Hans Dijkstal

Henri Frans (Hans) Dijkstal ( born February 28, 1943 in Port Said, Egypt; † 9, 2010, Wassenaar ) was a Dutch politician of the Volkspartij voor de Vrijheid Democracy (VVD ) (People's Party for Freedom and Democracy).

Life

Dijkstal was born in Egypt, where his father and grandfather worked in the shipping industry. At the age of five years came Dijkstal who spoke fluent Arabic, in the Netherlands. After completing high school he studied law at the University of Amsterdam, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts. From 1965 to 1967 he did his military service in the Netherlands Air Force ( Air Traffic Control ) and was promoted to reserve officer. From 1967 to 1982 worked as an independent financial adviser in the insurance industry and was from 1970 to 1978 professor of management training at the Institute of Social Studies ( Instituut voor Sociale Wetenschappen ) in The Hague.

Policy

His political career began in 1974 as a councilor for Volkspartij voor de Vrijheid Democracy in the council of Wassenaar. From 1974 to 1986 he practiced from that office. From 1978 to 1982 he was Assistant Secretary ( Wethouder ) in Wassenaar. He was responsible for education, culture and public education in his capacity as Head of the Department. In 1982, he was first elected to the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Parliament of the Netherlands, the States-General. He was a member from 1982 to 1986 and then was re-elected as an MP from 1986 to 1994.

Dijkstal 1994 drove the emergence of the first " purple coalition " decisive progress, a coalition of social democratic Partij van de Arbeid ( PvdA), right- liberal VVD and the social-liberal party Democraten 66 ( D66 ). Under Prime Minister Wim Kok, he was in his first cabinet (cabinet Kok I) Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister. In the second period of the Violet government coalition (1998-2002) Hans Dijkstal was to succeed Frits Bolkestein leader of the VVD in the Tweede Kamer. At the same time, he was from 1998 to 2002 chairman of the party VVD. After the electoral defeat of the ruling coalition from 2002 Dijkstal withdrew from the first line of Dutch politics.

Views

Dijkstal belonged total on the left wing of his party. In 1995, he was responsible for a law on housing applicants that secured these minimum social standards. Together with the then Justice Minister Winnie Sorgdrager he published in 1997 a report by the Dutch government on crime in the context of the social and social integration of ethnic minorities. In the fight against crime among immigrants from the Netherlands Antilles, Surinam, Morocco and Turkey, he called for better education and easier access to the national labor market. In 1998 he was one of the proponents of the law for the integration of immigrants. Immigrants should have been obliged to deal with the Dutch society and to learn Dutch. Local authorities should be required by law to implement this idea by integrating courses.

Dijkstal took a position of " undivided nationality " for Dutch and immigrants from the former colonies and overseas territories. In later years Dijkstal turned increasingly from the populism of the VVD in the question of multiculturalism and argued for greater tolerance among the social groups. In 2006 he was one of the initiators of the manifesto Eén country, één samenleving.

Dijkstal was a great jazz lover. He played saxophone and also appeared in public at party events and concerts in jazz clubs. From 2003 to 2007 Dijkstal was president of the Nederlands Fonds voor de film.

Dijkstal was in 1966 married to Anneke Dijkstal and two daughters. He died after a long illness from cancer.