Eimert van Middelkoop

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix =

| name = Eimert van Middelkoop

| image = Middelkoop Dutch politician kabinet Balkenende IV.jpg

| caption = Van Middelkoop in 2007

| office = Minister for Housing,
Communities and Integration

| term_start = 23 February 2010

| term_end = 14 October 2010

| primeminister = Jan Peter Balkenende

| predecessor = Eberhard van der Laan

| successor = Office discontinued

| office1 = Minister of Defence

| term_start1 = 22 February 2007

| term_end1 = 14 October 2010

| primeminister1 = Jan Peter Balkenende

| predecessor1 = Henk Kamp

| successor1 = Hans Hillen

| office2 = Member of the Senate

| term_start2 = 10 June 2003

| term_end2 = 22 February 2007

| office3 = Leader of the Reformed Political League

| term_start3 = 14 February 2001

| term_end3 = 13 March 2001

| predecessor3 = Gert Schutte

| successor3 = Office discontinued

| office4 = Parliamentary leader in the
House of Representatives

| term_start4 = 14 February 2001

| term_end4 = 13 March 2001

| predecessor4 = Gert Schutte

| successor4 = Office discontinued

| parliamentarygroup4 = Reformed Political League

| office5 = Member of the House of Representatives

| term_start5 = 14 May 1989

| term_end5 = 23 May 2002

| birthname = Eimert van Middelkoop

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1949|02|14}}

| birth_place = Berkel en Rodenrijs, Netherlands

| death_date =

| death_place =

| party = Christian Union (from 2002)

| otherparty = Reformed Political League (1973–2002)

| spouse =

| children = 3 sons and 1 daughter

| residence = Berkel en Rodenrijs, Netherlands

| alma_mater = Erasmus University Rotterdam
(Bachelor of Social Science)

| occupation = {{hlist|Politician|civil servant|political consultant|nonprofit director|teacher}}

| signature =

| website =

}}

Eimert van Middelkoop ({{IPA|nl|ˈɛimərt fɑ ˈmɪdəlkoːp}};{{efn|In isolation, van is pronounced {{IPA|nl|vɑn|}}.}} born 14 February 1949) is a retired Dutch 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, earning a B.A. in Sociology in 1971. In 1971 and 1972, he was a teacher at the Reformed Social Academy in Zwolle. He was exempt from military draft for being indispensable as staff member of the Reformed Political League in the House of Representatives.[http://www.parlement.com/9291000/biof/02973 Van Middelkoop biography], House of Representatives (in Dutch)

Politics

Van Middelkoop became a member of the House of Representatives in 1989, while affiliated with the Reformed Political League. Since 2000, he has been aligned with the Christian Union, 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 House of Representatives into the role of the Netherlands in the fall of Srebrenica. He lost his seat in the House of Representatives in the 2002 election.

From 2003 until 2007, van Middelkoop was a member of the Senate. In the 2006 elections, the Christian Union party doubled its seats and joined the fourth Balkenende cabinet. Van Middelkoop became Minister of Defence in 2007.

In September 2008, he told the Dutch opinion magazine, Vrij Nederland, 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.{{cite web |url=http://vorige.nrc.nl/binnenland/article1994722.ece/Van_Middelkoop_was_blij_dat_hij_niet_in_dienst_hoefde |title=Van Middelkoop was blij dat hij niet in dienst hoefde |language=nl |publisher=NRC Handelsblad |date=23 September 2008 |access-date=22 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140523011318/http://vorige.nrc.nl/binnenland/article1994722.ece/Van_Middelkoop_was_blij_dat_hij_niet_in_dienst_hoefde |archive-date=23 May 2014 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=http://vorige.nrc.nl/binnenland/article1998141.ece |title=Van Middelkoop moet praten met militaire vakbonden |language=nl |publisher=NRC Handelsblad |date=25 September 2009 |access-date=22 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140523012425/http://vorige.nrc.nl/binnenland/article1998141.ece |archive-date=23 May 2014 |url-status=dead }}

Decorations

class="wikitable" style="width:60%;"

|+ Honours

! style="width:80px;"| Ribbon bar !! Honour !! Country !! Date !! Comment

60px

| Ghazi Mir Bacha Khan Medal

| Afghanistan

| 2010

80px

| Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau

| Netherlands

| 3 December 2010

| Elevated from Knight (23 May 2002)

Notes

References

External links

;Official

[https://www.parlement.com/id/vg09llqhx5zu/e_eimert_van_middelkoop E. (Eimert) van Middelkoop] Parlement & Politiek {{in lang|nl}}
[https://www.eerstekamer.nl/persoon/e_van_middelkoop_christenunie E. van Middelkoop (ChristenUnie)] Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal {{in lang|nl}}

{{s-ttl|title=Leader of the Reformed
Political League|years=2001}}

{{s-ttl|title=Parliamentary leader of the
Reformed Political League in the
House of Representatives|years=2001}}