Halbe Zijlstra | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Zijlstra in 2017 | |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 26 October 2017 – 13 February 2018 | |
| Prime Minister | Mark Rutte |
| Preceded by | Bert Koenders |
| Succeeded by | Sigrid Kaag (ad interim) |
| Leader of thePeople's Party for Freedom and Democracy in theHouse of Representatives | |
| In office 13 October 2017 – 25 October 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Mark Rutte |
| Succeeded by | Klaas Dijkhoff |
| In office 1 November 2012 – 23 March 2017 | |
| Preceded by | Mark Rutte |
| Succeeded by | Mark Rutte |
| State Secretary forEducation, Culture and Science | |
| In office 14 October 2010 – 5 November 2012 | |
| Prime Minister | Mark Rutte |
| Preceded by | Marja van Bijsterveldt |
| Succeeded by | Sander Dekker |
| Member of theHouse of Representatives | |
| In office 20 September 2012 – 26 October 2017 | |
| In office 30 November 2006 – 14 October 2010 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Halbe Zijlstra (1969-01-21)21 January 1969 (age 56) Oosterwolde, Netherlands |
| Political party | People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (since 1994) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 son |
| Residence(s) | Wassenaar, Netherlands |
| Alma mater | University of Groningen |
| Occupation | Politician ·Management consultant |
Halbe Zijlstra (Dutch pronunciation:[ˈɦɑlbəˈzɛilstraː]; born 21 January 1969) is a retired Dutch politician who served asMinister of Foreign Affairs from 26 October 2017 to 13 February 2018 in theThird Rutte cabinet. He is a member of thePeople's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD).
Zijlstra, amanagement consultant by occupation, was elected as a member of theHouse of Representatives aftergeneral election of 2006 serving from 30 November 2006 until 14 October 2010 when he was appointed asState Secretary forEducation, Culture and Science in theFirst Rutte cabinet, serving until 5 November 2012. Following theelection of 2012, he returned to the House of Representatives, serving from 20 September 2012 until 26 October 2017; he was chosen asparliamentary leader, serving from 1 November 2012 until 23 March 2017. He served asMinister of Foreign Affairs from 26 October 2017 to 13 February 2018.[1]
Halbe Zijlstra was born on 21 January 1969 inOosterwolde in theNetherlands.[2] His father was a police detective.[2] He attended secondary education atvwo level and studiedsociology at theUniversity of Groningen, after which he worked for several companies.[3]
Zijlstra has been a member of thePeople's Party for Freedom and Democracy since 1 February 1994.[2] He served as a member of themunicipal council ofUtrecht from 1998 to 2001, and again from 2003 to 2006.[2]
Zijlstra was elected to theHouse of Representatives in the2006 general election, taking his seat on 30 November. In the House, he was his party's spokesman on care, energy, sports, higher education and sciences and biotechnology. Shortly after the election, he introduced a bill with measures to tackle football hooligans together withLabour Party MPHans Spekman, and in 2007 the bill was adopted byGuusje ter Horst, who had becomeMinister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations in that year.[4]
On 14 October 2010, Zijlstra was appointed asState secretary forEducation, Culture and Science in the newly installedFirst Rutte cabinet. In this position, he was responsible for a broad portfolio of policy areas within theMinistry of Education, Culture and Science, including higher education, science and knowledge, the training and labour conditions of teachers, culture and cultural heritage. In his two-year term, Zijlstra initiated several changes in higher education policy, including the introduction of scholarships more favourable for long-term students and the creation of the possibility to prolong one's study in exceptional cases in 2011, and placing base scholarships for Master students under the loan system in 2012. Additionally, Zijlstra initiated budget cuts in the culture sector, sharpening the conditions necessary to be eligible for government subsidies, and merging several cultural funds. These measures saved a total of 200 million euros[4] and caused the collapse of the Dutch music school system.[5][6]
After Rutte's first cabinet lost a motion of no confidence in 2012 andnew elections were held, Zijlstra returned to the House of Representatives as chairman of his party's parliamentary group.[7] In 2016, he announced he would not be available for a second term as parliamentary leader after the2017 general election, but that he aspired to enter the cabinet as a minister.[8]
On 26 October 2017, Zijlstra became Minister of Foreign Affairs in thethird government ofPrime MinisterMark Rutte.
In response to theTurkish invasion of northern Syria aimed at ousting U.S.-backedSyrian Kurds from the enclave ofAfrin, Zijlstra said thatTurkey had the right to defend itself and its border, but at the same time pleaded with Turkey to show restraint.[9]
In February 2018, he admitted that he lied about meeting with Russian presidentVladimir Putin in 2006, during his earlier career. While speaking at a VVD conference in 2016, Zijlstra said that he heard Putin speaking about 'Great Russia' in 2006, suggestingimperialistic ambitions. He said to a newspaper that he visited Putin in his home in 2006. Putin spoke about 'Great Russia', and when asked what he meant with that term, he responded: "Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and the Baltic States. And oh yes, Kazakhstan was 'nice to have'," Zijlstra said. In 2018, he corrected that statement that a source had told him about these alleged statements. "The geopolitical meaning of those words was and is great. I therefore thought it was politically important to make these statements public. The source that told me about Putin's quotation confirmed the events to the Volkskrant, and appreciates the fact that I guarantee anonymity."[10][11][12] FormerShellCEOJeroen van der Veer, who attended several talks with Putin, is the source of the story. Van der Veer told the events to Zijlstra in 2014 but clarified in an e-mail tode Volkskrant that Putin's 2006 remarks were "meant historically" and "not by himself" interpreted in the sense of "aggression".[13]
On 13 February 2018, Zijlstra announced his resignation as Minister of Foreign Affairs in an address to the House of Representatives.[14]
In 2015, Zijlstra authored anop-ed for theNRC Handelsblad daily in which he criticized theIran nuclear deal framework as "a historical error," a view that echoedIsrael’s.[15]
Following theUnited Kingdom'sreferendum on European Union membership referendum in 2016, Zijlstra noted that Britain was the biggest country in a free-market, antifederalist camp that also includes the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden. He commented: "If the British leave, we’ll have lost an important partner and protectionist spirits will get a louder voice."[16]
Zijlstra resides inWassenaar, a town just north ofThe Hague.[2] He has been an active member of acarrier pigeon club.[17]
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Parliamentary leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy in theHouse of Representatives 2012–2017 2017 | Succeeded by |
| Succeeded by | ||
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science 2010–2012 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of Foreign Affairs 2017–2018 | Succeeded by Sigrid Kaag Ad interim |
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| International | |
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| National | |
