Thom de Graaf | |
|---|---|
 de Graaf in 2018 | |
| Vice-President of the Council of State | |
| Assumed office 1 November 2018 | |
| Monarch | Willem-Alexander |
| Preceded by | Piet Hein Donner |
| Parliamentary leader in theSenate | |
| In office 9 June 2015 – 26 June 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Roger van Boxtel |
| Succeeded by | Hans Engels |
| Parliamentary group | Democrats 66 |
| Member of the Senate | |
| In office 7 June 2011 – 20 September 2018 | |
| Parliamentary group | Democrats 66 |
| Mayor of Nijmegen | |
| In office 8 January 2007 – 1 February 2012 | |
| Preceded by | Guusje ter Horst |
| Succeeded by | Wim Dijkstra(ad interim) |
| Deputy Prime Minister | |
| In office 27 May 2003 – 23 March 2005 Serving with Gerrit Zalm | |
| Prime Minister | Jan Peter Balkenende |
| Preceded by | Johan Remkes Roelf de Boer |
| Succeeded by | Laurens Jan Brinkhorst |
| Minister for Governmental Reform and Kingdom Relations | |
| In office 27 May 2003 – 23 March 2005 | |
| Prime Minister | Jan Peter Balkenende |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Alexander Pechtold |
| Leader of the Democrats 66 | |
| In office 30 May 1998 – 22 January 2003 | |
| Preceded by | Els Borst |
| Succeeded by | Boris Dittrich |
| Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives | |
| In office 30 May 1998 – 22 January 2003 | |
| Preceded by | Els Borst |
| Succeeded by | Boris Dittrich |
| In office 21 November 1997 – 19 May 1998 | |
| Preceded by | Gerrit Jan Wolffensperger [arz;nl] |
| Succeeded by | Els Borst |
| Parliamentary group | Democrats 66 |
| Member of the House of Representatives | |
| In office 17 May 1994 – 27 May 2003 | |
| Parliamentary group | Democrats 66 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Thomas Carolus de Graaf (1957-06-11)11 June 1957 (age 67) Amsterdam,North Holland, Netherlands |
| Political party | Democrats 66(from 1977) |
| Children | 2 |
| Parent |
|
| Residence(s) | Nijmegen,Gelderland, Netherlands |
| Alma mater | Radboud University Nijmegen (Bachelor of Laws,Master of Laws) |
| Occupation | |
| Website | (in Dutch)Vice-President of the Council of State |
Thomas Carolus de Graaf (Dutch pronunciation:[ˈtoːmɑzdəˈɣraːf];[a] born 11 June 1957[1]) is a Dutch politician of theDemocrats 66 (D66) party and jurist.[2] He is theVice-President of the Council of State since 1 November 2018.
De Graaf was born inAmsterdam in 1957. De Graaf's father,Theo de Graaf, was aCatholic People's Party member of parliament and from 1968 until 1977 mayor of Nijmegen. De Graaf attended theStedelijk Gymnasium Nijmegen [de;nl] from April 1969 until May 1975 and applied at theRadboud University Nijmegen in June 1975majoring inLaw obtaining aBachelor of Laws degree in June 1977 and worked as astudent researcher before graduating with aMaster of Laws degree in July 1981.
De Graaf served on theMunicipal Council ofNijmegen from May 1978 until April 1979. De Graaf worked as a researcher at the Radboud University Nijmegen and theCentrum voor Parlementaire Geschiedenis [nl] from July 1981 until September 1985. De Graaf worked as a civil servant for theMinistry of the Interior from September 1985 until May 1994 for the department for Law Enforcement from September 1985 until February 1986 and as Deputy Director-General of the department for Legislative Affairs from February 1986 until August 1988 and as Deputy Director-General of the department for Legal Affairs from August 1988 until September 1991 and as Deputy Director-General of the department for Law Enforcement from September 1991 until May 1994. De Graaf served on the Municipal Council ofLeiden from April 1990 until May 1994.
De Graaf was elected as aMember of the House of Representatives afterelection of 1994, taking office on 17 May 1994 serving as afrontbencher andspokesperson forthe Interior,Kingdom Relations, andLaw enforcement and deputy spokesperson forForeign Affairs andEuropean Affairs. He sat as vice-chairman in the parliamentary inquiry commission that looked into the investigative methods used by the Dutch inter-regional police force, leading to the resignation in 1994 of the Minister for Internal Affairs,Ed van Thijn.
After theParliamentary leader of the Democrats 66 in the House of RepresentativesGerrit Jan Wolffensperger [arz;nl] announced that he was stepping down as Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives following increasing criticism on his leadership, theDemocrats 66 leadership approached De Graaf as his successor, De Graaf accepted and became the Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives, taking office on 21 November 1997. After theelection of 1998 the newLeader of the Democrats 66Els Borst was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives and became the Parliamentary leader, taking office on 19 May 1998. Following thecabinet formation of 1998Borst opted to remain Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport in theCabinet Kok II and unexpectedly announced that she was stepping down as Leader. De Graaf announced his candidacy to succeed her. De Graaf won theleadership election defeating fellow frontbencherRoger van Boxtel and was elected as Leader and Parliamentary leader, taking office on 30 May 1998.
For theelection of 2002 De Graaf served as theLijsttrekker (top candidate). The Democrats 66 suffered a big loss, losing 7 seats and fell back as the seventh largest party and now had 7 seats in the House of Representatives. For theelection of 2003 De Graaf served for a second time asLijsttrekker. The Democrats 66 suffered another loss, losing 1 seat and now had 6 seats in the House of Representatives. On 22 January 2003 De Graaf announced he was stepping down as Leader and Parliamentary leader taking responsibility for the defeat but continued to serve in the House of Representatives as a frontbencher chairing the parliamentary committee for Kingdom Relations. Following thecabinet formation of 2003 De Graaf was appointed asDeputy Prime Minister andMinister for Governmental Reform and Kingdom Relations in theCabinet Balkenende II, taking office on 27 May 2003.[3]
De Graaf served in thesecond Balkenende cabinet as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Government Reform and Kingdom Relations from 23 May 2003 until 23 March 2005. In 2005, de Graaf resigned, after the introduction of democratically electedmayors had been rejected in theSenate, with a deciding vote cast by the Labour Party faction under guidance by Ed van Thijn. The proposal was especially important as it had become a symbol of the government reform that D66 had wanted since its creation.Alexander Pechtold took his place in the cabinet.
On 23 March 2005, De Graaf resigned after a proposed constitutional reform on elected-mayors was rejected by theSenate.
De Graaf semi-retired from active politics and became active in thepublic sector and occupied numerous seats as a nonprofit director on several supervisory boards (Centrum voor Parlementaire Geschiedenis, Consumentenbond and theAnne Vondeling prize) and served on several state commissions and councils on behalf of the government (Public Pension Funds APB, De Koning Commission,National Committee for 4 and 5 May,Netherlands Film Fund and theAdvisory Council for Spatial Planning). De Graaf also worked as a sport administrator for theRoyal Dutch Football Association. De Graaf also served as a professor ofEthics for theRoyal Marechaussee at theRoyal Military Academy from July 2005 until September 2010.
In December 2006 De Graaf was nominated asMayor of Nijmegen, taking office on 8 January 2007. In January 2012 De Graaf was nominated as Chairman of the Executive Board of the Universities of Applied Sciences association, he resigned as Mayor the same day he was installed Chairman from serving from 1 February 2012 until 1 November 2018. De Graaf was elected as aMember of the Senate after theSenate election of 2011, taking office on 7 June 2011 serving as a frontbencher chairing the parliamentary committee for Kingdom Relations and spokesperson for the Interior, Kingdom Relations, European Affairs,Defence andImmigration and Asylum Affairs. After theSenate election of 2015 De Graaf was selected as Parliamentary leader of the Democrats 66 in the Senate, taking office on 9 June 2015. In June 2018 De Graaf was nominated asVice-President of the Council of State, he resigned as Parliamentary leader on 26 June 2018 and as a Member of the Senate on 20 September 2018 and was installed as Vice-President of the Council of State, taking office on 1 November 2018.
| Honours | ||||
| Ribbon bar | Honour | Country | Date | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Knight of theOrder of the Holy Sepulchre | Holy See | 4 April 2004 | |
 | Officer of theOrder of Oranje-Nassau | Netherlands | 23 May 2005 | |
Thom de Graaf Geboren: Amsterdam, 11 juni 1957
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Parliamentary leader of the Democrats 66 in the House of Representatives 1997–1998 1998–2003 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Succeeded by | |
| Leader of the Democrats 66 1998–2003 | ||
| Preceded by | Lijsttrekker of the Democrats 66 2002 •2003 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Parliamentary leader of the Democrats 66 in theSenate 2015–2018 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Deputy Prime Minister 2003–2005 Served alongside:Gerrit Zalm | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | ||
| Preceded by Office established | Minister for Governmental Reform and Kingdom Relations 2003–2005 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Mayor of Nijmegen 2007–2012 | Succeeded by Wim Dijkstra Ad interim |
| Preceded by | Vice-President of the Council of State 2018–present | Incumbent |
| Civic offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chairman of the Supervisory board of the Netherlands Film Fund 2017–2018 | Succeeded by |
| Non-profit organization positions | ||
| Preceded by | Chairman of the Supervisory board of the Centrum voor Parlementaire Geschiedenis [nl] 2007–present | Incumbent |
| Preceded by | Chairman of the Executive Board of the Vereniging Hogescholen [nl] 2012–2018 | Succeeded by Maurice Limmen |
| President |  | |
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| Vice-President | ||
| Members | ||
| Advisory Members | ||
| Extraordinary Members | ||
| Ex officio Members | ||
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| Interior | | |
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| Foreign Affairs | ||
| Justice | ||
| Economic Affairs | ||
| Health | ||
| Social Affairs | ||
| Education | ||
| Agriculture | ||
| Housing | ||
| Colonial Affairs | ||
Senate 9 June 2015 – 11 June 2019 | ||
| People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD: 13) |  | |
| Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA: 12) | ||
| Democrats 66 (D66: 10) | ||
| Party for Freedom (PVV: 9) | ||
| Socialist Party (SP: 9) | ||
| Labour Party (PvdA: 8) | ||
| GreenLeft (GL: 4) | ||
| Christian Union (CU: 3) | ||
| Party for the Animals (PvdD: 2) | ||
| Reformed Political Party (SGP: 2) | ||
| 50PLUS (50+: 2) | ||
| Independent Senate Group (OSF: 1) | ||
Bold signifies theParliamentary leader (first mentioned) Bold also signifies thePresident | ||
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
