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Maxime Verhagen

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Maxime Jacques Marcel (Maxime) Verhagen was born in Maastricht on 14 September 1956.

After completing his secondary education, he studied history at the Universityof Leiden, graduating in 1986.

From 1984 to 1987, Mr Verhagen worked as assistant to an MP for the Christian Democratic Alliance (CDA). Later on, he joined the parliamentary staff for the CDA, where he was given responsibility for European Affairs, Development Cooperation and Trade Policy.

Up to 1989, he represented the CDA on the Oegstgeest municipal council, becoming leader of the council’s CDA faction in 1986. He was a member of the European Parliament from 1989 to 1994. He was then elected to the House of Representatives, becoming leader of the CDA parliamentary party in 2002.

Mr Verhagen has also been vice-chair of the ACP-EU Joint Assembly and of the permanent parliamentary committee on foreign affairs, and a board member of the Eduardo Frei Foundation, the Netherlands Atlantic Association, the European Movement and Nijmegen University’s Parliamentary History Foundation. He has also been a member of the supervisory board of Free Voice, a media organisation that lobbies for freedom of the press in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle Eastand Eastern Europe.

On 22 February 2007, Mr Verhagen was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in the fourth Balkenende government.

22 February 2007

See also

• Minister Verhagen (Minbuza.nl)