Martinus Josephus Maria Kox (; born 6 May 1953 in
Zeelst
Zeelst is a former village in the Dutch province of North Brabant, now a neighbourhood of Veldhoven.
Zeelst was a separate municipality until 1921, when it became part of Veldhoven.Ad van der Meer and Onno Boonstra, "Repertorium van Nederlandse g ...
) is a Dutch politician who is serving as President of
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
The Assembly is made up o ...
. As a member of the
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...
(SP) he has been serving as Senator since 10 June 2003, as well as being the longest-serving incumbent Senator in the Dutch Senate. On 24 January 2022 he was elected the President of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
The Assembly is made up o ...
(PACE), initially for a one-year term. Prior to this, he was for several years the President of the
Unified European Left Group in the Assembly, where he has been a member since 2003.
Biography
Early career
In 1973 Kox finished an economical-judicial study programme at the School for Higher Economics & Administrative Sciences in Eindhoven. After which, in 1975, he got his bachelor of law-degree at
Tilburg University
Tilburg University is a public university, public research university specializing in the social and behavioral sciences, economics, law, business sciences, theology and humanities, located in Tilburg in the southern part of the Netherlands.
Tilb ...
, which ended his law study. From 1975 to 1982 he worked at the
Tilburg
Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-larg ...
law centre, at which point in time he was already an active member of the SP.
Party activities
In 1981 he became
editor-in-chief
An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies.
The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...
of ''Tribune'', SP's member party magazine, while in the same year he was also appointed to the executive committee of the party. In 1982, he was elected to the Tilburg
municipal council
A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counci ...
, where he served as the head of the local SP-group until 1999.
In 1993, he became the General Secretary of the SP, the highest position in the executive branch of the party. Together with
Jan Marijnissen
Johannes Guillaume Christianus Andreas "Jan" Marijnissen () (born 8 October 1952) is a retired Dutch politician of the Socialist Party (SP).
Marijnissen, a welder by occupation, was selected as Leader of the Socialist Party after the death of ...
, Kox lead the party. With Marijnissen focusing on the
1994 Dutch general election, and Kox focusing on daily party-business, the duo transformed the party from a minor left-wing political group to a modern socialist party.
On top of being the General Secretary, Kox was also the face of the party during the
1994 European Parliament Election
The 1994 European Parliamentary election was a European election held across the 12 European Union member states in June 1994.
This election saw the merge of the European People's Party and European Democrats, an increase in the overall number ...
, and the campaign manager during the Dutch general elections from 1994 to 2003.
Member of the Dutch senate
During the
2003 Dutch Senate elections, Kox was elected to become a Senator. He stepped down as General Secretary of the SP and became head of the SP-faction in the Senate. In 2006, the SP was one of the big winners in the
General Election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
of that year. Kox was initially elected, but decided to stay in the Senate instead.
During his career as a senator, Kox has put through some notable initiatives. Together with senators from the
PvdA and the
ChristenUnie
The Christian Union ( nl, ChristenUnie, CU) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. The CU is a centrist party, maintaining more progressive stances on economic, immigration and environmental issues while holding more sociall ...
, he put forward a proposal for the first parliamentary study initiated by the Senate, which resulted in the publication of Verbinding verbroken''
' (''Disconnected''), a paper on the
privatization
Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
of government services in the Netherlands. In 2018, Kox put through a proposal that focused on categorically beating back child poverty in the Netherlands.
Furthermore, during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
in 2020, the Senate accepted Kox's proposal to call on the Dutch government to structurally increase the pay of Dutch healthcare workers. In the same year, the Senate accepted a
motion of no-confidence
A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...
on Kox's initiative. Something that is noteworthy, as the Senate up until that point had not accepted a motion of no-confidence in 145 years. The motion was aimed at the Dutch government's policy on rent, and nine months after Kox's motion, the government decided to put a stop to rent increase on all social housing in the Netherlands.
Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)
Since 2003, Kox has also been a member of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
The Assembly is made up o ...
. He is currently the head of the
Unified European Left Group, an alliance consisting of European green and left-wing parties. As the head of this group, he participated in the Presidential Committee, the Bureau and the Standing Committee of the assembly. On behalf of the Assembly he also wrote multiple reports on the Council of Europe. Kox also led multiple missions as an international election-supervisor in
Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...
(2010, 2014),
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
(2011, 2012),
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
(2015) and
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
(2020). In 2021, his proposals on strategic priorities for the Council of Europe, were endorsed by the Assembly and presented to the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers.
In 2011, the Assembly accepted Kox's proposal granting the
Palestinian Legislative Council the status of 'partner of democracy', as well as granting them a delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
On 28 September 2021 Kox was nominated by the UEL-group as President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for 2022 and 2023, on the basis of the 2008 rotation-agreement between the five political groups in PACE. He was elected President of the Parliamentary Assembly on January 24, 2022. This made him the 34th President since 1949 and the third Dutch national to hold this office.
Immediately after taking office, Kox was confronted with Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. As President he convened an urgent joint committee meeting with the CM and an extraordinary session of the Assembly, on the basis of which Russia was first suspended, then expelled from the Council of Europe. According to Kox Russia, by invading Ukraine, had crossed the 'red line' of Europe's oldest and broadest treaty organisation, created in the aftermath of World War II to preserve and protect peace by means of peaceful cooperation on the basis of respect for the rule of law, human rights and democracy. Shortly after he was invited by the Speaker of the Verkohvna Rada to Ukraine and was amongst the first leaders of international organisations to visit Ukraine.
According to him, the Russian unilateral aggression underlines the urgent need to organize a new Summit of Heads of State and Government to restore and strengthen effective multilateralism in Europe, in which the Council of Europe has to play a most relevant role. The decision to hold this summit was announced on november 7th, 2022, by the Irish Presidency of the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers. It will take place on the 16th and 17th of May 2023, in Reykjavik, as was announced the same day by Icelandic Prime Minister Kattin Jakobsdottir. The decision was welcomed by Kox, stating that 'the summit should strengthen and lead to a renewed, improved and reinforced Council of Europe, with new competencies and better equipped to protect and promote democratic security'.
References
External links
*
Parlement.com biography*
Senate biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kox, Tiny
1953 births
Living people
20th-century Dutch politicians
21st-century Dutch politicians
Council of Europe people
Dutch civil servants
Dutch jurists
Members of the Senate (Netherlands)
Municipal councillors of Tilburg
People from Veldhoven
Secretaries of the Socialist Party (Netherlands)
Socialist Party (Netherlands) politicians
Tilburg University alumni