Frans Timmermans

Frans Timmermans
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office 5 November 2012
Prime Minister	Mark Rutte
Preceded by	Uri Rosenthal
Member of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands
In office 17 June 2010 – 5 November 2012
In office 19 May 1998 – 22 February 2007
State Secretary for European Affairs
In office 22 February 2007 – 23 February 2010
Preceded by	Atzo Nicolaï
Succeeded by	Ben Knapen
Personal details
Born	Franciscus Cornelis Gerardus Maria Timmermans (1961-05-06) 6 May 1961 Maastricht, Netherlands
Political party	Labour Party (Partij van de Arbeid - PvdA) (since 1990) Democrats 66 (Democraten 66 - D66) (1985-1990)
Relations	Married
Residence	Heerlen, Netherlands
Alma mater	Radboud University Nijmegen (M.A., French literature)
Occupation	Politician, diplomat, civil servant
Religion	Roman Catholic
Website	(Dutch) Labour Party website

Franciscus Cornelis Gerardus Maria "Frans" Timmermans (born 6 May 1961) is a Dutch politician and former diplomat and civil servant. As a member of the Labour Party (Partij van de Arbeid) he was (again) an MP from 2010 to 2012. He focused on matters of foreign affairs. Previously he was State Secretary (called Minister abroad) for European Affairs in the fourth Balkenende cabinet. He was sworn in as Minister of Foreign Affairs on 5 November 2012.

Timmermans was born in Maastricht. He studied French literature at Radboud University Nijmegen.

He worked at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and at the Dutch embassy in Moscow. From 1994 to 1995, he worked for EU Commissioner Hans van den Broek. Until 1998, he was advisor and private secretary to High Commissioner on National Minorities for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Max van der Stoel.

From 1998 to 2007 he was a member of the Dutch House of Representatives. He represented the House in the European Convention. On 22 February 2007 Timmermans was appointed State Secretary for European Affairs in the fourth Balkenende government.

Timmermans also acted as guest lecturer at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael and at the Netherlands Defence College, and sat on the executive committee of the European Movement.

He is a member of the Bilderberg Group and writes a column for Dagblad De Limburger every month.

Timmermans is multilingual, he speaks the Dutch, Limburgish, German, French, English, Russian and Italian language.

References

• (Dutch) Parlement.com biography

External links

• (Dutch) Labour Party biography
• "Be like Jack Sparrow, Embrace your fears", Frans Timmermans' talk at TEDxAmsterdam, 20 November 2009

Government offices
Preceded by Uri Rosenthal	Minister of Foreign Affairs 2012–present	Succeeded by Incumbent