Neelie Kroes | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Kroes in 2018 | |
| European Commissioner [Portfolios] | |
| In office 22 November 2004 – 1 November 2014 | |
| President | José Manuel Barroso |
| Preceded by | Mario Monti Competition Viviane Reding Information Society and Media |
| Succeeded by | Joaquín Almunia Competition Günther Oettinger Digital Economy and Society Andrus Ansip Digital Single Market |
| Minister of Transport and Water Management | |
| In office 4 November 1982 – 7 November 1989 | |
| Prime Minister | Ruud Lubbers |
| Preceded by | Henk Zeevalking |
| Succeeded by | Hanja Maij-Weggen |
| State Secretary for Transport and Water Management | |
| In office 28 December 1977 – 11 September 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 3 June 1986 – 14 July 1986 | |
| In office 25 August 1981 – 4 November 1982 | |
| In office 3 August 1971 – 28 December 1977 | |
| Parliamentary group | People's Party for Freedom and Democracy |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Neelie Kroes (1941-07-19)19 July 1941 (age 83) Rotterdam,Netherlands |
| Political party | People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (from 1966) |
| Spouses | |
| Children | Yvo Smit (born 1970) |
| Residence(s) | Wassenaar, Netherlands |
| Alma mater | Rotterdam School of Economics (BEc,M.Econ) |
| Occupation | Politician ·Economist ·Researcher ·Businessperson ·Corporate director ·Nonprofit director ·Lobbyist |
Neelie Kroes (Dutch pronunciation:[ˈneːliˈkrus]; born 19 July 1941) is a retiredDutch politician of thePeople's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and businessperson who served asEuropean Commissioner from 22 November 2004 to 1 November 2014.[1]
Kroes studiedEconomics at theRotterdam School of Economics obtaining aMaster of Economics degree. Kroes worked as a researcher at her alma mater from September 1963 to April 1968, and as a corporate director for a transport company inDelft from April 1968 until August 1971, and for thechamber of commerce ofRotterdam from July 1969 until August 1971. Kroes became aMember of the House of Representatives shortly after theelection of 1971 on 3 August 1971, and served as afrontbencher andspokesperson forTransport andEducation. After theelection of 1977 Kroes was appointed as State Secretary for Transport and Water Management in theCabinet Van Agt–Wiegel taking office on 28 December 1977. After theelection of 1981 Kroes returned to the House of Representatives on 25 August 1981, and again served as a frontbencher and spokesperson for Transport. After theelection of 1982 Kroes was appointed asMinister of Transport and Water Management in theCabinet Lubbers I taking office on 4 November 1982. After theelection of 1986 Kroes continued her office in theCabinet Lubbers II. In June 1989, Kroes announced that she wouldn't stand for theelection of 1989.
Kroes semi-retired from active politics and became active in theprivate andpublic sectors as a corporate and non-profit director and served on severalstate commissions and councils on behalf of the government, and served as Rector Magnificus of theNyenrode Business University from June 1991 until January 2000. In October 2004, Kroes was nominated as the nextEuropean Commissioner in theFirst Barroso Commission, and was given the heavy portfolio ofCompetition taking office on 22 November 2004. In November 2009, Kroes was re-nominated for a second term in theSecond Barroso Commission, and was given the heavy portfolio ofDigital Agenda and was appointed as one of theVice-Presidents serving from 9 February 2010 until 1 November 2014.
Kroes retired from active politics at the age of 73 and again became active in the private and public sectors as a corporate and non-profit director and served as an occasional diplomat for several economic delegations on behalf of the government. Following her retirement Kroes continued to be active as an advocate and lobbyist for promotingstartup companies andentrepreneurship. She holds the distinction as the firstfemale Minister of Transport starting an informal tradition of women serving as Dutch Transport Ministers that has continued since 1982 (save for two exceptions2002–2003 and2007–2010) for over 42 year.[2][3]
Neelie Kroes was born on 19 July 1941 inRotterdam,Netherlands. Her father owned the transport company Zwatra.[4]
Kroes attended a Protestantgrammar school inRotterdam. She continued to a Protestant high school. In 1958, she went to study economics at theErasmus University in Rotterdam. In 1961, Kroes was praeses of the R.V.S.V. (the largest Rotterdamsorority). She was also elected as a member of the University Council. After obtaining aBachelor of Economics and later aMaster of Economics degree 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.[citation needed]
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Neelie Kroes was first elected member of the Rotterdamcity council for the VVD in 1970.
In 1971, she was elected to theHouse 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 theFirst 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 theFirst andSecond Lubbers Cabinets, now as theMinister of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, a post that she held until 1989. As a minister she was responsible for theprivatisation of the Postgiro (Postbank, initially a part of the PTT), the Post and Telephone Services, the Harbour Pilotage services, as well as the commissioning of theBetuwe Railway.
Kroes refused to becomeMinister of Defence in 1988.
During her tenure as minister, she was involved in the so-called TCR affair, about the illegal sale of warships. She had also a business relationship with a tank cleaning company (TCR), which illegally received governmental subsidies.
After her ministerial career, Kroes spent two years working on two projects as an advisor toKarel van Miert, at that time European Commissioner for Transport.[5] She also became a member of the Rotterdam Chamber of Commerce, furthermore she served as a board member forBallast Nedam (shipping), ABP-PGGM Capital Holdings N.V. (a joint subsidiary of the pension fundsABP andPGGM),NIB (an investment bank),McDonald's Netherlands,Nedlloyd, andNederlandse Spoorwegen (the Dutch railroad company).
In 1991, Kroes became chairperson ofNyenrode 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.
According to her husband, Bram Peper, from 1993 to 2001, Kroes relied on astrologers and clairvoyants for personal and business advice. Until 2004 Kroes maintained an office in the castle of Jan-Dirk Paarlberg, a real estate mogul who was convicted to four and a half years in prison for money-laundering and extortion. One of the astrologers advising Kroes during that time was Lenie Drent, who had been providing business advice to Paarlberg for decades.[6]
Kroes has held and still holds many side offices, mainly in cultural and social organisations. She is chairperson ofPoets of all Nations, theDelta Psychiatric Hospital and of the board of theRembrandt House Museum. Also, she was a member of several boards of commissioners, for instance atNedlloyd (a shipping company) andLucent Technologies (an information and communication technologies company).
In 2004, Kroes was appointed theEuropean Commissioner for Competition. At the time, 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, CommissionerMcCreevy takes over her responsibilities.
As chairperson ofNyenrode Business University, Kroes awarded an honorary doctorate toMicrosoft founderBill 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 theEuropean Union Microsoft competition case. This case resulted in the requirement to release documents to aid commercialinteroperability and included a €497 million fine for Microsoft.
Kroes attended conferences organized by theBilderberg Group every year between 2005 and 2012.[7][8]
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.
In 2010, she becameEuropean Commissioner for Digital Agenda in the secondBarroso Commission. The Digital Agenda for Europe[9] was proposed by the European Commission on 19 May 2010.
The Digital Agenda for Europe[9] is supported by the EU Digital Competitiveness Report[10] launched also on 19 May 2010. She is a proponent ofFree and Open Source Software.
Since 2010, she has served as a Commissioner for theBroadband Commission for Digital Development which leverages broadband technologies as a key enabler for social and economic development.[11]
In 2010, it was suggested that she would becomeprime-minister in the Netherlands, whenMark Rutte would stay in parliament due to difficulties in the formations in the new Cabinet. However, eventually Rutte becameprime-minister.
In December 2011, Kroes invitedKarl-Theodor zu Guttenberg who had resigned asGerman Minister of Defence in March 2011, due to plagiarism charges – as advisor to the European Commission as part of itsNo Disconnect Strategy designed to promoteInternet freedom.[12]
In November 2012, Kroes made international news when she said her advisers at theInternet Governance Forum inBaku,Azerbaijan had been the victims ofcomputer hacking.[13]
Kroes is currently leadingStartupDelta, a public-private initiative to help promote theNetherlands as a destination forstartup companies.[14] For the2019 European elections, she was brought into the European election campaign byGuy Verhofstadt'sOpen Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open VLD) inBelgium.[15]
In addition, Kroes has been holding a variety of paid and unpaid positions.
At the end of the 1980s, intensive research into environmental crime among chemical waste processing companies ended in a fiasco.[16] As Minister of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, Kroes had conceived the plan to provide subsidies to the companies TCA and TCR (Tanker Cleaning Amsterdam and Rotterdam, respectively). Even though she was made aware of the company's criminal activities, including mixing chemical waste into fuel oil, she pushed through with the subsidies. The resulting TCR affair sparked a parliamentary inquiry in 1997. Kroes was accused by the investigative committee that she had helped a rogue company with a government subsidy into the saddle, which made the environmental crimes possible.
In the mid-1990s, Kroes was involved in the frigate affair: the failed purchase of six Dutch frigates (amounting to 1.2 billion euros) by theUnited Arab Emirates. As chairman of a consortium of Holland Signaal, Ballast Nedam and Koninklijke Schelde (supported by the navy, the Port of Rotterdam Authority and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs), Kroes attempted to exchange the frigates for oil supplies. When it turned out that she was also using her chairmanship to serve the business interests of a personal friend, the businessman Joop van Caldenborgh, she was removed from her position by the government.[17] It was only in 2011 that it became known that she had also putPrince Bernhard forward as a lobbyist in this deal, in violation of the agreements that Bernhard had made with the Den Uyl cabinet after theLockheed affair. The frigate affair brought Kroes into contact with Jordanian investor Amin Badr-El-Din, with whom she would run the company Mint Holdings some years later, which was planning to take over part of Enron.[18]
In 2016, leaks to theInternational Consortium of Investigative Journalists (who also oversaw thePanama Papers andParadise Papers leaks) revealed that from 2001 to 2009 Kroes was the director of Mint Holdings, a company registered inthe Bahamas.[19][20][21] As part of the EU rules, a commissioner is obliged to declare previous and current economic interests, but she did not declare her directorship of the Bahamas company.[19][20] Further, EU commissioners are not allowed to hold outside directorships while in office (Kroes was in office 2004–2014).[19][21] According to her lawyer, Kroes acknowledged the situation, calling it an "oversight", and declared that she would take full responsibility.[19]
The “Uber files”, leaked documents in 2022, revealing active and irregular efforts of Uber in lobbying regulators, revealed that Kroes prepared her appointment at the taxi company when she was still in office. She did not disclose the numerous appointments she had with firms executives when European Commissioner for competition and then new technologies (a position she held until November 2014). After resigning from the European Commission, she actively helped Uber bending regulations by opening her contacts to the company, including Netherlands then Prime Minister Mark Rutte, breaking her 18-months duty of réserve that ex commissioner must apply. She finally joins Uber Public Affairs team in 2016.[22]
Kroes was married tosocial democratic minister and mayorBram Peper. She is a confidant ofAyaan Hirsi Ali, known for her criticism of Islam and having a fatwa issued, and persuaded her to switch allegiance from the social democratic PvdA to the VVD.
Kroes was International Road Federation Man of the Year of 1993.
Kroes made theForbes'The World's 100 Most Powerful Women list multiple times: as number 53 in 2009,[27] 47 in 2008,[28] 59 in 2007.
| Honours | ||||
| Ribbon bar | Honour | Country | Date | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
_-_Ribbon_bar.svg) | Knight of theOrder of the Netherlands Lion | Netherlands | 26 October 1981 | |
 | Grand Cross of theOrder of the Crown | Belgium | 1 May 2008 | |
 | Knight Grand Cross of theOrder of Orange-Nassau | Netherlands | 19 November 2015 | Elevated from Grand Officer (20 November 1989) |
| Honorary degrees | ||||
| University | Field | Country | Date | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Hull | Economics | England | 1989 | |
| Open University | Political science | Netherlands | 26 September 2014 | |
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | State Secretary for Transport and Water Management 1977–1981 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Transport and Water Management 1982–1989 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | European Commissioner from the Netherlands 2004–2014 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | European Commissioner for Competition 2004–2010 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | European Commissioner for Digital Agenda 2010–2014 | Succeeded by |
| Succeeded by | ||
| Business positions | ||
| Preceded by | Chairwoman of the Supervisory board of the NIBC Bank 1991–2004 | Succeeded by Unknown |
| Non-profit organization positions | ||
| Preceded by Unknown | Chairwoman of the Supervisory board of the Rembrandt House Museum 2000–present | Incumbent |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by Unknown | Rector Magnificus of the Nyenrode Business University 1991–2000 | Succeeded by |
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| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
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