Aria Pais

Arie Pais (1981)

Aäron "Arie" Pais (born April 16, 1930 in The Hague ) is a Dutch economist , university professor and politician of the Partij van de Arbeid (PvdA) and later the Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie (VVD), who, among other things, is a professor at the university van Amsterdam and between 1977 and 1981 in the Van Agt I cabinet was the first liberal minister for education and science since the end of World War II . As the successor to the social democratic education minister Jos van Kemenade , he introduced reforms to restructure higher education and middle schools. In 1981 the Law on the Two-Phase Structure of Academic Education and the Law on Primary Education were introduced. He was also temporarily a member of the First Chamber of the States General and, between 1982 and 1988, Vice President of the European Investment Bank (EIB). Pais, whose wife is the politician and diplomat Eegje Schoo , was also actively involved in animal welfare and was temporarily chairman of the Dutch Vegetarian Association.

Life

Aäron "Arie" Pais, who came from a Jewish family, began studying economics after attending Vossius Gymnasium in Amsterdam . After graduation he worked as an economist and together with Wim Duisenberg did his doctorate at the chair of Pieter de Wolff . He began his political career as a member of the Amsterdam City Council for the Partij van de Arbeid (PvdA), of which he had been a member since 1948. After resigning from the PvdA in December 1961, he became a member of the Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie (VVD) on April 16, 1962 . In 1971 he ran for a seat in the Second Chamber of the States General (Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal) on the VVD's list , but missed entry into parliament in 21st place, as the VVD only received 16 seats. On April 1, 1974, he took over a professorship for economics at the Universiteit van Amsterdam and taught there until December 19, 1977. On September 20, 1977 he became a member of the First Chamber of the States General (Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal) for the VVD. and belonged to this until December 19, 1977. During this time he also acted as acting chairman of the finance committee of the First Chamber between October 5 and December 19, 1977.

Eegje Schoo , who was Minister without Portfolio for Development Cooperation from 1982 to 1986, is the wife of Arie Pais

On December 19, 1977, Pais took over in the Van Agt I cabinet, Minister for Education and Science (Minister van Onderwijs en Wetenschappen) and held this position until September 11, 1981. As the successor to the social democratic education minister Jos van Kemenade , he was the first liberal minister for education and science since the end of the Second World War and introduced reforms to restructure higher education and middle schools. During his tenure there were regular disputes in the cabinet with Finance Minister Frans Andriessen from the Christian Democratic Appèl (CDA) about the education budget. When Andriessen pronounced the name of the well-known economist John Maynard Keynes as “Kiens” during a cabinet meeting , Pais corrected it with the words: “Het is Keynes ( keens ), dat rijmt op brains ” ('It is Keynes like keens , what is on brains ( English for brain ) rhymes. ')

After leaving the government, he was again a member of the First Chamber of the States General between August 25, 1981 and June 16, 1982, and again acting chairman of the Finance Committee of the First Chamber from September 23, 1981 to June 16, 1982. He was then Vice President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) between June 14, 1982 and June 6, 1988 . He was also actively involved in animal welfare and was temporarily chairman of the Dutch Vegetarian Association (De Nederlandse Vegetariërsbond) .

Arie Pais is married to the politician and diplomat Eegje Schoo , who was Minister without Portfolio for Development Cooperation from 1982 to 1986 . His brother-in-law was the well-known journalist Hendrik Jan Schoo , the editor-in-chief of Elsevier magazine and deputy editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper de Volkskrant .

Web links

Commons : Arie Pais  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Entry in Parlement & Politiek
• Netherlands: Ministries (rulers.org)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Van Agt I cabinet