Menno Snel (born 29 October 1970) is a Dutch politician. A member of the

Democrats 66 Democrats 66 (; abbreviated D66, ) is a Social liberalism, social liberal List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands, which positions itself in the Centrism, centre of the Left–right political spectrum, p ...

(D66) party, he served as State Secretary for Finance from 26 October 2017 until his resignation on 18 December 2019.

Education

Snel was born in

Vleuten-De Meern Vleuten-De Meern is a former municipality in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It was created in a merger of Haarzuilens, Veldhuizen, Vleuten and a part of Oudenrijn in 1954, and existed until 2001, when it was merged with Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) ...

in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

. He studied general economics between 1988 and 1994 at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen in ...

, where he was a board member at the student association RKSV Albertus Magnus.

Career

Professional life

After graduation, he worked at the Dutch bank

MeesPierson MeesPierson is a Netherlands-based private bank headquartered in Rotterdam. Until 2009, the bank was known as Fortis MeesPierson. The name derives from the November 1992 merger of merchant banks Mees & Hope (founded by Franco Cordelois, Jan de Vri ...

. In 1995, he joined the Ministry of Finance, of which a while as the Deputy Director-General for Fiscal Affairs, a position he was appointed in at age 33. During his time at the Finance Ministry, he worked on various dossiers, including the budget policy (most notably the Zalmnorm instituted by

Gerrit Zalm Gerrit Zalm (born 6 May 1952) is a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and businessman. Zalm studied Economics at the Free University Amsterdam obtaining a Master of Economics degree and worked as a ci ...

) and international

tax competition Tax competition, a form of regulatory competition, exists when governments use reductions in fiscal burdens to encourage the inflow of productive resources or to discourage the exodus of those resources. Often, this means a governmental strategy ...

between countries. He later worked for the pension fund APG, where he held from 2009 to 2011 the position of director strategy and policy. Between 2011 and 2016 he worked in Washington, D.C. with the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...

(IMF) in its daily governance and on 1 September 2016 he was appointed as chairman of the board of the Nederlandse Waterschapsbank.

Politics

On 26 October 2017, Snel joined the newly formed

Third Rutte cabinet The third Rutte cabinet was the cabinet of the Netherlands from 26 October 2017 until 10 January 2022 (since 15 January 2021 demissionary). It was formed by a coalition government of the political parties People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ...

as State Secretary for

Finance Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...

. He joined the

(D66) a short while before his appointment and was considered a surprise and technical appointment by many. His portfolio includes Fiscal Affairs, Lower Governmental Finances, the

Royal Dutch Mint The Royal Dutch Mint (''Koninklijke Nederlandse Munt'', abbreviated ''KNM'') based in Houten, the Netherlands, is a company owned by Heylen Group. It was established and previously owned by the Dutch state. History On 17 September 1806, when The ...

Holland Casino Holland Casino is a Dutch state-owned company and has the legal monopoly on gambling in the Netherlands, and has fourteen casinos located throughout the country. Profits from Holland Casino go directly to the Dutch treasury. In 2007, profit was aro ...

and the State Lottery. His primary challenge is expected to be the reform of the

Tax and Customs Administration The Tax and Customs Administration ( nl, Belastingdienst, translation=Tax Service) is the tax collection and customs service of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is part of the Ministry of Finance and is responsible for levying and collecting tax ...

, which went through a lot of turmoil in the recent past. Later, Snel was accused of (knowingly) unlawfully reclaiming subsidies paid out to citizens, for children, thus forcing these citizens into bankruptcies or lifelong repayment schemes. At least 300 parents have been affected, but were promised reimbursement by the government. The government has accused the Tax Service as a whole responsible. Employees were afraid to speak out in fear of losing their jobs. Hints of fraud have been hinted at from as early as 2014. In January 2021 this

Netherlands child welfare fraud scandal The Dutch childcare benefits scandal ( nl, kinderopvangtoeslagaffaire or , ) is a political scandal in the Netherlands concerning false allegations of fraud made by the Tax and Customs Administration while attempting to regulate the distributi ...

led the cabinet Rutte to collectively decide to resign and to continue as a

demissionary cabinet A demissionary cabinet ( nl, demissionair kabinet) is a type of caretaker cabinet in the Netherlands. A demissionary cabinet continues the current government after a cabinet has ended. This can either be after completion of the full term, betwe ...

until the planned

2021 Dutch general election General elections were held in the Netherlands from 15 to 17 March 2021 to elect all 150 members of the House of Representatives. Following the elections and lengthy coalition formation talks, the sitting government remained in power. The elect ...

. In 2022, Snel became the Netherlands’ nominee to succeed Klaus Regling as Managing Director of the

European Stability Mechanism The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) is an intergovernmental organization located in Luxembourg City, which operates under public international law for all eurozone member states having ratified a special ESM intergovernmental treaty. It was ...

.Paola Tamma (23 May 2022)
Finance ministers narrow options for eurozone bailout chief
''

Politico Europe ''Politico Europe'' (stylized as ''POLITICO Europe'') is the European edition of the German-owned news organization ''Politico'' reporting on political affairs of the European Union. Its headquarters are located in Brussels with additional offices ...

''.

References

External links

;Official *
Drs. M. (Menno) Snel
Parlement & Politiek {{DEFAULTSORT:Snel, Menno 1970 births Living people Democrats 66 politicians Dutch bankers Dutch corporate directors Dutch expatriates in the United States Dutch financial advisors International Monetary Fund people State Secretaries for Finance of the Netherlands People from Vleuten-De Meern University of Groningen alumni 20th-century Dutch civil servants 20th-century Dutch economists 21st-century Dutch civil servants 21st-century Dutch economists 21st-century Dutch politicians