Hans van den Broek

Hans van den Broek Audio|Nl-Hans van den Broek.ogg|listen (born 11 December 1936 in Paris) is a leading Dutch political figure.

He is best known for having served 11 years as the Netherlands' Minister of Foreign Affairs between 1982 and 1993, when he became European Commissioner for Foreign Relations.

Hans Van Den Broek started his career as a lawyer. He joined the Katholieke Volkspartij (KVP) and was member of the municipal 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 the governments of Ruud Lubbers three times and was in 1991 one of the EU negotiators of the Brioni Agreement, which ended the ten day war in Slovenia. On 6 January 1993 he became a member of the European Commission, once again with responsibility for foreign relations, especially the Enlargement of the European Union. He remained in that post until March 1999, when he retired from European politics.

Hans van den Broek is president of the Netherlands Institute of International Relations ("Clingendael") and also of Radio Netherlands. He is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Global Panel Foundation. He is also a member of the Global Leadership Foundation, an organization which works to promote good governance around the world. [ [http://www.g-l-f.org/pagebuilder.asp?id=239 Welcome to GLF Global Leadership Foundation ] ]

Hans van den Broek is married with Josee van den Broek-van Schendel. They have two daughters, one of whom is Princess Marilène, the wife of Prince Maurits of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven.

References

External links

* [http://www.globalpanel.org/ Official Website of the Global Panel Foundation]
* [http://www.g-l-f.org/ Official Website of the Global Leadership Foundation]