Wim Kok

Early life

Willem Kok was born on 29 September 1938, in Bergambacht in the Netherlands Province of South Holland, the son of Willem Kok (29 March 1910 – 10 January 1981) a carpenter and Neeltje de Jager (17 October 1913 – 5 May 2005)). He has one younger brother born in 1945.

Union career

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 (NVV), where he was chairman from 1973 until 1982. In 1982, the NVV merged with Nederlands Katholiek Vakverbond (NKV), the Catholic trade union, to form the Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging (FNV), of which he served as chair until 1986. Then he left the union to enter politics.

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 leader of the Labour Party and the 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. For the Dutch general election of 1989 Kok became the top candidate and the Labour Party lost three seats but the following cabinet formation resulted in a coalition agreement with the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) which formed the Cabinet Lubbers III, Kok became Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands and Minister of Finance, serving from 7 November 1989 until 22 August 1994.

First term (1994-1998)

For the 1994 general election, Kok again as top candidate 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 (VVD) and the social liberal Democrats 66 (D66) 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. This was the last Dutch cabinet in recent history to serve a full term.

In the 1998 general election, Kok again as top candidate 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 (red) and the liberal VVD (blue). 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. Wim 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 over the 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. Thus Kok's second term became notable for resigning twice. 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, stimulating the economy for more employment and privatization and further reducing the deficit. As a result of this, and because of his skills as manager and negotiator, Kok obtained the status of a statesman by his fellow European leaders.

After politics

Kok left Dutch politics after the election, as he had already announced the year before, but that does not mean his political life has ended. Like many whose official political careers have ended, he continues to influence 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 (ING Group, Koninklijke TNT Post, Royal Dutch Shell, KLM, Stork B.V., International Commission on Missing Persons, International Crisis Group, Anne Frank Foundation and served as president of the Club of Madrid from 2009 until the December 2013). 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 now lobbies for the Lisbon Strategy of the European Commission and has also been appointed to the Advisory Board of the European Association of History Educators.

Personal

In 1965, after four years of dating, Kok married Margrietha "Rita" Roukema (born 1939). He adopted her two children from a previous marriage, daughter Carla (born 1959) and son André (born 1961), who is mentally and physically disabled, and together they had a third child, son Marcel (born 1966).