Wopke Bastiaan Hoekstra is a Dutch politician. He served as second Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands and Minister of Foreign Affairs in the fourth Rutte cabinet between 10 January 2022 and 1 September 2023. Hoekstra previously served as Minister of Finance in the third Rutte cabinet from 2017 to 2022 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) from 2020 to 2023. In 2023, he was nominated to take on the role of Frans Timmermans as EU Commissioner, being responsible for climate action; a petition was started against Hoekstra's nomination due to his past work for Shell and his decisions that backed oil explorations in the Netherlands.
Hoekstra in 2022
Hoekstra with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in April 2022
Hoekstra with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in May 2022
Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands
The deputy prime minister of the Netherlands is the official deputy of the head of government of the Netherlands. In the absence of the prime minister of the Netherlands the deputy prime minister takes over his functions, such as chairing the Cabinet of the Netherlands and the Council of Ministers of the Netherlands. Conventionally, all of the junior partners in the coalition get one deputy, and the deputies are ranked according to the size of their respective parties. The incumbent deputy prime ministers are Rob Jetten of the Democrats 66 serving as Minister for Climate and Energy, Karien van Gennip of the Christian Democratic Appeal serving as Minister of Social Affairs and Employment and Carola Schouten of the Christian Union serving as Minister for Welfare and Civic Engagement.
Image: Heemskerk
Image: Cornelis Fock (1828 1910)
Image: Van Bosse
Image: Van der Putte