Reint Laan

Prince Claus and Mayor R. Laan (1976)

Reint Laan (born December 10, 1914 in Velsen ; † November 3, 1993 in Rotterdam ) was a Dutch trade unionist and politician of the social democratic PvdA .

Career

Laan was born into a trade union family. His father Reint sr. was a leading representative of the Rotterdam dockworkers as well as council member of Sliedrecht and Dordrecht . His mother was also a councilor in Sliedrecht. Laan himself first attended the municipal vocational school for teachers in Dordrecht until 1934 and was then a lecturer at union cadre schools in Rotterdam and Schiedam . In his career as a union leader, he initially represented the port workers in Delfzijl from 1939 to 1941 and was then controller of the General Provincial Health Insurance in Groningen until 1945 . Laan later served from 1951 to 1961 as the port workers 'secretary for the transport union at the Netherlands Union Confederation NPV, and from 1961 to 1963 as director of the regional office for underdeveloped areas at the International Transport Workers' Federation in London.

Politically, Laan's career began as a council member and Wethouder ( alderman ) of Delfzijl from 1945 to 1947. He was later also council member in Amsterdam (1949–1951) and Rotterdam (1958–1961 and 1966–1968). In 1964 Laan was elected to the Second Chamber of the States General for the PvdA and was also delegated to the European Parliament in 1965 . In 1968 Laan resigned from parliament and was appointed mayor of Zaandam . He kept this office when the new municipality of Zaanstad was formed in 1974 following structural reform . In 1979 he retired.

Laan was a member of the Dutch delegation to the Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe and from 1974 to 1976 President of the conference. During his term of office the amendment of the charter of the conference fell in 1975 by the committee of ministers. The conference, which until then consisted exclusively of representatives of local authorities, was thus expanded to include representatives of the regions and the conference was given the function of a link to the European Communities .

Web links

• Biography at "Parlement.com"