Barend Biesheuvel

Barend Biesheuvel (1982)

Barend Willem Biesheuvel (born April 5, 1920 in Haarlemmerliede ; † April 29, 2001 in Haarlem ) was a Dutch politician of the conservative Anti-Revolutionaire Partij (ARP) or the Christian Democratisch Appèl (CDA), in which the ARP was absorbed in 1980 . The lawyer, who held a mandate in the Second Chamber of the States General from 1956–1963 and 1967–1973 , was Dutch Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries from 1963 to 1967 and Minister for Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles . From 1971 to 1973 he was Prime Minister of the Netherlands. The almost 2 m tall politician was sometimes called the "beautiful barend " ( Dutch Mooie Barend ) because of his good looks .

biography

Education and beginnings as a politician

Barend Biesheuvel was born in Haarlemmerliede in 1920 as the fourth of five children of the farmer Arie Biesheuvel. The father was a member of the ARP and sat on the local council of Haarlemmerliede. After graduating from school in 1940, Biesheuvel began studying law at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and at the same time worked on his parents' farm. At the time of the political crisis in the Netherlands in the 1930s, Prime Minister Hendrikus Colijn became his role model. After the end of the Second World War , Biesheuvel passed the state examination in September 1945, two months later he married the pharmacy assistant Mies Meuring, and the relationship resulted in three children.

Mediated by his father, Biesheuvel initially received a post as secretary from Johan de Veer, the food commissioner for the province of North Holland . After various other, mostly short-term engagements, including with the Christian Farmers and Breeders Association (CBTB), he moved into the Second Chamber of the States General for the ARP following the 1956 parliamentary election . As an expert in agricultural and European affairs, he became a member of the Advisory Assembly of the Council of Europe . In 1957 he turned down the post of State Secretary for Transport and Water Management and instead took the post of Chairman of the CBTB. In 1959 he received a seat on the supervisory board of both Centrale Coöperatieve Raiffeisenbank , today's Rabobank , and Heidemij, today's Arcadis . In 1961 he moved from the Second Chamber of the States General to the European Parliament , and he also became chairman of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers .

Time as minister

After the 1963 elections , the ARP became part of the new coalition government under Prime Minister Victor Marijnen . In the Marijnen cabinet , Biesheuvel received the post of Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries as well as that of Deputy Prime Minister. In the latter capacity, he was involved in taking care of Kingdom affairs. As a minister, he was involved in the difficult negotiations with the other countries of the European Economic Community on the establishment of a common agricultural policy. After the break-up of the Marijnen government in 1965, Biesheuvel retained his offices as part of the newly formed cabinet of Prime Minister Jo Cals for a further year and a half, until this also failed in October 1966. He was also represented as Minister and Vice-Prime Minister in the interim government under Jelle Zijlstra that followed. Mainly by holding on to his offices over several government coalitions, Biesheuvel acquired the reputation of a political opportunist , which from then on he was repeatedly accused by the respective opposition.

Prime Minister

Following the parliamentary elections of 1967 , which were successful for the ARP , Biesheuvel was initially acted as Prime Minister-designate and entrusted with the formation of a government, but failed because of the coalition negotiations and finally had to give way to the CIP politician Piet de Jong . Instead, he took over the chairmanship of the ARP in the second chamber, into which he had been re-elected, until the next parliamentary elections. In parliament, he took over the chairmanship of the "Biesheuvel Commission" named after him, which dealt with the question of how government work could be made more transparent for Dutch citizens.

The Biesheuvel I cabinet during the swearing-in on July 6, 1971 in front of the Huis ten Bosch Castle . Barend Biesheuvel in the center next to Queen Juliana.

Despite losses for the ARP in the 1971 parliamentary elections , Biesheuvel was given another chance to form a government coalition, which this time was more successful. Between July 6, 1971 and May 11, 1973, as Prime Minister, he led two short-lived government coalitions, the Biesheuvel I and II cabinets . After various disputes between the parties involved on issues such as wage policy and the fight against inflation, and without any major legislative proposals Ultimately, disagreements over necessary budget cuts brought down Biesheuvel's government. On July 20, 1972, the ministers of the social democratic party DS'70 resigned from their posts, an attempt at mediation by the Dutch Queen Juliana failed. Biesheuvel was now forced to form a minority government and hold early elections. Due to easy profits for the ARP, which together with its previous coalition partners could hold a narrow majority in parliament, he initially hoped to be able to continue to exercise the office of prime minister. Due to dissenters from his own party, however, he was unable to achieve this, but was ultimately inherited by PvdA man Joop den Uyl . In the wake of this political defeat, he also lost the chairmanship of the ARP on March 7, 1973, after which he retired from politics for several years.

After Biesheuvel had worked as a consultant in business - including for Unilever and KLM - he returned to politics at the end of the 1970s. Among other things, he advised the European Council on economic issues and headed a commission that advised the Dutch government on relations with Aruba . Barend Biesheuvel finally died in 2001 at the age of 81 in Haarlem, North Holland.

The grave of Barend Biseheuvel and his wife Wilhelmina Jacoba ("Miep") in the cemetery in Bloemendaal.

Web links

Commons : Barend Biesheuvel  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Biography of Biesheuvels at huygens.knaw.nl (Dutch)
• Mr. BW (Barend) Biesheuvel , at Parlement & Politiek (Dutch)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Jan-Jaap van den Berg: De driftbuien van Mooie Barend. In: histornieuwsblad.nl. Historisch Nieuwsblad, May 2001, accessed September 5, 2019 (Dutch).