Eimert van Middelkoop (; born 14 February 1949) is a retired

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politician of the Christian Union (CU) party and teacher. He is the chairman of the Institute for Multiparty Democracy since 20 January 2018.

Early life

After high school, van Middelkoop attended what is now

Erasmus University Erasmus University Rotterdam (abbreviated as ''EUR'', nl, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam ) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century humanist ...

, earning a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

Sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

in 1971. In 1971 and 1972, he was a teacher at the Reformed Social Academy in

Zwolle Zwolle () is a city and municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Overijssel and the province's second-largest municipality after Enschede with a population of 130,592 as of 1 December 2021. Zwolle is o ...

. He was exempt from

military draft Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day und ...

for being indispensable as staff member of the

Reformed Political League The Reformed Political LeagueTranslation used by Andeweg and Irwin in ''Governance and Politics of the Netherlands'' (2002: 45) ( nl, Gereformeerd Politiek Verbond, GPV) was an orthodox Protestant political party in the Netherlands. The GPV is o ...

in the

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 ...

.House of Representatives">House of Representatives of the Netherlands, House of Representatives
biography (in Dutch)/ref>

Politics

Van Middelkoop became a member of the

in 1989, while affiliated with the

. Since 2000, he has been aligned with the ChristianUnion (ChristenUnie), which was the product of a fusion of the Reformatory Political Federation (RPF) and the Reformatory Political Federation (GPV). He specialised in foreign and military affairs, prepared the inquiry by the

into the role of the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in the fall of Srebrenica. He lost his seat in the House of Representatives in the 2002 elections. From 2003 until 2007, van Middelkoop was a member of the

Senate of the Netherlands The Senate ( or simply ' , literally "First Chamber of the States General", or sometimes ' ) is the upper house of the States General, the legislature of the Netherlands. Its 75 members are elected on lists by the members of the twelve States-P ...

. In the 2006 elections, the ChristianUnion party doubled its seats and joined the

fourth Balkenende cabinet The fourth Balkenende cabinet was the executive branch of the Government of the Netherlands from 22 February 2007 until 14 October 2010. The cabinet was formed by the Christian-democratic Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and Christian Union ( ...

. Van Middelkoop became

Minister of Defence A defence minister or minister of defence is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from coun ...

in 2007. In September 2008, he told the Dutch opinion magazine, ''

Vrij Nederland ''Vrij Nederland'' (Free Netherlands) is a Dutch magazine, established during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II as an underground newspaper. It has since grown into a magazine. The originally weekly and now monthly magazi ...

'', that he would have been very unhappy to have joined the army. Because of this and other remarks, he received criticism from military labour unions, who said that Van Middelkoop had lost his credibility.

Decorations

References

External links

;Official *
E. (Eimert) van Middelkoop
Parlement & Politiek *
E. van Middelkoop (ChristenUnie)
Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal {{DEFAULTSORT:Middelkoop, Eimert van 1949 births Living people Christian Union (Netherlands) politicians Dutch nonprofit directors Dutch nonprofit executives Dutch political consultants Erasmus University Rotterdam alumni Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Members of the Senate (Netherlands) Ministers of Defence of the Netherlands Ministers without portfolio of the Netherlands Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau People from Lansingerland Reformed Churches (Liberated) Christians from the Netherlands Reformed Political League politicians 20th-century Dutch civil servants 20th-century Dutch educators 20th-century Dutch politicians 21st-century Dutch civil servants 21st-century Dutch educators 21st-century Dutch politicians