Eimert van Middelkoop

Eimert van Middelkoop
Minister of Defence
In office February 22, 2007 – October 14, 2010
Prime Minister	Jan Peter Balkenende
Preceded by	Henk Kamp
Succeeded by	Hans Hillen
Minister of Integration and Housing
In office February 23, 2010 – October 14, 2010
Prime Minister	Jan Peter Balkenende
Preceded by	Eberhard van der Laan
Succeeded by	Melanie Schultz van Haegen
Member of the Senate
In office June 10, 2003 – February 22, 2007
Parliamentary leader - Reformed Political League House of Representatives
In office February 14, 2001 – March 13, 2001
Preceded by	Gert Schutte
Succeeded by	Party Disbanded
Member of the House of Representatives
In office May 14, 1989 – May 23, 2002
Personal details
Born	Eimert van Middelkoop February 14, 1949 (1949-02-14) Berkel en Rodenrijs, Netherlands
Nationality	Dutch
Political party	Reformed Political League (1974-2001) ChristianUnion (since 2001)
Residence	Berkel en Rodenrijs, Netherlands
Alma mater	Erasmus University Rotterdam (B.A.)
Occupation	Politician Civil servant Teacher
Religion	Reformed Protestant

Eimert van Middelkoop (born February 14, 1949) is a Dutch politician of the ChristianUnion (CU) party.

From 2007 till 2010 he was Minister of Defence in the Cabinet Balkenende IV. In 2010 he also served as the Minister of Housing, Communities and Integration (Wonen, Wijken en Integratie).

Biography

Early life

After high school Van Middelkoop attended, what is now called, the Erasmus University were he obtained a B.A. in sociology in 1971. In the years 1971 and 1972 he was a teacher at the Reformed Social Academy in Zwolle. He was exempted from military draft on the basis of 'personal indispensability'.

Politics

In 1989 Van Middelkoop became a member of the House of Representatives. At first for the Reformed Political Alliance and since the year 2000 for the ChristianUnion, a party who came forth out of the fusion between the Reformed Political Alliance and Reformatory Political Federation. As a parliamentarian he was specialised in foreign and military affairs. He initiated a special committee investigation concerning the role of the Netherlands in the fall of Srebrenica. However, Van Middelkoop lost his seat in the House of Representatives because during the 2002 elections the ChristianUnion Tineke Huizinga, the highest-ranked woman on the candidate list did get enough preference votes.

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

Trivia

In September 2008 he told the Dutch opinion magazine Vrij Nederland that he would have been very unhappy if he would have join the army. Because of this - and other - remarks he received a lot of criticism from military labour-unions who said that Van Middelkoop lost his credibility.

Decorations

• Knight - Order of Orange-Nassau

External links

• (Dutch) Parlement.com biography

Party political offices
Preceded by Gert Schutte	Parliamentary leader - Reformed Political League House of Representatives 2001	Succeeded by Party Disbanded
Government offices
Preceded by Henk Kamp	Minister of Defence 2007-2010	Succeeded by Hans Hillen
Preceded by Eberhard van der Laan	Minister of Integration and Housing 2010	Succeeded by Melanie Schultz van Haegen