Neelie Kroes

Neelie Kroes
European Commissioner for Digital Agenda
Incumbent
Assumed office February 9, 2010
President	José Manuel Barroso
Preceded by	Viviane Reding (Information Society and Media)
European Commissioner for Competition
In office November 22, 2004 – February 9, 2010
President	José Manuel Barroso
Preceded by	Mario Monti
Succeeded by	Joaquín Almunia
Minister of Transport, Public Works and Water Management
In office November 4, 1982 – November 7, 1989
Prime Minister	Ruud Lubbers
Preceded by	Henk Zeevalking
Succeeded by	Hanja Maij-Weggen
Member of the House of Representatives
In office August 27, 1981 – November 4, 1982
State Secretary for Transport, Public Works and Water Management
In office December 28, 1977 – September 11, 1981
Prime Minister	Dries van Agt
Preceded by	Michel van Hulten
Succeeded by	Jaap van der Doef
Member of the House of Representatives
In office August 3, 1971 – December 28, 1977
Personal details
Born	Neelie Kroes (1941-07-19) July 19, 1941 Rotterdam, Netherlands
Political party	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
Spouse(s)	Wouter Jan Smit (1965–1991) Bram Peper (1991–2003)
Residence(s)	Wassenaar, Netherlands
Alma mater	Erasmus University Rotterdam (M.A.) University of Hull (Dr.h.c.)
Occupation	Politician Civil servant
Website	Official site
Nickname	Nickel Neelie

Neelie Kroes (born July 19, 1941) is a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). She served as a Member of the House of Representatives from August 3, 1971 until December 28, 1977 when she became State Secretary for Transport, Public Works and Water Management from December 28, 1977 until September 11, 1981, in the Cabinet Van Agt I. And again a Member of the House of Representatives from August 27, 1981 until November 4, 1982, when she became Minister of Transport, Public Works and Water Management from November 4, 1982 until November 7, 1989, in the Cabinets Lubbers I and II.

After a long period of working on the board of commissioners of several multinational corporations she returned to active politics when she became the European Commissioner for Competition for the Barroso Commission. And continued to serve in the second term in the Barroso Commission as the new European Commissioner for Digital Agenda and became one of several Vice-Presidents of the European Commission.

Career before politics

Neelie Kroes was born on 19 July 1941 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Her father owned the transport company Zwatra.

Kroes went to a Protestant grammar school in Rotterdam. She continued to a Protestant high school. In 1958 she went to study economics at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. In 1961, Kroes was praeses of the R.V.S.V. (the largest Rotterdam sorority). She was also elected as a member of the University Council. After obtaining her Master of Science in economics in 1965, she became a research fellow at the economic faculty at that university. During this period Kroes was involved in the women's organisation within the VVD. In this period she also was member of the board of heavy transporting company "ZwaTra", the company of her father.

Local and national politics

Neelie Kroes and Wim Simons in 1975

Neelie Kroes was elected member of the Rotterdam city council for the VVD since 1970.

In 1971 she was elected to the House of Representatives, forcing her to stop her fellowship. In parliament, she became spokesperson for education. She remained a member of parliament until 1977, when she became State Secretary for Transport, Public Works and Water Management in the First Van Agt Cabinet, responsible for Postal and Telephone Services and Transport. In 1981 she briefly returned to the House of Representatives, while her party, VVD, was in the opposition. In 1982 she returned to office in the First and Second Lubbers Cabinets, now as the Minister of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, a post that she held until 1989. As a minister she was responsible for the privatisation of the Post and Telephone Services, as well as the commissioning of the Betuwe Railway.

Kroes refused to become Minister of Defence in 1988.

After politics

After her time as minister Kroes became a member of the Rotterdam Chamber of Commerce, furthermore she served as a board member for Ballast Nedam (shipping), ABP-PGGM Capital Holdings N.V. (a joint subsidiary of the pension funds ABP and PGGM), NIB (an investment bank), McDonald's Netherlands, Nedlloyd, and Nederlandse Spoorwegen (the Dutch railroad company).

In 1991 she became chairperson of Nyenrode University, a private business school. During this period Kroes also was a member of the Advisory Board of the Prof.Mr. B.M. Teldersstichting, the scientific bureau of VVD.

Kroes has held and still holds many side offices, mainly in cultural and social organisations. She is chairperson of Poets of all Nations, the Delta Psychiatric Hospital and of the board of the Rembrandt House Museum. Also, she is was a member of several boards of commissioners, for instance at Nedlloyd (a shipping company) and Lucent Technologies (an information and communication technologies company).

European Commission

Commissioner for Competition

Neelie Kroes as European Commissioner for Competition in 2007

In 2004 Neelie Kroes was appointed the European Commissioner for Competition. Her nomination was heavily criticised because of her ties to big business and alleged involvement in shady arms deals. Kroes has tried to uphold her integrity; whenever she has to deal with issues concerning competition in branches of industry in which she used to be active as a board member, Commissioner McCreevy takes over her responsibilities. As of January 2006 this has happened in five cases.

As chairperson of Nijenrode University, Kroes awarded an honorary doctorate to Microsoft founder Bill Gates in 1996. As a European Commissioner for Competition one of her first tasks in 2004 was to oversee the sanctions against Microsoft by the European Commission, known as the European Union Microsoft competition case. This case resulted in the requirement to release documents to aid commercial interoperability and included a €497 million fine for Microsoft.

Kroes attended conferences organized by the Bilderberg Group in 2005 and 2006.

Neelie Kroes made the Forbes' The World's 100 Most Powerful Women list multiple times: as number 53 in 2009, 47 in 2008, 59 in 2007, 38 in 2006 and number 44 in 2005. She is sometimes called "Nickel Neelie" or "Steely Neelie." She apparently earned her nickname because she's tough in the same vein as the U.K. "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher when dealing with competition issues.

In 2009 she was transferred to another European Commissioner post, namely ICT and Telecom. She was also appointed as one of the vice-presidents of the European Commission.

Commissioner for Digital Agenda

In 2010 she became European Commissioner for Digital Agenda in the second Barroso Commission. The Digital Agenda for Europe was proposed by the European Commission on 19 May 2010. The Digital Agenda for Europe is supported by the EU Digital Competitiveness Report launched also on 19 May 2010. She is a proponent of Free and Open Source Software.

She was in attendance at the Bilderberg conference in Sites in Spain from 3 to 6 June 2010.

Since 2010 she has also served as a Commissioner for the Broadband Commission for Digital Development which leverages broadband technologies as a key enabler for social and economic development.

Miscellaneous information

• Kroes, a liberal, was married to social democratic minister and mayor Bram Peper.
• Kroes has been a Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion since 1981 and a Grand Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau since 1989.
• Kroes was International Road Federation Man of the Year of 1993.
• Kroes is a confidant of Ayaan Hirsi Ali and persuaded her to switch allegiance from the social democratic PvdA to the VVD.

External links

• Neelie Kroes Official Media Gallery
• Neelie Kroes as European Commissioner of Competition
• Neelie Kroes as European Commissioner of Digital Agenda
• Template:Nl icon Drs. N. Kroes at parlement.com