Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands
{{Short description|Government official in the Netherlands}}
{{Infobox official post
|post = Minister of Foreign Affairs
|body = the Netherlands
|native_name = Minister van Buitenlandse Zaken
|flag = Flag of the Netherlands.svg
|flagsize = 250x250px
|flagcaption = Flag of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
|insignia = Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken Logo.jpg
|insigniasize = 250x250px
|insigniacaption = Ministry of Foreign Affairs
|image = Caspar Veldkamp portrait (cropped) (2).jpg
|imagesize = 250x250px
|alt = Minister of Foreign Affairs Hanke Bruins Slot
|incumbent = Caspar Veldkamp
|incumbentsince = {{Start date and years ago|2024|07|02|df=y}}
|type =
|status =
|department = Ministry of Foreign Affairs
|style = His/Her Excellency
|member_of = Council of Ministers
|reports_to =
|residence =
|seat =
|nominator =
|appointer = The Monarch
|appointer_qualified = on advice of the Prime Minister
|termlength =
|termlength_qualified =
|constituting_instrument =
|precursor =
|formation = {{Start date and years ago|1798|03|09|df=y}}
|first = Willem Berend Buys
as Secretary for Foreign Affairs
|last =
|abolished =
|succession =
|abbreviation =
|unofficial_names =
|deputy = Reinette Klever as Minister for Foreign Trade and Development
|salary = €157,287 ({{As of|2017}})
(including €8,387 of expenses)
|website =
}}
{{Politics of the Netherlands}}
The minister of foreign affairs ({{langx|nl|Minister van Buitenlandse Zaken}}) is the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a member of the Cabinet and the Council of Ministers. The incumbent minister is Caspar Veldkamp of the New Social Contract (NSC) party, who has been in office since 2 July 2024. Regularly, a state secretary is assigned to the ministry who is tasked with specific portfolios, currently the function is not in use. Additionally since 1965 there has been a minister without portfolio assigned to the ministry, the minister for foreign trade and development cooperation has traditionally development cooperation as portfolio, since 2012 the portfolio of trade and export has been assigned added to the function.
List of agents of foreign affairs (1798–1801)
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
!colspan=2|Portrait !Name !Term of office !Party !Regime |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| Willem Berend Buys | 9 March 1798 – |rowspan=3 "|Uitvoerend Bewind |
|---|
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| Alexander Gogel | 7 April 1798 – |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| File:Maarten van der Goes van Dirxland.gif | Maarten van der Goes van Dirxland | 8 October 1798 – |
List of secretaries of state of foreign affairs (1801–1806)
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
!colspan=2|Portrait !Name !Term of office !Party !Regime |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| File:Maarten van der Goes van Dirxland.gif | Maarten van der Goes van Dirxland | 1 December 1801 – |
|---|
List of ministers of foreign affairs
=1806–1868=
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
!colspan=2|Portrait !Name !Term of office !Party !Regime |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| File:Maarten van der Goes van Dirxland.gif | Maarten van der Goes van Dirxland | 19 June 1806 – |rowspan=4 |Louis Bonaparte |
|---|
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| File:Willem Frederik Röell.jpg | Willem Frederik Röell | 8 January 1808 – |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| Johan Hendrik Mollerus | 27 November 1809 – |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| File:Portret van Paulus van der Heim.jpg | Paulus van der Heim | 20 June 1810 – |
| colspan=6 |Annexed by the First French Empire (1810–1813) |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| File:Gijsbert Karel graaf van Hogendorp, door Jean Francois Valois of Cornelis Cels.jpg | Gijsbert Karel van Hogendorp | 7 December 1813 – |rowspan=6 |William I |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| Anne Willem Carel van Nagell | 6 April 1814 – |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| 100px | Johann Gotthard Reinhold | 1 January 1824 – |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| 100px | Willem Frederik van Reede | 16 May 1824 – |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| Patrice de Coninck | 23 June 1825 – |
| rowspan=2 style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| rowspan=2 | File:Johan Gijsbert Verstolk van Soelen.jpg | rowspan=2 | Johan Gijsbert Verstolk van Soelen | rowspan=2 | 1 December 1825 – | rowspan=2 | Independent |
| rowspan=6 |William II |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| File:Hugo van Zuylen van Nijevelt.jpg | Hugo van Zuylen van Nijevelt | 13 September 1841 – |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| 100px | Johan Willem Huyssen van Kattendijke | 6 October 1841 – |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| File:Willem Anne baron Schimmelpenninck van der Oye.jpg | Willem Anne Schimmelpenninck van der Oye | 21 September 1843 – |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| 100px | James Albert Henry de la Sarraz | 15 October 1843 – |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| File:Lodewijk Napoleon van Randwijck.jpg | Lodewijk Napoleon van Randwijck | 1 January 1848 – |
| colspan=2|Portrait
!Name !Term of office !Party !Prime Minister |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| Image:Gerrit Schimmelpenninck.jpg | Gerrit Schimmelpenninck | 25 March 1848 – | rowspan=2|Gerrit Schimmelpenninck |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| 100px | Arnold Adolf Bentinck van Nijenhuis | 17 May 1848 – |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| 100px | Leonardus Antonius Lightenvelt | 21 November 1848 – |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| Image:Mr H van Sonsbeeck.jpg | Herman van Sonsbeeck | 1 November 1849 – | rowspan=2|Johan Rudolph Thorbecke |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| Jacob van Zuylen van Nijevelt | 16 October 1852 – |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| Floris Adriaan van Hall | 19 April 1853 – | Floris Adriaan van Hall |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| 100px | Daniël Théodore | 1 July 1856 – |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| 100px | Jan Karel van Goltstein | 18 March 1858 – |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| Floris Adriaan van Hall | 23 February 1860 – | rowspan=3|Floris Adriaan van Hall |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| Image:Julius van Zuylen van Nijevelt (cropped).jpg | Julius van Zuylen van Nijevelt | 4 April 1860 – |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| 100px | Louis Napoleon van | 14 January 1861 – |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| Jacob van Zuylen van Nijevelt | 14 March 1861 – | Jacob van Zuylen van Nijevelt |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| 100px | Martin Pascal Hubert Strens | 10 November 1861 – | Schelto van Heemstra |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| 100px | Anthony Jan Lucas Stratenus | 1 February 1862 – | rowspan=3|Johan Rudolph Thorbecke |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| 100px | Paul Therèse van der | 12 March 1862 – |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| Willem Huyssen van Kattendijke | 2 January 1864 – |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| 100px | Eppo Cremers | 15 March 1864 – | Johan Rudolph Thorbecke |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| Image:Julius van Zuylen van Nijevelt.jpg | Julius van Zuylen van Nijevelt | 1 June 1866 – | Julius van Zuylen van Nijevelt |
=1868–1918=
=Since 1918=
:{{note_label|Resigned|Resigned}}
:{{note_label|Acting|Acting}}
:{{note_label|Acting1|Acting from 25 May 2021 until 10 August 2021}}
:{{note_label|Ad Interim|Ad Interim}}
:{{note_label|Died|Died in office}}
:{{note_label|Deputy Prime Minister|Deputy Prime Minister}}
:{{note_label|Minister1|Minister for Development Cooperation from 23 February 2010}}
:{{note_label|Minister2|Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation}}
:{{note_label|Minister3|Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation until 10 August 2021}}
:{{note_label|Appointed6|Appointed as Vice-President of the Council of State}}
:{{note_label|Appointed7|Appointed as Minister without Portfolio for Foreign Affairs}}
:{{note_label|Appointed8|Appointed as European Commissioner}}
:{{note_label|Appointed9|Appointed as Secretary General of NATO}}
:{{note_label|Appointed10|Appointed as Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy}}
List of ministers without portfolio
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |
| colspan=3 | Minister without Portfolio
! Portfolio(s) ! Term of office ! Party ! Prime Minister |
|---|
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| File:Edgar Michiels van Verduynen (1942).jpg | Jonkheer | • Foreign Policy | 1 January 1942 – |
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| Dr. | rowspan=3 |• United Nations | 25 June 1945 – | rowspan=2 | Willem |
| rowspan=2 style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| rowspan=2 | File:Eelco van Kleffens 1945.jpg | rowspan=2 | Eelco van Kleffens | rowspan=2 | 1 March 1946 – | rowspan=2 | Independent |
| Louis Beel (Beel I) |
| colspan=7 | Not in use (1947–1952) |
| style="background:{{party color|Catholic People's Party}};"|
| File:Joseph Luns 1966 (1).jpg | Joseph Luns | • United Nations | 2 September 1952 – | Willem Drees |
| colspan=7 | Not in use (since 1956) |
:{{note_label|Resigned|Resigned}}
:{{note_label|Appointed9|Appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs}}
List of state secretaries for foreign affairs (since 1950)
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |
| colspan=3 | State Secretary for Foreign Affairs ! Portfolio(s) ! Term of office ! Party ! Prime Minister |
|---|
| style="background:{{party color|Independent (politician)}};"|
| File:Blom, N.S. - SFA008007077.jpg | Nico Blom | 16 February 1950 – |
| colspan=7 | Vacant |
| style="background:{{party color|Labour Party (Netherlands)}};"|
| File:Beugel, E.H. van der - SFA008007072.jpg | Ernst van | • European | 8 January 1957 – |
| colspan=7 | Vacant |
| style="background:{{party color|People's Party for Freedom and Democracy}};"|
| File:Hans van Houten 1950 (1).jpg | Dr. | • European Union | 24 August 1959 – | People's Party | Jan de Quay |
| rowspan=3 style="background:{{party color|Catholic People's Party}};"|
| rowspan=3 | File:Leo de Block 1969 (1).jpg | rowspan=3 | Leo de Block | rowspan=3 | • European Union | rowspan=3 | 3 September 1963 – | rowspan=3 | Catholic |
| Jo Cals (Cals) |
| Jelle Zijlstra (Zijlstra) |
| style="background:{{party color|Christian Historical Union}};"|
| File:Isaäc Nicolaas Diepenhorst 1964 (1).jpg | Dr. | • Development | 28 September 1963 – |
| style="background:{{party color|Labour Party (Netherlands)}};"|
| File:Max van der Stoel 1973 (2).jpg | Max van der Stoel | • United Nations | 22 July 1965 – |
| style="background:{{party color|People's Party for Freedom and Democracy}};"|
| File:Hans de Koster 1975 (1).jpg | Hans de Koster | • European Union | 12 June 1967 – | People's Party | Piet de Jong |
| style="background:{{party color|Catholic People's Party}};"|
| File:Tjerk Westerterp 1974 (2).jpg | Tjerk Westerterp | • European Union | 17 August 1971 – | Barend Biesheuvel |
| style="background:{{party color|Democrats 66}};"|
| File:Laurens Jan Brinkhorst 1981 (1).jpg | Laurens Jan | • European Union | 11 May 1973 – | rowspan=2 | Joop den Uyl |
| style="background:{{party color|Anti Revolutionary Party}};"|
| File:Pieter Kooijmans 1974 (1).jpg | Dr. | • United Nations | 11 May 1973 – |
| style="background:{{party color|Christian Historical Union}};"|
| rowspan=2 | File:Durk van der Mei (1981).jpg | rowspan=2 | Durk van der Mei | rowspan=2 | • European Union | rowspan=2 |28 December 1977 – | rowspan=2 | Dries van Agt |
| style="background:{{party color|Christian Democratic Appeal}};"| |
| style="background:{{party color|Christian Democratic Appeal}};"|
| File:Hans van den Broek 1983.jpg | Hans van | • European Union | 11 September 1981 – | Dries van Agt |
| style="background:{{party color|People's Party for Freedom and Democracy}};"|
| File:Wim van Eekelen 1978 (1).jpg | Dr. | • European Union | 5 November 1982 – |
| style="background:{{party color|Christian Democratic Appeal}};"|
| File:René van der Linden 1987 (1).jpg | René van | rowspan=2 | • European Union | 14 July 1986 – | rowspan=2 | Ruud Lubbers |
| style="background:{{party color|Christian Democratic Appeal}};"|
| Baron | 27 September 1988 – |
| style="background:{{party color|Labour Party (Netherlands)}};"|
| File:Dankert, Piet - SFA002019217.jpg | Piet Dankert | • European Union | 7 November 1989 – |
| style="background:{{party color|People's Party for Freedom and Democracy}};"|
| Michiel Patijn | • European Union | 22 August 1994 – |
| style="background:{{party color|Labour Party (Netherlands)}};"|
| Dick Benschop | • European Union | 3 August 1998 – |
| style="background:{{party color|Christian Democratic Appeal}};"|
| Agnes van | • Development | 22 July 2002 – | rowspan=2 | Jan Peter |
| rowspan=2 style="background:{{party color|People's Party for Freedom and Democracy}};"|
| rowspan=2 | File:Atzo.jpg | rowspan=2 | Atzo Nicolaï | rowspan=2 | • European Union | rowspan=2 | 22 July 2002 – | rowspan=2 | People's Party |
| Jan Peter Balkenende (Balkenende II) |
| colspan=7| Vacant |
| style="background:{{party color|Labour Party (Netherlands)}};"|
| File:Timmermans Dutch politician kabinet Balkenende IV.jpg | Frans Timmermans | • European Union | 22 February 2007 – |
| style="background:{{party color|Christian Democratic Appeal}};"|
| Dr. | • European Union | 14 October 2010 – | Mark Rutte |
| colspan=7 | Not in use (since 2012) |
:{{note_label|Resigned|Resigned}}
:{{note_label|Resigned1|Resigned following election to the European Parliament}}
:{{note_label|Title|Designated with the diplomatic rank of Minister}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands}}
{{Government of the Netherlands}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands}}
Category:Foreign relations of the Netherlands