Klaas de Vries
 Klaas de Vries     ( politician) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 28 April 1943 Hoensbroek, Netherlands | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Dutch | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | • Hamline University • Utrecht University | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of | Dutch Round Table, European Leadership Network, Netherlands Atlantic Association | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Party | Labour Party (Netherlands) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Single Bilderberg retired Dutch politician who attended Atlantic Storm
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Klaas de Vries is a retired Dutch politician. He attended the Atlantic Storm as Interior Minister, and attended the 2003 Bilderberg meeting.
Education
After graduating from high school in Heerlen in 1961, he left for a year to study liberal arts at Hamline University in Saint-Paul, Minnesota, before returning to the Netherlands to attend studies in law at the University of Utrecht, which he completed in 1968.
Career
De Vries became a member of the House of Representatives after the 1972 general election, taking office on taking office on 28 May 1973 as a frontbencher and spokesperson for defence and chairing the parliamentary inquiry commission on construction grants. In August 1988 De Vries was nominated as Executive-Director of the Association of Municipalities, he resigned as a member of the House of Representatives the same day he was installed as Executive-Director on 1 September 1988.
In December 1995 De Vries was nominated as chairman of the Social and Economic Council, he resigned as Executive-Director the same day he was installed as Chairman, taking office on 1 January 1996.
After the 1998 general election De Vries was appointed as Minister of Social Affairs and Employment in the Kok II cabinet, taking office on 3 August 1998. De Vries was acting Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Fisheries from 7 June 1999 until 9 June 1999.
De Vries was appointed as Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, taking office on 24 March 2000. After the 2002 general election De Vries returned to the House of Representatives, taking office on 23 May 2002. The Kok II cabinet was replaced by the Balkenende I cabinet on 22 July 2002, where he became frontbencher and spokesperson for integration.
After the Leader of the Labour Party Ad Melkert announced that he was stepping down following the defeat in the election, De Vries announced his candidacy to succeed him. De Vries lost the leadership election to former State Secretary for Finance Wouter Bos on 12 November 2002. In July 2006 De Vries announced that he would not stand for the 2006 general election and continued to sit until the end of the parliamentary term on 30 November 2006.[1]
De Vries remained in active in national politics, he was elected to the Senate after the 2007 Senate election, becoming spokesperson for foreign affairs and chairing several parliamentary committees.
In November 2014 De Vries announced his retirement from national politics and that he would not stand for the 2015 Senate election and continued to sit until the end of the parliamentary term on 9 June 2015.
Other positions
De Vries occupied numerous seats as a nonprofit director on several boards of directors and supervisory boards (Humanist Association, Parliamentary Documentation Center, Transnational Institute, International Fellowship of Reconciliation, Atlantic Association, Institute for Multiparty Democracy, ProDemos and the International Institute of Social History) and served on several state commissions and councils on behalf of the government (Council for Public Administration, Cadastre Agency, Advisory Council for Spatial Planning and Public Pension Funds APB). De Vries also worked as a sport administrator for the Olympic Committee*Dutch Sports Federation (NOC*NSF) and was distinguished professor of Governmental Studies, Public administration and Political history at the Radboud University Nijmegen from 1 June 2009 until 10 October 2012.
Events Participated in
| Event | Start | End | Location(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlantic Storm | 14 January 2005 | 14 January 2005 | New York US | A scenario designed to mimic a summit of transatlantic leaders forced to respond to a bioterrorist attack. Recommended militarization, vaccination and stockpiling drugs. Held January 2005. |
| Bilderberg/2003 | 15 May 2003 | 18 May 2003 | France Versailles | The 51st Bilderberg, in Versailles, France |
