Johan Tjitze van Minnen (31 October 1932 – 18 April 2016) was a Dutch journalist and politician. He was a foreign correspondent in first Luxembourg and later West Germany. Between 1975 and 1978 he was the ombudsman of the television show '. Van Minnen served as a member of 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 ...

for the Labour Party between 1979 and 1984.

Career

Van Minnen was born on 31 October 1932 in Noordwolde. He was a

contributing editor A contributing editor is a newspaper, magazine or online job title that varies in its responsibilities. Often, but not always, a contributing editor is a "high-end" freelancer, consultant, or expert who has proven ability and has readership dra ...

for ''

Het Vrije Volk ''Het Vrije Volk'' was a Dutch social-democratic daily newspaper. It was the successor, after World War II, of the socialist daily '' Het Volk''. The paper appeared legally 1 March 1945 in Eindhoven. From 28 January 1946, all subdivisions of the ...

'' from 1952 to 1958. Van Minnen then moved to Luxembourg, where he was a foreign correspondent for the ''

Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant ''NRC'', previously called ''NRC Handelsblad'' (), is a daily morning newspaper published in the Netherlands by NRC Media. It is generally accepted as a newspaper of record in the Netherlands. History ''NRC Handelsblad'' was first published on ...

'' until 1964. He then switched countries and was stationed in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

, then capital of

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. Van Minnen worked there as foreign correspondent for the Dutch public broadcaster. In 1975 he returned to the Netherlands and was the ombudsman on the television show ' until 1978. Van Minnen subsequently served as a member of the

for the Labour Party between 17 July 1979 and 23 July 1984. Throughout his time in Parliament he served on the Committee on Social Affairs and Employment. Van Minnen wrote several book on the position of Germany in Europe. He died on 18 April 2016 in

Zeist Zeist () is the capital and largest town of the municipality of Zeist. The town is located in the Utrecht province of the Netherlands, east of the city of Utrecht. History The town of "Seist" was first mentioned in a charter in the year 8 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minnen, Johan van 1932 births 2016 deaths Dutch journalists Dutch reporters and correspondents Labour Party (Netherlands) MEPs MEPs for the Netherlands 1979–1984 People from Weststellingwerf