Johannes Cornelis "Hans" van Baalen (17 June 1960 – 29 April 2021) was a Dutch politician of the

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a conservative-liberal Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49 political party in ...

(VVD) who served as a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

and

Leader Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets vi ...

of the

in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

from 2009 until 2019. He also was President of the

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

from 21 November 2015 until his death. Van Baalen, a

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

and

management consultant Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultants ...

by occupation, worked for

Deloitte Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of profession ...

as Director of

Public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

from his graduation in 1988 until 1999. He became a Member of the House of Representatives on 28 September 1999 serving until 23 May 2002. After the Dutch general election of 2003 he was re-elected as Member of the House of Representatives serving from 30 January 2003 until 14 July 2009 when he became

. Van Baalen served as President of the Liberal International from 20 April 2009 until 26 April 2014.

Early life and education

Johannes Cornelis van Baalen was born on 17 June 1960 in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

in the Netherlands.Mr.Drs. J.C. (Hans) van Baalen
Parlement & Politiek. Retrieved 30 September 2015. He went to a public primary school in his hometown

Krimpen aan den IJssel Krimpen aan den IJssel () is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality had a population of in , and covers an area of of which is water. History Krimpen is first mentioned in a docum ...

and to the

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

Krimpenerwaard College in the same town, where he followed the

havo ''Hoger algemeen voortgezet onderwijs'' (havo, meaning "higher general continued education" in Dutch) is a stream in the secondary educational system of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Suriname. It has five grades and is generally attended at ...

(1973–1977) and atheneum (1977–1979) programs. He studied Dutch law (1979–1986) and international law (1986–1988) at

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...

. During these student years, he was a member of the Minerva fraternity and the 'Pro Patria' student guard.

Political career

Van Baalen was a member of the VVD since 1986. He was international secretary for the VVD party bureau from 1993 to 1998 and was an MP from 1999 until 2002. He was again made an MP in 2003. Before his political career he worked as a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and also with the

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

department of

Deloitte Consulting Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of profession ...

. In the Dutch

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

, van Baalen was a member of the Foreign Affairs commission, European Affairs commission and the Defense commission. Beginning with the 2009 European elections, van Baalen was a member of European Parliament and faction leader of the Dutch VVD Delegation, and was generally seen as one of the most influential figures within the party. He served as a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and its

Subcommittee on Security and Defence The Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE) is a subcommittee of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament. It is responsible for European security and defence policy, including institutions, capabilities and operations, as we ...

from 2009. On both committees, he was his parliamentary group’s coordinator. As substitute, he also served on the

Committee on International Trade The Committee on International Trade (INTA) is a committee of the European Parliament. Its current chair, elected on 10 July 2019, is Bernd Lange.South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. He was previously a member of the delegations with

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

(2010-2014), the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

(2010-2014) and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

(2009-2014). In July 2018, van Baalen announced that he would not stand in the 2019 European elections but instead resign by the end of the parliamentary term. On 11 January 2021, the Dutch government appointed van Baalen as a member of the ‘Eminent Persons Group on the European Economy’ which advises Dutch politics on the EU economy, budgetary, fiscal & monetary policy. On 19 March 2021, the Council of Ministers, on the proposal of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, agreed to nominate van Baalen for an appointment as a member of the Advisory Council on International Affairs (AIV).

Political positions

Relations with Russia and Ukraine

Van Baalen was a member of the European Parliament’s monitoring mission during the Ukrainian parliamentary elections in 2014, led by

Andrej Plenković Andrej Plenković ( ; born 8 April 1970) is a Croatian politician who has been serving as the prime minister of Croatia since 19 October 2016. He was previously one of eleven Croatian members of the European Parliament, serving from Croatia's ...

. With regard to the conflict with Russia over Ukraine, he argued for higher military spending and NATO involvement, and improved prospects for Ukraine to join the EU if its population so decided. In 2015, news media reported that van Baalen was included in a Russian blacklist of prominent people from the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

who are not allowed to enter the country. In 2016 he received the

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

Order of Merit The Order of Merit (french: link=no, Ordre du Mérite) is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by K ...

Third Class, bestowed upon him by president

Petro Poroshenko Petro Oleksiyovych Poroshenko ( uk, Петро́ Олексі́йович Пороше́нко, ; born 26 September 1965) is a Ukrainian businessman and politician who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. Poroshenko ser ...

Car industry

Van Baalen worked until September 2015 as a lobbyist for the motoring organisation ''RAI'' and was on the supervisory board of

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

. Van Baalen reported those positions to the European Parliament and indicated he refrained from involvement in car-related parliamentary business. In 2014 however, van Baalen, in his capacity as member of European parliament called for standardized rules for the car industry in the European Union and the United States.

Distinctions

Order of Merit (Ukraine) The Order of Merit ( uk, Орден «За заслуги») (Distinguished service) first, second or third class, is the Ukrainian order of merit, given to individuals for outstanding achievements in economics, science, culture, military or poli ...

, Third Class. * Order of Orange-Nassau ribbon - Knight

Knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

of the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has ...

References

External links

;Official *
Mr.Drs. J.C. (Hans) van Baalen
Parlement.com *

Europees Parlement , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Baalen, Hans van 1960 births 2021 deaths 20th-century Dutch journalists 20th-century Dutch jurists 20th-century Dutch politicians 21st-century Dutch jurists 21st-century Dutch politicians Dutch colonels Dutch corporate directors Dutch lobbyists Dutch management consultants Dutch political consultants Dutch public relations people European Union lobbyists Knights of the Order of Orange-Nassau Leiden University alumni Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) MEPs for the Netherlands 2009–2014 MEPs for the Netherlands 2014–2019 People from Krimpen aan den IJssel Politicians from Rotterdam People's Party for Freedom and Democracy MEPs People's Party for Freedom and Democracy politicians Presidents of the Liberal International Protestant Church Christians from the Netherlands Recipients of the Order of Merit (Ukraine), 3rd class Royal Netherlands Army officers Military personnel from Rotterdam