Mark Rutte

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Mark Rutte (2015)

Mark Rutte [ mɑrk ˈrʏtə ] (born February 14, 1967 in The Hague ) is a Dutch politician and since October 14, 2010 Prime Minister of the Netherlands (Cabinets Rutte I , II and III ). Since 2006 he has been the political leader of the bourgeois-liberal Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie (VVD). From 2006 to 2010 he was their group leader in the national parliament .

Life

Rutte, who comes from a Christian family, studied history at the University of Leiden and after graduating worked at Unilever . He is single and belongs to the Protestant Church in the Netherlands .

politics

Rutte during the WEF 2013

From 1988 to 1991 Mark Rutte was chairman of the liberal youth organization JOVD and from 1993 to 1997 a member of the party's board of directors. In 2002 he became State Secretary for Labor and Social Affairs and in 2004 for Education.

In 2006 he became parliamentary group leader of the VVD. He was succeeded in October 2010 by Stef Blok .

Power struggle for the leadership of the VVD

After the position of political leader became vacant at the VVD, Rutte, regarded as moderate and more socially liberal, applied for it on March 8, 2006. His opponent was Rita Verdonk , who stood for a tough position on immigration and crime. 51.5 percent of the party members voted on May 31, 2006 for Rutte, the VVD's top candidate and on June 29, 2006 the parliamentary group chairman.

In the chamber elections at the end of 2006, Verdonk received significantly more votes than Rutte, which caused him a considerable loss of reputation. (In the Netherlands you elect a single candidate and thus the party at the same time.) Such a victory is very unusual for number two on an electoral list. Verdonk was expelled from the parliamentary group in 2007 because of provocative statements. She left the party and founded Trots op Nederland .

Prime Minister

Rutte and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker 2016

According to survey results from May 2010, the VVD was the strongest party under Rutte, with 31 (out of 150) seats ahead of the social democratic PvdA . The gain for the Liberals was mainly explained by the decline of the Christian Democrats (only 21 seats in the poll). Rutte was seen as a serious contender for the office of Prime Minister, but EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes (also VVD) had not ruled out her interest.

The election on June 9, 2010 resulted in 31 seats for the VVD, one seat more than for the social democratic PvdA as the second largest party. This is not the highest figure ever achieved by the VVD, but for the first time the VVD became the strongest party (mainly because of the losses of the Christian Democrats). On October 8, 2010, the then Queen Beatrix Rutte entrusted the formation of a government after the three parties and parliamentary groups involved agreed to the coalition and tolerance agreements.

The Rutte I cabinet then replaced the Balkenende IV cabinet on October 14, 2010 as the government of the Netherlands. It was a minority government from the right-wing liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), which was tolerated by the Freedom Party (PVV). Together with the PVV, the coalition held 76 out of 150 seats in the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament.

On April 23, 2012, Mark Rutte offered Queen Beatrix the resignation of his cabinet after the PVV withdrew support from the minority government. The PVV did not want to support the government's austerity package, which it considered necessary in order not to violate the EU Stability Pact. In September 2012, early elections followed , from which Rutte's VVD emerged as the strongest force. According to the preliminary final result, the party won 41 of the 150 seats in the Lower House of Parliament. These were two more mandates than that of the PvdA with its top candidate Diederik Samsom . At the end of October 2012, the VVD and the PvdA agreed to form a grand coalition , Rutte also presided over the new government as Prime Minister ( Rutte II cabinet ). Even after the 2017 parliamentary elections, Rutte was able to continue to govern, but had to find new coalition partners. The new coalition consists of the liberal-conservative VVD ( Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ), the Christian Democratic CDA ( Christen Democratisch Appèl ), the left-wing liberal D66 ( Democrats 66 ) and the Christian Democratic Christian Union . She formed the Rutte III cabinet on October 26, 2017 .

On January 15, 2021, Rutte announced the resignation of his entire cabinet due to violations of the basic principles of the rule of law in the context of falsely reclaimed child allowances ( toeslage affaire ), which, however , should remain in office until a new government is formed after the parliamentary elections in March 2021 .

Viewpoints

Rutte at an election rally in Amsterdam, February 2010

In 2008, Rutte said in an interview that the Netherlands had to move away from the "terror of mediocrity":

“The state has to be small and strong, not a happiness machine that takes people's entire life out of their hands. People have to be able to live with verve , have the space to make something extraordinary out of their life. The VVD fights for the elevation of the lower class, with good teaching we want to let people stand on their own two feet. Happiness resides in people, not in the state. "

- Interview with NRC Handelsblad, August 28, 2008

At the same time he emphasized that one must set limits to foreigners and have the courage to say: "These foundations of civilization, the language, the constitution and Dutch history, it all belongs to us!"

In May 2009, Rutte came into the media with the demand that Holocaust denial should no longer be punishable in terms of freedom of expression . He has always found the ban "stupid, silly" (malloteric) . For this he was criticized inside and outside his party.

In May 2010, Rutte spoke out in favor of a stricter asylum policy. Asylum seekers should only be able to stay in the Netherlands permanently if they applied for citizenship . Only “real refugees” and no “fortune seekers” are accepted. Furthermore, Rutte stands for maintaining the previous regulation on hypotheekrenteaftrek , the tax relief for mortgage interest .

During the coalition negotiations in 2010, Rutte said in September about an initially failed agreement between the three right-wing parties that the Dutch right had licked its fingers. Later during the negotiations and when he took office, however, Rutte emphasized that he wanted to be prime minister for everyone and not just for the rights.

In March 2017, Rutte told the Turkish government that a planned election campaign event with Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu for a referendum on the constitution of Turkey was undesirable in the Netherlands and that the public space was generally not a place for election campaigns in other countries.

Web links

Commons : Mark Rutte  - collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Status single - one last taboo? Accessed December 31, 2020 .
  2. ↑ VVD grote winnaar in peiling. In: Nieuws.nl. May 22, 2010; Archived from the original on May 25, 2010 ; Retrieved December 8, 2016 (Dutch).
  3. ↑ Der Standard: Beatrix lets Rutte rule , October 8, 2010, accessed on January 15, 2021.
  4. ↑ Rutte ontvangt zijn laatste kabinetsleden , De Telegraaf, October 13, 2010. Retrieved on 1 February 2012 found.
  5. ↑ tagesschau.de: Mark Ruttes' government offers to resign. Retrieved April 23, 2012 .
  6. ↑ Netherlands: Prime Minister Rutte wins parliamentary election on zeit.de, September 13, 2012 (accessed on September 13, 2012)
  7. ^ Neue Zürcher Zeitung : Grand Coalition in The Hague , October 29, 2012.
  8. ↑ Formatiedag 209: het regeerakkoord is gepresenteerd , NOS , October 10, 2017. Retrieved October 26, 2017.
  9. ↑ Thomas Gutschker, Brussels: Shortly before parliamentary elections: Government in the Netherlands resigns due to subsidy scandals . In: FAZ.NET . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed January 15, 2021]).
  10. ↑ tagesschau.de: Dutch government resigns due to subsidy scandal. Retrieved January 15, 2021 .
  11. ↑ a b NRC: The Netherlands must move away from the terror of mediocrity ( Memento from January 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on May 22, 2010.
  12. ↑ NRC: Ophef in VVD om uitspraak Rutte Holocaust ( Memento of 14 July 2009 at the Internet Archive ), call May 22, 2010.
  13. ↑ Trouw: Mark Rutte pleit voor strict asielbeleid , appeal on May 22, 2010.
  14. ↑ Ron Meerhof: Ontspann Rutte scoort. In: Volkskrant.nl . May 21, 2010, archived from the original on May 24, 2010 ; Retrieved December 8, 2016 (Dutch).
  15. ↑ Trouw: Rutte niet alleen kabinet voor rechts , accessed on October 15, 2010.
  16. ↑ Advertising for constitutional reform: Netherlands declare Turkish election campaign undesirable , FAZ.net, March 4, 2017
personal data
SURNAME Rutte, Mark
SHORT DESCRIPTION Dutch politician (VVD, Prime Minister 2010-)
DATE OF BIRTH February 14, 1967
PLACE OF BIRTH The hague