The vice-president of the Council of State ( nl, Vice-President van de Raad van State) is the ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

'' presiding officer of the Council of State. The

monarch A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority ...

serves as the ''ex officio'' president of the Council of State but in reality seldom chairs meetings, in his absence, the vice-president serves as ''

pro tempore ''Pro tempore'' (), abbreviated ''pro tem'' or ''p.t.'', is a Latin phrase which best translates to "for the time being" in English. This phrase is often used to describe a person who acts as a ''locum tenens'' (placeholder) in the absence of ...

'' chair of those meetings. The vice-president is also in charge of the council's organisation and administrative duties. The Constitution of the Netherlands stipulates that if the

royal house A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchy, monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in repu ...

were to become extinct the vice-president will become the acting

head of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...

. Like the other members of the Council of State the vice president is appointed by the monarch upon nomination by the

minister of the interior and kingdom relations The Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations ( nl, Minister van Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties) is the head of the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations and a member of the Cabinet and the Council of Ministers. The in ...

. The service of the vice-president is a life tenure appointment but is required by law to enter a mandatory retirement at the age of 70. Alternatively, an early retirement or a forced termination of his tenure can be given by the

in a royal decree. The current vice-president of the Council of State is

Thom de Graaf Thomas Carolus "Thom" de Graaf (;''Thomas'' in isolation: . born 11 June 1957) is a Dutch politician of the Democrats 66 (D66) party and jurist. He is the Vice-President of the Council of State since 1 November 2018. De Graaf attended the Ci ...

List of vice-presidents

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vice-President of the Council of State (Netherlands)

List of vice-presidents

See also

References