Wim Kok
Willem "Wim" Kok was a Dutch politician who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 August 1994 until 22 July 2002. He was a member of the Labour Party.
Kok, a trade union leader by profession, worked for the Netherlands Association of Trade Unions from 1961 until 1976, when it merged to form the Federation Netherlands Labour Movement. Kok served as its first chairman from 1976 until 1986 when he left to enter the House of Representatives as a Labour politician. After the general election of 1994 Kok became Prime Minister of the Netherlands, taking office on 22 August 1994. On 15 December 2001 Kok announced his retirement from national politics and stood down as Leader of the Labour Party that same day. He remained Prime Minister of the Netherlands until the First Balkenende cabinet was installed on 22 July 2002, semi-retiring from active politics at the age of 63.
After his premiership, Kok became a lobbyist for the European Union and presided over several "high-level groups". He served various roles on supervisory boards in the worlds of business and industry as well as several international non-governmental organizations.
Kok was known for his abilities as a manager and negotiator. During his premiership, his cabinets were responsible for implementing several social reforms and further reducing the deficit. He held the distinction of leading the first purple coalitions as Prime Minister of the Netherlands. On 11 April 2003, he was granted the honorary title of Minister of State.
Early life
Willem Kok was born on 29 September 1938, in Bergambacht in the Netherlands Province of South Holland, the son of Willem Kok a carpenter, and Neeltje de Jager. He had one younger brother, who was born in 1945.After completing his studies in business at the Nyenrode Business Universiteit, he started his career in 1961 at the socialist Netherlands Association of Trade Unions, where he was chairman from 1973 until 1982. In 1982, the NVV merged with Nederlands Katholiek Vakverbond, the Catholic trade union, to form the Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging, of which he served as chair until 1986.
Political career
Parliamentary leader and Minister of Finance
Kok was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives on 3 June 1986, after the Dutch general election of 1986. Soon after the election Joop den Uyl the Leader of the Labour Party and Parliamentary leader of the Labour Party in the House of Representatives announced that he was stepping down after serving twenty years as Leader of the Labour Party. Kok was elected to succeed him and became Party and Parliamentary leader of the Labour Party in the House of Representatives on 21 July 1986 and served as Opposition leader during the parliamentary period of the Cabinet Lubbers II.Kok lead his party in the Dutch general election of 1989. The Labour Party lost three seats but the following cabinet formation resulted in a coalition agreement with the Christian Democratic Appeal which formed the Cabinet Lubbers III. Kok entered government for the first time and became both Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands and Minister of Finance, serving from 7 November 1989 until 22 August 1994.
Prime Minister
First term (1994–1998)
In the 1994 general election, the Labour Party lost twelve seats but the CDA with new leader Elco Brinkman lost twenty seats. The Labour Party became the largest party in the House of Representatives, after an arduous cabinet formation with the conservative liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and the social liberal Democrats 66 a deal was struck that resulted in the Cabinet Kok I, with Kok as Prime Minister. It was considered groundbreaking in Dutch politics this was the first Cabinet of the Netherlands since 1908 without a Christian democratic party.The main aim of the Cabinet Kok I was to create employment. The Dutch economy had been in a deep recession for years. The market was allowed more influence in the economy. This led to a policy of tax reduction, economizing, and trying to keep people out of social care by supporting employment; large infrastructure projects were set in motion. Another aim was to put an end to the enormous debt of the Dutch government. The Treaty of Amsterdam was signed during this cabinet. The Srebrenica massacre occurred under the responsibility of this government, which eventually led to the fall of the second Kok cabinet.
In the 1998 general election, the Labour party gained eight seats; the coalition retained its majority, and cabinet formation resulted in a continuation of policies with the Cabinet Kok II.
Second term (1998–2002)
The second cabinet was the successor of the first cabinet was formed from the same coalition of PvdA, VVD and D66. It was also known as the "second purple cabinet" called such because it contained both the social-democratic PvdA and the liberal VVD. The aim of the cabinet was to continue the policy of cabinet Kok I, which was concerned with economizing, tax reduction, and making an end to unemployment. Kok was the prime minister, Annemarie Jorritsma as the deputy prime minister for the VVD, and Els Borst for D66. The cabinet had both left-wing and right-wing political parties as a part of it. There was no strong opposition in the House of Representatives. This did not mean that Kok did not face any problems. In May 1999, D66 stepped out of the coalition when proposed legislation on referenda, entered by this party, was blocked; through negotiations the crisis was solved and the cabinet stayed together. Moreover, allegations of expenses abuse were made against Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations Bram Peper from the time he was mayor of Rotterdam. On 13 March 2000 Peper resigned as minister, according to himself to no longer bring problems to the public government, and to be better able to defend himself. On the other hand, Kok's second term is known for legalizing same-sex marriage and euthanasia.On 15 December 2001, Kok announced he would retire from national politics after the elections of May 2002. He stood down as Leader of the Labour Party that same day, in favour of Ad Melkert. Unfortunately, Melkert did not appeal to the voter. Moreover, the "polder model" went out of fashion in early 2002, which saw the rise of Pim Fortuyn, a political newcomer.
On 16 April 2002, close to the natural end of term for the cabinet, prime minister Kok wished to resign early after being harshly criticised in a government-commissioned report by the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies regarding the fall of Srebrenica in 1995 and the other ministers had no choice but to follow him. The second Kok cabinet remained in place as a caretaker cabinet, which had to cope with the murder of Fortuyn, and the CDA with leader Jan Peter Balkenende winning the elections. The caretaker cabinet stepped down on 22 July 2002, when the Cabinet Balkenende I was installed.
Legacy
Kok was highly praised for his Third Way and polder model philosophies and for the success of leading his Purple Coalitions. During his premiership, his cabinets were responsible for implementing several social reforms, legalizing same-sex marriage and euthanasia, stimulating the economy resulting in more employment and privatization and further reducing the deficit. As a result of this, and because of his skills as manager and negotiator, Kok was praised by his fellow European leaders.After politics
After his premiership, Kok retired from active politics at the age of sixty-three and became a lobbyist for the European Union and presided over several "high-level groups". He also occupied numerous seats on supervisory boards in the business and industry world. On 11 April 2003, he was granted the honorary title of Minister of State.Lisbon Strategy
Between April and November 2004, Kok headed up a review of the Lisbon Strategy and presented a report containing suggestions on how to give new impetus to the Lisbon process. The European Commission used this report to declare that the social and environmental parts are no longer a priority and declared a return to the Lisbon Agenda under economic terms only. Kok lobbied for the Lisbon Strategy of the European Commission and was appointed to the Honorary Board of the European Association of History Educators.Between 2006 and 2007, Kok served as member of the Amato Group, a group of high-level European politicians unofficially working on rewriting the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe into what became known as the Treaty of Lisbon following its rejection by French and Dutch voters.