Hans van Baalen

Dutch politician (1960–2021)

Johannes Cornelis "Hans" van Baalen (17 June 1960 – 29 April 2021) was a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) who served as a Member of the European Parliament and Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy in the European Parliament from 2009 until 2019. He also was President of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party from 21 November 2015 until his death. Van Baalen, a jurist and management consultant by occupation, worked for Deloitte as Director of Public relations from his graduation in 1988 until 1999. He became a Member of the House of Representatives on 28 September 1999 serving until 23 May 2002. After the Dutch general election of 2003 he was re elected as Member of the House of Representatives serving from 30 January 2003 until 14 July 2009 when he became Member of the European Parliament. Van Baalen served as President of the Liberal International from 20 April 2009 until 26 April 2014.

Johannes Cornelis van Baalen was born on 17 June 1960 in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. He went to a public primary school in his hometown Krimpen aan den IJssel and to the high school Krimpenerwaard College in the same town, where he followed the havo (1973–1977) and atheneum (1977–1979) programs. On 11 January 2021, the Dutch government appointed van Baalen as a member of the ‘Eminent Persons Group on the European Economy’ which advises Dutch politics on the EU economy, budgetary, fiscal & monetary policy. On 19 March 2021, the Council of Ministers, on the proposal of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, agreed to nominate van Baalen for an appointment as a member of the Advisory Council on International Affairs (AIV).

Van Baalen was a member of the European Parliament’s monitoring mission during the Ukrainian parliamentary elections in 2014, led by Andrej Plenković. With regard to the conflict with Russia over Ukraine, he argued for higher military spending and NATO involvement, and improved prospects for Ukraine to join the EU if its population so decided. In 2015, news media reported that van Baalen was included in a Russian blacklist of prominent people from the European Union who are not allowed to enter the country. In 2016 he received the Ukrainian Order of Merit Third Class, bestowed upon him by president Petro Poroshenko.

Van Baalen worked until September 2015 as a lobbyist for the motoring organisation RAI and was on the supervisory board of Mercedes Benz. Van Baalen reported those positions to the European Parliament and indicated he refrained from involvement in car related parliamentary business. In 2014 however, van Baalen, in his capacity as member of European parliament called for standardized rules for the car industry in the European Union and the United States.