Wim Kok

Wim Kok, 1994

Willem (Wim) Kok (born September 29, 1938 in Bergambacht ; † October 20, 2018 in Amsterdam ) was a Dutch politician ( PvdA ) and from 1994 to 2002 Prime Minister of the Netherlands of two successive cabinets - the Paarse kabinetten (Purple Cabinets) or " Kok I "and" Kok II ". What was meant by this was the cooperation between social democrats and both liberal parties.

Life

After completing his training at the Nijenrode University of Economics , the only private university in the Netherlands at the time, and completing his military service, Kok worked for a short time in a foreign trade office.

Wim Kok began his career with the Bouwbond NVV (construction) union, where he was first secretary and later chairman. 1986–1989 he was parliamentary group leader of the Partij van de Arbeid (PvdA) in the Second Chamber .

From 1989 to 1994 he was Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister in Ruud Lubbers' second and third cabinets . In 1989 he was elected chairman of the Socialist International . He was also vice-chairman of the Sociaal-Economische Raad (SER), employee chairman of the Stichting van de Arbeid (Foundation of Labor), a body that advises the government on social policy and in which employees and employers are equally represented, vice-chairman of the Dutch Central Bank and visiting lecturer at the Institute for Social Studies and advisor to the European Commission .

Wim Kok and Vladimir Putin , 2001

From August 22, 1994 to July 22, 2002, he was Prime Minister of the first and second Kok Cabinets.

In 2001, Kok's handling of the Zorreguieta question received great praise. The father of Máxima Zorreguieta  - the future queen - was very controversial in the Netherlands because of his unclear role during the Argentine dictatorship under Videla .

On Tuesday April 16, 2002, Kok and his entire second cabinet resigned one month before the elections. He thus assumed political responsibility for the disastrous operation of the Dutch blue helmet soldiers of the UN mission Unprofor , which had led to the Srebrenica massacre . The direct trigger for Kok's resignation were the results of the investigations by the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation (NIOD) into the role of the Dutch soldiers who were actually responsible for protecting the population.

After the 2002 election defeat, Kok said goodbye to active politics; He had announced this step a year earlier.

Kok pursued a stringent austerity policy during his time as finance minister. He continued this course as Prime Minister. This enabled new jobs to be created and the economy to grow. He succeeded in persuading the former opponents PvdA and VVD to cooperate in the interests of the citizens and to reorganize the finances. Citizens and businesses were given tax breaks, which led to higher investment and economic growth. This created a labor shortage during the second Kok cabinet. Staff became scarce, especially in schools and hospitals. The result was many free hours for the students and often long waiting lists for operations. Important points in his two cabinets were immaterial. Under his leadership, voluntary euthanasia was further liberalized and homosexual marriage was introduced. In addition, liberalization was carried out in the economic field, for example in the energy sector and shop opening hours. Despite his leadership qualities and the great sympathy that Wim Kok enjoyed in large parts of the Dutch population, an “anti-couples” mood was noticeable at the end of his tenure, not only but also through the appearance of Pim Fortuyn on the political floor. The second Kok cabinet was not very successful in solving problems in the health and education systems, especially in the last phase; all of this led to the electoral defeat of the PvdA.

Kok was described as having integrity, sober, and nationally and internationally respected.

On April 11, 2003, Wim Kok became Minister of State . This honorary title is awarded in special cases by the King (at that time by Queen Beatrix ) at the request of the Council of Ministers for life. The Minister van Staat are not members of the Council of Ministers, but can be asked for advice by the King or the Cabinet in some situations, for example on forming a government or on complicated questions of constitutional law.

On December 10, 2003, Wim Kok was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Philosophical Faculty of the Westphalian Wilhelms University of Münster . His commitment to improving and intensifying German-Dutch relations was recognized .

literature

• Klein, Pieter; Kooistra, Redmar (Ed.): Wim Kok. Het taaie gevecht van een polderjongen. Prometheus, Amsterdam 1998. ISBN 90-5333-671-0
• Kok, Wim: Social and Economic Reforms. A European challenge Speech for the award of an honorary doctorate from the Philosophical Faculty of the Westphalian Wilhelms University of Münster on December 10, 2003. Waxmann, Münster 2004. ISBN 3-8309-1346-X
• Krop, Marnix: Voor zijn mensen, 1938-1994. Prometheus, Amsterdam 2019. ISBN 978-90-446-3284-2

Web links

Commons : Wim Kok  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Wim Kok in the catalog of the German National Library
• W. (Wim) Kok , Parlement en Politiek (ndl.)

predecessor	Office	successor
Onno Ruding	Minister of Finance of the Netherlands 1989–1994	Gerrit Zalm