Hans Van Den Broek
broek

"A bold and imaginative
approach is called for.
We will be putting
forward our own ideas.
We will share with you
our own experience in
this regard to the benefit
of all nations of the
Middle East"
--Hans Van Den Broek





Hans van den Broek
(born 11 December 1936 in Paris) is a Dutch politician.

He is most known for being a Netherlands minister of the foreign affairs between 1982 and 1993, when he took a job as a member of the European Commission.

Hans Van Den Broek started his career as a lawyer. He joined the Katholieke Volkspartij (KVP) and was member of the municipality council of Rheden between 1970 and 1974. Between 1976 and 1981 he was member of Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, as representative of KVP and later of the Christen-Democratisch Appèl (CDA).

He was Netherlands minister for foreign affairs in Ruud Lubbers governments three times and was in 1991 one of the EU negotiators in Brioni Agreement that ended ten day war in Slovenia. On 6 January 1993 he became member of the European Commission and has been once again charged for the foreign relations, especially the Enlargement of the European Union. He remained on that position until March 1999, when he retired from European politics.

Hans van den Broek is nowadays president of the Netherlands Institute of International Relations (Clingendael) and president of the Radio Netherlands.

Hans van den Broek is married and has two daughters, one of them is Marilène van den Broek, the wife of Prince Maurits of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven.





Member of the Commission
External relations with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Mongolia, Turkey, Cyprus, Malta and other European countries; Common foreign and security policy and human rights (in agreement with the President); External missions , European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO)
  Born in Paris, France, on 11 December 1936.
  Married, two daughters.
  Doctor of Law, Utrecht; Postgraduate course in senior management at "De Baak", Noordwijk.
  1965-68
Lawyer
  1969-73
Secretary of the managing board of ENKA BV, Arnhem
  1970-74
Member of Rheden municipal council
  1973-76
Commercial manager with ENKA BV
  1976-81
Member of the Lower House of Parliament
  1978
Member of the executive of the Christian Democratic Party
  1981-82
State Secretary for Foreign Affairs
  1982
Minister of Foreign Affairs (reappointed in 1986 and 1989)
  1993-94
Member of the European Commission, responsible for external political relations, common foreign and security policy and enlargement negotiations