Eimert van Middelkoop

Eimert van Middelkoop
Minister of Defence
In office 22 February 2007 – 14 October 2010
Prime Minister	Jan Peter Balkenende
Preceded by	Henk Kamp
Succeeded by	Hans Hillen
Minister of Integration and Housing
In office 23 February 2010 – 14 October 2010
Prime Minister	Jan Peter Balkenende
Preceded by	Eberhard van der Laan
Succeeded by	Melanie Schultz van Haegen
Member of the Senate
In office 10 June 2003 – 22 February 2007
Parliamentary leader - Reformed Political League House of Representatives
In office 14 February 2001 – 13 March 2001
Preceded by	Gert Schutte
Succeeded by	Party Disbanded
Member of the House of Representatives
In office 14 May 1989 – 13 May 2002
Personal details
Born	Eimert van Middelkoop 14 February 1949 Berkel en Rodenrijs, Netherlands
Nationality	Dutch
Political party	Reformed Political League (1974-2001) ChristianUnion (since 2001)
Residence	Berkel en Rodenrijs, Netherlands
Alma mater	Erasmus University Rotterdam (BA in sociology)
Occupation	Politician Civil servant Teacher
Religion	Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Liberated)

Eimert van Middelkoop (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɛimərt fɑn ˈmɪdəlkoːp];^[1] born 14 February 1949) is a Dutch politician in the ChristianUnion (CU) party. From 2007 to 2010, he was Minister of Defence in the fourth Balkenende cabinet. In 2010, he served as the Minister of Housing, Communities and Integration (Wonen, Wijken en Integratie).^[2]

Early life

After high school, van Middelkoop attended what is now Erasmus University, earning a B.A. in Sociology in 1971. In 1971 and 1972, he was a teacher at the Reformed Social Academy in Zwolle. He was exempt from military draft for being indispensable as staff member of the Reformed Political League in the House of Representatives.^[2]

Politics

Van Middelkoop became a member of the House of Representatives in 1989, while affiliated with the Reformed Political League. Since 2000, he has been aligned with the ChristianUnion (ChristenUnie), which was the product of a fusion of the Reformatory Political Federation (RPF) and the Reformatory Political Federation (GPV). He specialised in foreign and military affairs, prepared the inquiry by the House of Representatives into the role of the Netherlands in the fall of Srebrenica. He lost his seat in the House of Representatives in the 2002 elections.

From 2003 until 2007, van Middelkoop was a member of the Senate of the Netherlands. In the 2006 elections, the ChristianUnion party doubled its seats and joined the fourth Balkenende cabinet. Van Middelkoop became Minister of Defence in 2007.

In September 2008, he told the Dutch opinion magazine, Vrij Nederland, that he would have been very unhappy to have joined the army. Because of this and other remarks, he received criticism from military labour unions, who said that Van Middelkoop had lost his credibility.^[3][4]

Decorations^[2]

• Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau
• Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau
• Ghazi Mir Bacha Khan Medal (Afghanistan)

References

1. In isolation, van is pronounced [vɑn].
2. House of Representatives biography (in Dutch)
3. "Van Middelkoop was blij dat hij niet in dienst hoefde" (in Dutch). NRC Handelsblad. 23 September 2008. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
4. "Van Middelkoop moet praten met militaire vakbonden" (in Dutch). NRC Handelsblad. 25 September 2009. Retrieved 22 May 2014.

External links

• (Dutch) Parliament biography (in Dutch)