the most populous in the country. Located in the west of the Netherlands, The Hague is in the centre of the Haaglanden conurbation and lies at the southwest corner of the larger Randstad conurbation. The Hague is the seat of the Dutch government, parliament, the Supreme Court, and the Council of State, but the city is not the capital of the Netherlands, which constitutionally is Amsterdam. King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands plans to live at Huis ten Bosch and works at Noordeinde Palace in The Hague, the Hague is also home to the world headquarters of Royal Dutch Shell and numerous other major Dutch companies. The Hague originated around 1230, when Count Floris IV of Holland purchased land alongside a pond, in 1248, his son and successor William II, King of the Romans, decided to extend the residence to a palace, which would later be called the Binnenhof. He died in 1256 before this palace was completed but parts of it were finished by his son Floris V, of which the Ridderzaal and it is still used for political events, such as the annual speech from the throne by the Dutch monarch. From the 13th century onwards, the counts of Holland used The Hague as their administrative centre, the village that originated around the Binnenhof was first mentioned as Haga in a charter dating from 1242. In the 15th century, the smarter des Graven hage came into use, literally The Counts Wood, with connotations like The Counts Hedge, s-Gravenhage was officially used for the city from the 17th century onwards. Today, this name is used in some official documents like birth. The city itself uses Den Haag in all its communication and their seat was located in The Hague. At the beginning of the Eighty Years War, the absence of city walls proved disastrous, in 1575, the States of Holland even considered demolishing the city but this proposal was abandoned, after mediation by William of Orange. From 1588, The Hague also became the seat of the government of the Dutch Republic, in order for the administration to maintain control over city matters, The Hague never received official city status, although it did have many of the privileges normally granted only to cities. In modern administrative law, city rights have no place anymore, only in 1806, when the Kingdom of Holland was a puppet state of the First French Empire, was the settlement granted city rights by Louis Bonaparte. After the Napoleonic Wars, modern-day Belgium and the Netherlands were combined in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands to form a buffer against France, as a compromise, Brussels and Amsterdam alternated as capital every two years, with the government remaining in The Hague. After the separation of Belgium in 1830, Amsterdam remained the capital of the Netherlands, when the government started to play a more prominent role in Dutch society after 1850, The Hague quickly expanded. The growing city annexed the rural municipality of Loosduinen partly in 1903, the city sustained heavy damage during World War II
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Utrecht (province)
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Utrecht is a province of the Netherlands. With an area of approximately 1,400 square kilometres, it is the smallest of the twelve provinces, apart from its eponymous capital, major cities in the province are Amersfoort, Houten, Nieuwegein, Veenendaal, IJsselstein and Zeist. In the International Organization for Standardization world region code system Utrecht makes up one region with code ISO 3166-2, the Bishopric of Utrecht was established in 695 when Saint Willibrord was consecrated bishop of the Frisians at Rome by Pope Sergius I. With the consent of the Frankish ruler, Pippin of Herstal, after Willibrords death the diocese suffered greatly from the incursions of the Vikings. Better times appeared during the reign of the Saxon emperors, who summoned the Bishops of Utrecht to attend the imperial councils. In 1024 the bishops were made Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, in 1122, with the Concordat of Worms, the Emperors right of investiture was annulled, and the cathedral chapter received the right to elect the bishop. It was, however, soon obligated to share this right with the four other chapters in the city. The Counts of Holland and Guelders, between whose territories the lands of the Bishops of Utrecht lay, also sought to acquire influence over the filling of the episcopal see and this often led to disputes and consequently the Holy See frequently interfered in the election. After the middle of the 14th century the popes repeatedly appointed the bishop directly without regard to the five chapters, during the Hook and Cod Wars, Utrecht was fought over by forces of the Duke of Burgundy leading to the First Utrecht Civil War and Second Utrecht Civil War. The chapters transferred their right of electing the bishop to Charles V and his government, however, the Habsburg rule did not last long, as Utrecht joined in the Dutch Revolt against Charles successor Philip II in 1579, becoming a part of the Dutch Republic. In World War II, Utrecht was held by German forces until the capitulation of the Germans in the Netherlands on May 5,1945. It was occupied by Canadian Allied forces on May 7,1945, the towns of Oudewater, Woerden and Vianen were transferred from the province of South Holland to Utrecht in 1970,1989 and 2002 respectively. In February 2011, Utrecht, together with the provinces of North Holland and Flevoland and this has been positively received by the Dutch cabinet, for the desire to create one Randstad province has already been mentioned in the coalition agreement. The province of South Holland, part of the Randstad urban area, visioned to be part of the Randstad province, with or without South Holland, if created, the new province would be the largest in the Netherlands in both area and population. In the east of Utrecht lies the Utrecht Hill Ridge, a chain of left as lateral moraine by tongues of glacial ice after the Saline glaciation that preceded the last ice age. Because of the scarcity of nutrients in the sandy soil. The south of the province is a river landscape, the west consists mostly of meadows. In the north are big lakes formed by the digging of peat bogs formed after the last ice age
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Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands
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He is a member of the Dutch Royal House and currently fourth in the line of succession to the Dutch throne. Prince Constantijn was born in Utrecht, following the births of his brothers, Willem-Alexander and he goes by the nickname Tijn. His godparents are former King Constantine II of Greece, Prince Aschwin of Lippe-Biesterfeld, Axel Freiherr von dem Bussche-Streithorst, Max Kohnstamm, and Corinne de Beaufort-Sickinghe. Prince Constantijn studied Law at Leiden University, becoming a lawyer, later, he was hired by the EU, and continued to work there in various capacities until the end of 1999. In December 2000, he was awarded a Master of Business Administration at INSEAD in Fontainebleau and he then spent a summer working for the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank group in Washington, D. C. He worked until late 2002 for strategic consultants Booz Allen Hamilton in London, since 2003 he works for the RAND Corporation Europe in Brussels. Furthermore, he has a position at the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague. Prince Constantijn rarely attends public events in his capacity as a member of the Dutch Royal House, Prince Constantijn is a keen sportsman and enjoys football, tennis, golf and skiing. His other hobbies include drawing, cooking and reading, the engagement of Prince Constantijn and Petra Laurentien Brinkhorst was announced on 16 December 2000. The civil marriage was conducted by the mayor of The Hague, Wim Deetman, in the Oude Raadzaal, Javastraat, The Hague, the church wedding took place two days later on 19 May in the Grote of St Jacobskerk, with Reverend Carel ter Linden officiating. Constantijns full title and style is, His Royal Highness Prince Constantijn Christof Frederik Aschwin of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau, Jonkheer van Amsberg
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University of Groningen
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The University of Groningen is a public research university in the city of Groningen in the Netherlands. The university was founded in 1614 and is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands as well as one of its largest, since its inception more than 200,000 students have graduated. It is a member of the distinguished international Coimbra Group of European universities, in April 2013, according to the results of the International Student Barometer, the University of Groningen, for the third time in a row, has been voted the best university of the Netherlands. In 2014 the university celebrated its 400th anniversary, the University of Groningen has ten faculties, nine graduate schools,27 research centres and institutes, and more than 175 degree programmes. There were four faculties – Theology, Law, Medicine, the coat of arms of the university was confirmed by the States of the City and County of Groningen in 1615. It consists of the arms, charged with an open book inscribed with the abbreviated words VER/BVM/DNI LV/CER/NA. The shield is surmounted by a crown of five leaves. The first 75 years of its existence were very fruitful for the University with about 100 students enrolling every year, on average two to three hundred students were registered with the University at any one time during this period. Opportunities and threats followed on each other’s heels during the nineteenth century, in 1815, at the same time as Leiden and Utrecht, the University gained recognition as a national college of higher education, but this was followed by discussions about closure. The situation improved markedly when a new university building, the Academiegebouw, was constructed in 1850. This made the fire completely destroyed this building in 1906 even more poignant. In the meantime, the Higher Education Act of 1876 had radically improved the position of the University, teaching now took place in Dutch as well as in Latin and the University was given a research as well as an educational duty. This laid the foundations for the present research university, the University of Groningen developed apace during the first decades of the twentieth century. The number of faculties and courses grew steadily while the number of students showed an explosive growth, when the University celebrated its first 300 years in 1914 there were 611 registered students, this had already grown to 1000 by 1924. After a drop back during the Depression, and in particular during the Second World War, in 2016 the Dutch chemist Ben Feringa, who worked most of his career at the university, won the Nobel prize for his work on molecular motors. Other strong research groups are in, Nanoscience, Physics, Molecular Biology, Microbiology, Medical Sciences, Neurosciences, Sociology, Philosophy, Theology, Archaeology and Arts. Every year more than 5,000 research publications go to print, the University of Groningen is a member of the so-called Excellence Group of the best universities in Europe. The Excellence Group has 56 members, which is 1.3 percent of the approximately 4,500 European institutions of higher education, the University of Groningen belongs to the top 100 large comprehensive research universities in the world
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Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
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Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
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The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The Academy is housed in the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam, the Academy advises the Dutch government on scientific matters. The Academy offers solicited and unsolicited advice to parliament, ministries, universities and research institutes, funding agencies, nominations for candidate membership by persons or organizations outside the Academy are accepted. The acceptance criterion is delivered scientific achievements, Academy membership is therefore regarded as a great honor, and prestigious. Besides regular members, there are members and corresponding members. Since a new system was introduced in 2011 there will be no new corresponding members. Each year a maximum of sixteen members is appointed to the Academy, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences has long embraced the entire field of learning. The Royal Academy comprises two departments, consisting of around 500 members, Science Humanities and Social Sciences Both departments have their own board, the departments, in turn, are divided into sections. The highest organ in the Academy is the meeting of members. The president was Frits van Oostrom until 1 May 2008, after which he was succeeded by Robbert Dijkgraaf, in March 2012, Hans Clevers was elected president and took office in June 2012. In 2015 he was succeeded by José van Dijck, during the French occupation of the Dutch Republic, it was founded as the Koninklijk Instituut van Wetenschappen, Letterkunde en Schoone Kunsten by Lodewijk Napoleon on May 4,1808. In 1816, after the occupation had ended, it was renamed to Koninklijk-Nederlandsch Instituut van Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schoone Kunsten, in 1851 it was disbanded and re-established as the Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen and in 1938 obtained its present name. Since 1812 the Academy has resided in the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam, the institute was awarded the Gouden Ganzenveer in 1955. De Jonge Akademie is a society of younger researchers, founded in 2005 as part of the KNAW. Ten members are elected each year for a term of five years, members are scientists between 25 and 45 years old and are selected for a record of excellence in their research. It was modelled after the similar German Junge Akademie, and both of these academies in turn were used as models for the Global Young Academy, Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, official website
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European Parliament
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The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union. Together with the Council of the European Union and the European Commission, the Parliament is composed of 751 members, who represent the second-largest democratic electorate in the world and the largest trans-national democratic electorate in the world. It has been elected every five years by universal suffrage since 1979. However, voter turnout at European Parliament elections has fallen consecutively at each election since that date, voter turnout in 2014 stood at 42. 54% of all European voters. The Parliament is the first institution of the EU, and shares equal legislative and it likewise has equal control over the EU budget. Finally, the European Commission, the body of the EU, is accountable to Parliament. In particular, Parliament elects the President of the Commission, and it can subsequently force the Commission as a body to resign by adopting a motion of censure. The President of the European Parliament is Antonio Tajani, elected in January 2017 and he presides over a multi-party chamber, the two largest groups being the Group of the European Peoples Party and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. The last union-wide elections were the 2014 elections, the European Parliament has three places of work – Brussels, the city of Luxembourg and Strasbourg. Luxembourg is home to the administrative offices, meetings of the whole Parliament take place in Strasbourg and in Brussels. Committee meetings are held in Brussels, the Parliament, like the other institutions, was not designed in its current form when it first met on 10 September 1952. One of the oldest common institutions, it began as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and it was a consultative assembly of 78 appointed parliamentarians drawn from the national parliaments of member states, having no legislative powers. Its development since its foundation shows how the European Unions structures have evolved without a master plan. Some, such as Tom Reid of the Washington Post, said of the union, nobody would have designed a government as complex. Even the Parliaments two seats, which have switched several times, are a result of various agreements or lack of agreements, the body was not mentioned in the original Schuman Declaration. It was assumed or hoped that difficulties with the British would be resolved to allow the Council of Europes Assembly to perform the task, a separate Assembly was introduced during negotiations on the Treaty as an institution which would counterbalance and monitor the executive while providing democratic legitimacy. The wording of the ECSC Treaty demonstrated the desire for more than a normal consultative assembly by using the term representatives of the people. Its early importance was highlighted when the Assembly was given the task of drawing up the treaty to establish a European Political Community
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Groningen (province)
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Groningen is the northeasternmost province of the Netherlands. It borders on Friesland to the west, Drenthe to the south, the German state of Niedersachsen to the east, in 2014, it had a population of 582,640 and a total area of 2,960 km2. The area was part of Frisia, the Frankish Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Dutch Republic. In the 14th century, the city of Groningen became a member of the Hanseatic League, the capital of the province and the seat of the provincial government is the city of Groningen. Since 2016, René Paas has been the Kings Commissioner in the province, a coalition of the Labour Party, Peoples Party for Freedom and Democracy, Democrats 66, and ChristianUnion forms the executive branch. The province is divided into 23 municipalities, the land is mainly used for agriculture. There are sea ports in Delfzijl and Eemshaven, the Groningen gas field was discovered in 1959. The province is home to the University of Groningen and Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Groningen was originally a part of Frisia. It became a part of the Frankish Empire around 785, charlemagne assigned the Christianization of this new possession to Ludger. In the 11th century, the city of Groningen was a village in Drenthe that belonged to the Bishopric of Utrecht, during the Middle Ages, central control was remote, and the city of Groningen acted as a city-state, exerting a dominating influence on the surrounding Ommelanden. In the 14th century, Groningen became one of the towns within the Hanseatic League, in the years after, Groningen expanded its influence. At its peak almost all of the current province Friesland was under the influence, shortly before 1498, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor gave Groningen and Friesland to Albert III, Duke of Saxony, who could however not establish permanent control. In 1514/15 Groningen came to the Duchy of Guelders, and in 1536 as the Lordship of Groningen to the Habsburg Netherlands, in 1594, Groningen was conquered by the Republic of the Seven United Provinces, precursor state of the Netherlands, to which it belonged henceforth. During World War II, the Netherlands were occupied by Nazi Germany, in May 1945, another 3,000 German soldiers were captured in the Battle of Delfzijl by the 5th Canadian Division, after which all of the northern provinces were liberated. East Groningen was the scene of a particularly fierce class struggle in the 19th and 20th centuries, perhaps not coincidentally, Groningen boasts the only municipality where the Communist Party of the Netherlands has ever had a mayor. The northernmost point of the Netherlands is on Rottumerplaat at 53°33′18″N 6°28′41″E, Groningen is the 7th largest province of the Netherlands. It has an area of 2,960 km2, with 2,325 km2 of land and 635 km2 of water. About 80% of the land or 1,876 km2 is used for agriculture
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