Rosenthal and Knapen new government members at Foreign Affairs

News item | 14-10-2010

Her Majesty the Queen today swore in Uri Rosenthal as Minister and Ben Knapen as Minister for European Affairs and International Cooperation in the new Rutte-Verhagen government. Mr Rosenthal will be in charge of overall foreign policy, and Mr Knapen will be responsible for development cooperation and European affairs.

Mr Rosenthal’s foreign policy aims are to maintain Dutch prosperity, freedom and security: ‘I'm in favour of a foreign policy that produces results: a policy that serves Dutch citizens and Dutch enterprises – a policy that helps them in tangible ways. For me, home and abroad are two sides of the same coin.’

Minister for European Affairs and International Cooperation Ben Knapen wants to give the Netherlands a more distinctive profile, in Europe and the world at large: ‘That means well-defined policy decisions that will make a difference abroad and give this country a distinctive image. Of course, Foreign Affairs cannot do this on its own. But it has an important role as the link between various players. I want to give substance to that role in the next few years.’

Until his appointment as Minister, Uri Rosenthal was professor of public administration at Leiden University, chairman of the Institute for Safety, Security and Crisis Management, and leader of the VVD in the Senate.

Until his appointment as Minister for European Affairs and International Cooperation, Ben Knapen was a member of the Advisory Council on Government Policy and professor of media quality and ethics at Radboud University, Nijmegen.

The former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Maxime Verhagen, today hands over his responsibilities to the new ministers. His own role in the new government is as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation.

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