Joop the Uyl

Joop den Uyl, 1975

Johannes Marten (Joop) den Uyl (born August 9, 1919 in Hilversum , † December 24, 1987 in Amsterdam ) was a Dutch politician . From 1973 to 1977 he was Prime Minister of the Netherlands and from 1967 to 1986 Chairman of the Partij van de Arbeid (PvdA).

Early life

Den Uyl grew up in a strictly reformed family. His father Johannes died when Den Uyl was ten years old. From 1931 to 1936 he attended the Christian Lyceum in Hilversum, which was followed by a degree in economics at the University of Amsterdam . In 1942 he passed his final exams in economics there and obtained the title of Doctorandus . Between 1943 and 1945 he was in the Reich Office for Price Monitoring of Chemical Products in the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. After the Second World War he became a journalist for the newspapers Het Parool and Vrij Nederland .

politics

For a short time he was with the conservative anti-revolutionary party ARP . From January 1949 Den Uyl was director of the Wiardi Beckman Foundation , the scientific institute of the PvdA. Between 1953 and 1965 he was a member of the city council of Amsterdam, and between 1962 and 1965 he was an alderman of the city of Amsterdam.

From 1956 Den Uyl was a member of the Tweede Kamer in the Dutch Parliament. Between 1965 and 1966 he became Minister of Economics for a short period in which he decided to close the coal mine in Limburg . When his party went into the opposition in 1967, Den Uyl was group leader of the PvdA in the Tweede Kamer of the parliament until 1973 and effectively ensured the cohesion of his party. In November 1972 he passed the elections for his party successfully and was able to increase its strength from 39 to 43 seats in the 150-member parliament.

Between May 1973 and 1977 Den Uyl held the office of Prime Minister of a coalition government that replaced the minority government from Barend Willem Biesheuvel . He was the first social democratic head of government in the Netherlands since 1958. His government was considered the most left-wing that the country had ever had. In addition to his social democratic PvdA, the left-liberal D66 and the radical democratic PRR were also represented. There had previously been a common electoral platform between these three parties: Keerpunt '72 . The Catholic People's Party and the ARP also took part in the cabinet. Foreign Minister was Max van der Stoel from the PvdA.

During this period Den Uyl was confronted with the oil boycott by the OPEC states as a result of the Dutch position in the Yom Kippur war . He proved himself to be a skilled crisis manager. The relationship between his Justice Minister and Deputy Dries van Agt from the CIP and himself became more and more tense. The actions of the Minister of Justice in the Menten affair contributed to this estrangement .

In the elections of May 25, 1977, the PvdA achieved its best result with 33.8% of the vote, became the strongest party and won 53 of the 150 seats as the strongest parliamentary group. Nevertheless, it did not get into the government: after 208 days of arduous negotiations, a coalition with the new Christian Democratisch Appèl (CDA), formed by Dries van Agt from the CIP and two Protestant parties that formed part of the liberal Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ( PVVD) formed a new coalition.

Under Den Uyl's leadership, the PvdA led an unconditional opposition between 1977 and 1981, which was followed by an interim period from 1981–1982: At that time, the CDA, PvdA and D66 formed a coalition government headed by Dries van Agt with Joop den Uyl as his deputy and Minister of Social Affairs. After eight months, the PvdA ministers resigned from the Van Agt cabinet in May 1982. In the early elections on September 8, 1982, his party emerged as the strongest, but the new government failed. Den Uyl was again chairman of the PvdA parliamentary group until 1986. He was succeeded as political leader by the later Prime Minister Wim Kok .

Between 1980 and 1987 Den Uyl was chairman of the European socialists CSPEC. From March 1980 to May 1987 Joop den Uyl was also party chairman of the Federation of Social Democratic Parties of the European Community .

person

Den Uyl was described as a reform-minded, pragmatic social democratic politician who was effectively and decisively committed to his party, but also knew how to mediate skillfully in heterogeneous coalitions. Ome Joop had a large following in his party. It was characterized as idealistic, but also as polarizing rather than mediating.

Responsibility for a high national debt was viewed critically in him . In the Netherlands, as in other countries, national debt rose significantly in the 1970s. Subsequent governments initially made no attempts to combat the national debt. Great savings were later necessary from the debt.

In 1985 "de doctorandus uit Buitenveldert " was awarded an honorary doctorate from his university in Amsterdam.

Joop den Uyl was married to Liesbeth den Uyl. They had three sons and four daughters. His daughter Saskia Noorman-den Uyl was a parliamentary group member of the PvdA in the Tweede Kamer from 1994 to 2006.

On Christmas Eve 1987, Joop den Uyl died of a brain tumor.

Grave Joop den Uyl and his wife Liesbeth in the Westerveld cemetery.

Web links

Commons : Joop den Uyl  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files