Neelie Kroes is a
Dutch politicianThe politics of the Netherlands take place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democracy, a constitutional monarchy and a decentralised unitary state. The Netherlands is described as a consociational state...
of the
People's Party for Freedom and DemocracyThe People's Party for Freedom and Democracy is a conservative-liberal political party located in the Netherlands. The VVD supports private enterprise in the Netherlands and is often perceived as an economic liberal party in contrast to the social-liberal Democrats 66 alongside which it sits in...
(VVD). She served as a Member of the House of Representatives from 3 August 1971 until 28 December 1977 when she became
State SecretaryState Secretary is the title of a junior member of the Dutch or Belgian cabinet. Other terms for the title are deputy minister, junior minister or vice-minister...
for Transport, Public Works and Water Management from 28 December 1977 until 11 September 1981, in the Cabinet Van Agt I. And again a Member of the House of Representatives from 27 August 1981 until 4 November 1982, when she became Minister of Transport, Public Works and Water Management from 4 November 1982 until 7 November 1989, in the Cabinets Lubbers I and II.
After a long period of working on the board of commissioners of several
multinational corporationA multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...
s she returned to active politics when she became the European Commissioner for Competition for the
Barroso CommissionThe Barroso Commission is the European Commission that has been in office since 22 November 2004 and is due to serve until 2014. Its president is José Manuel Barroso, who presides over 26 other commissioners...
. She continued to serve in the second term in the
Barroso CommissionThe Barroso Commission is the European Commission that has been in office since 22 November 2004 and is due to serve until 2014. Its president is José Manuel Barroso, who presides over 26 other commissioners...
as the new
European Commissioner for Digital AgendaThe Commissioner for Digital Agenda is a member of the European Commission responsible for media and information issues such as telecoms and IT...
and became one of several
Vice-Presidents of the European CommissionA Vice President of the European Commission is a post in the European Commission usually occupied by more than one member of the Commission. Since the 2009 Lisbon Treaty entered into force, one of these is ex-officio the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy,...
.
Career before politics
Neelie Kroes was born on 19 July 1941 in
RotterdamRotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
, Netherlands. Her father owned the transport company Zwatra.
Kroes attended a Protestant
grammar schoolEducation in the Netherlands is characterized by division: education is orientated toward the needs and background of the pupil. Education is divided over schools for different age groups, some of which are divided in streams for different educational levels...
in
RotterdamRotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
. She continued to a Protestant high school. In 1958 she went to study economics at the prestigious 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 ScienceA Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...
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 was elected member of the Rotterdam
city councilA city council or town council is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality or local government area.-Australia & NZ:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council varies...
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 CabinetThe first Van Agt cabinet was a right-wing coalition of the CDA and the VVD. The Labour Party was the largest party after the elections, but the demands of Labour leader Joop den Uyl were too great for Christian-Democrat Dries van Agt, who formed a coalition with right-wing liberal Hans Wiegel...
, 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
FirstThe first Lubbers cabinet was formed by the right-wing political parties CDA and VVD. The aim of the cabinet was cutting government spending and privatizations. There was much internal resistance of the left-wing, especially the largest mass demonstration in Dutch history, against the placement of...
and
Second Lubbers CabinetThe second Lubbers cabinet was a continuation of the coalition of the right-wing political parties CDA and VVD. Its main aim was the continuation of the policy of cutting government spending. There was a large-scale revision of the welfare state and the public postal service was privatised...
s, 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 Postgiro (Postbank, initially a part of the PTT), the Post and Telephone Services, the Harbour Pilotage services, as well as the commissioning of the
BetuweThe Betuweroute is a double track freight railway from Rotterdam to Germany. Betuweroute is the official name, after the Betuwe area through which it passes, but the line is popularly referred to as Betuwelijn, after an older track in the same region. The Germans have named their part the...
Railway.
Kroes refused to become
Minister of DefenceThe Netherlands Ministry of Defence governs the Netherlands Armed Forces. The Minister is assisted by a State Secretary...
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
ABPStichting Pensioenfonds ABP , frequently referred to as ABP, is the pension fund for government and education employees in the Netherlands...
and PGGM),
NIBThe Nordic Investment Bank is an international financial institution founded in the mid-1970s by the five Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. In 2005, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania became members of the Bank. NIB’s headquarters are located in Helsinki, Finland...
(an investment bank),
McDonald'sMcDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
Netherlands,
NedlloydNedlloyd was a Dutch shipping company, formed in 1970 as the Nederlandsche Scheepvaart Unie in a merger of several shipping lines:*Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland *Koninklijke Rotterdamsche Lloyd...
, and
Nederlandse SpoorwegenNederlandse Spoorwegen , or NS, is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands.Its trains operate over the tracks of the Dutch national railinfrastructure, operated by ProRail, which was split off from NS in 2003...
(the Dutch railroad company).
In 1991 she became chairperson of
Nyenrode UniversityNyenrode Business Universiteit, also spelled as Nijenrode, is a Dutch business school and the only private university in the Netherlands. Founded in 1946, it is located on a large estate in the town of Breukelen, between Amsterdam and Utrecht.-History:...
, 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.
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 MuseumThe Rembrandt House Museum is a house in Jodenbreestraat in Amsterdam, Netherlands, where Rembrandt lived and painted for a number of years. It is now a museum...
. Also, she is was a member of several boards of commissioners, for instance at
NedlloydNedlloyd was a Dutch shipping company, formed in 1970 as the Nederlandsche Scheepvaart Unie in a merger of several shipping lines:*Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland *Koninklijke Rotterdamsche Lloyd...
(a shipping company) and
Lucent TechnologiesAlcatel-Lucent USA, Inc., originally Lucent Technologies, Inc. is a French-owned technology company composed of what was formerly AT&T Technologies, which included Western Electric and Bell Labs...
(an information and communication technologies company).
Commissioner for Competition
In 2004 Neelie Kroes was appointed the
European CommissionThe European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
er
for CompetitionThe Commissioner for Competition is the member responsible for competition of the European Commission. The current commissioner is Joaquín Almunia who is also a Commission Vice President.-Responsibilities:...
. 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
MicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
founder
Bill GatesWilliam Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
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
interoperabilityInteroperability is a property referring to the ability of diverse systems and organizations to work together . The term is often used in a technical systems engineering sense, or alternatively in a broad sense, taking into account social, political, and organizational factors that impact system to...
and included a €497 million fine for Microsoft.
Kroes attended conferences organized by the
Bilderberg GroupThe Bilderberg Group, Bilderberg conference, or Bilderberg Club is an annual, unofficial, invitation-only conference of approximately 120 to 140 guests from North America and Western Europe, most of whom are people of influence. About one-third are from government and politics, and two-thirds from...
in 2005 and 2006.
Neelie Kroes made the
ForbesForbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
'
The World's 100 Most Powerful WomenStarting in 2004, Forbes magazine has made a list of the 100 most powerful women in the world. It is edited by editor Mary Ellen Egan, and based on visibility and economic impact...
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 UK "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher when dealing with
competitionCompetition law, known in the United States as antitrust law, is law that promotes or maintains market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies....
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 AgendaThe Commissioner for Digital Agenda is a member of the European Commission responsible for media and information issues such as telecoms and IT...
in the second
Barroso CommissionThe Barroso Commission is the European Commission that has been in office since 22 November 2004 and is due to serve until 2014. Its president is José Manuel Barroso, who presides over 26 other commissioners...
. 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 conferenceThe Bilderberg Group, Bilderberg conference, or Bilderberg Club is an annual, unofficial, invitation-only conference of approximately 120 to 140 guests from North America and Western Europe, most of whom are people of influence. About one-third are from government and politics, and two-thirds from...
in
Sitges*Church of Sant Bartolomeu i Santa Tecla . It houses two Gothic sepulchres , belonging to the an older church located on the same site...
in Spain from 3 to 6 June 2010.
Since 2010 she has also served as a Commissioner for the
Broadband Commission for Digital DevelopmentThe Broadband Commission for Digital Development was established in May 2010 as a joint initiative by the International Telecommunication Union and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization...
which leverages broadband technologies as a key enabler for social and economic development.
Miscellaneous information
- Kroes, a liberal, was married to social democratic
The Labour Party , is a social-democratic political party in the Netherlands. Since the 2003 Dutch General Election, the PvdA has been the second largest political party in the Netherlands. The PvdA was a coalition member in the fourth Balkenende cabinet following 22 February 2007...
minister and mayor Bram PeperAbraham Peper is a Dutch sociologist and former politician. Peper was Mayor of Rotterdam and Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations and is member of the Dutch Labour Party ....
.
- Kroes has been a Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion since 1981 and a Grand Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau
The Order of Orange-Nassau is a military and civil order of the Netherlands which was created on 4 April 1892 by the Queen regent Emma of the Netherlands, acting on behalf of her under-age daughter Queen Wilhelmina. The Order is a chivalry order open to "everyone who have earned special merits for...
since 1989.
- Kroes was International Road Federation Man of the Year of 1993.
- Kroes is a confidant of Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Ayaan Hirsi Magan Ali is a Somali-Dutch feminist and atheist activist, writer, politician who strongly opposes circumcision and female genital cutting. She is the daughter of the Somali politician and opposition leader Hirsi Magan Isse and is a founder of the women's rights organisation the AHA...
and persuaded her to switch allegiance from the social democratic PvdA to the VVD.
External links
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