Wim van Eekelen

Wim van Eekelen (1988)

Willem "Wim" Frederik van Eekelen (born February 5, 1931 in Utrecht ) is a Dutch diplomat and politician of the People's Party for Vrijheid en Democratie (VVD), a member of the Second Chamber of the States General and State Secretary in the Ministry of Defense in the first cabinet of Prime Minister Dries van Agt and State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the first cabinet of Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers was. In the second Cabinet of Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers 1986, he was Minister of Defense, had, however, in 1988 because of his responsibility for the so-called by this minister Paspoortaffaire withdraw from the year 1984th He later served as Secretary General of the Western European Union (WEU) between 1989 and 1994 and was also a member of the First Chamber of the States General .

Life

Degree, reserve officer and diplomat

After attending primary school and the municipal grammar school in Utrecht in 1949, Van Eekelen began studying law in the Netherlands at the University of Utrecht , which he graduated in November 1954. He also studied political science at Princeton University between 1950 and 1952 , which he completed with a Bachelor of Arts (BA Political Science). After a subsequent study visit to the European Council , he did military service with a cavalry unit in 't Harde and in the Federal Republic of Germany, and most recently became a reserve officer .

Van Eekelen then entered the diplomatic service and, after completing his preparatory service, was employed as an attaché at the embassy in India from 1957 to 1960 and as the second embassy secretary at the embassy in Great Britain between 1960 and 1964 . On November 18, 1964, he completed his doctorate in law at the University of Utrecht at the chair of Professor Conny Patijn with a dissertation on Indian foreign policy and the border dispute with China .

After working as first secretary at the embassy in Ghana from 1964 to 1966 , he worked from 1966 to 1971 as counselor at the permanent mission to NATO in Brussels and from 1971 to 1974 as rapporteur for political cooperation in Europe between 1974 and 1977 he was Director of Atlantic Cooperation and Security in the State Department. Due to his services in Dutch foreign policy, he was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau on April 29, 1974 .

Deputy and State Secretary

In 1977 van Eekelen resigned from the diplomatic service and was elected on June 8, 1977 as a candidate for the People's Party for Vrijheid en Democratie (VVD) for the first time as a member of the Second Chamber of the States General, to which he was a member until January 20, 1978. Subsequently, Prime Minister Dries van Agt appointed him State Secretary in the Ministry of Defense in its first cabinet, in which he was responsible for legal and material matters until September 11, 1981.

After he was again a member of the Second Chamber between August 25, 1981 and November 5, 1982, he became State Secretary in the first cabinet of Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers' Foreign Ministry on November 5, 1982, where he was responsible for European cooperation until July 14, 1986 responsible. On October 26, 1981, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of the Dutch Lions for his role as MP and State Secretary .

Defense Minister, resignation because of the Paspoortaffaire and WEU General Secretary

Wim van Eekelen (left) at a NATO meeting (2000)

Van Eekelen, who was again a member of the Second Chamber of the States General from June 3, 1986 to July 14, 1986, was appointed Minister of Defense (Minister van Defensie) in his second cabinet on July 14, 1986 by Prime Minister Lubbers .

On September 6, 1988 he resigned from his ministerial office because of the so-called Paspoortaffaire . It was about a political scandal that began in 1984 when there were disputes between the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs over the introduction of a new, forgery-proof European passport and both ministries claimed responsibility for themselves. Due to the lack of further communication between the two ministries, both of them developed their own passport model, whereby the company ultimately commissioned was not able to meet the forgery-proof conditions. After an investigation by a parliamentary commission chaired by Loek Hermans , serious criticism was raised about the processing process and the lack of communication between the ministries involved, which led to van Eekelen, the state secretary responsible for the introduction of the passport, and his successor René van der Linden resigned.

The office of defense minister took over on 6 September 1988 provisionally the minister for development cooperation , Piet Bukman from the Christian Democratic Appèl (CDA), and on 23 September 1988 his party friend Frits Bolkestein .

Nevertheless, on December 21, 1988, he was also appointed Grand Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau.

A few months later, on May 15, 1989, van Eekelen succeeded Alfred Cahen as Secretary General of the Western European Union (WEU) and held this position until he was replaced by José Cutileiro on November 15, 1994. Shortly before he left this country, he was appointed on November 13, 1994 also Commander of the Order of the Dutch Lions.

Most recently, he represented the VVD from June 13, 1995 to June 10, 2003 as a member of the First Chamber of the States General.

Publications

• Indian foreign policy and the border dispute with China , Dissertation, 1964
• SALT-onderhandelingen over strategic wapenen , 1978
• Hoe verder met een Europees ideal? , Co-authors FA Wijsenbeek and J. van Kamminga, 1998
• Debating European security, 1948-1998 , 1998
• Spurs trekken voor strategic jaren , 2001
• De VVD en de Europese Unie: een stellingname ten aanzien van Europese ontwikkelingen , co-authors M. Patijn and JGC Wiebenga, 2001

Web links

• CV in Parlement & Politiek
• Entry in rulers.org

Individual evidence

1. ^ The Netherlands: Ministeries
2. ^ Western European Union (rulers.org)

predecessor	Office	successor
Alfred Cahen	Secretary General of the Western European Union 1989–1994	José Cutileiro