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Wopke Hoekstra
Wopke Bastiaan Hoekstra (Dutch: [ˈʋɔpkə ˈbɑstijaːn ˈɦukstraː]; born 30 September 1975) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) who serves as European Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth in the second von der Leyen commission.
Following a corporate career and a decade in the Dutch Senate and House of Representatives, Hoekstra served as Minister of Finance in the third Rutte cabinet from 2017 to 2022 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) from 2020 to 2023. In January 2022, he became second Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands and Minister of Foreign Affairs in the fourth Rutte cabinet. Hoekstra left the cabinet in September 2023 to succeed Frans Timmermans as European Commissioner for Climate Action in the first von der Leyen commission, and he stayed in his role when the second von der Leyen Commission was inaugurated in December 2024.
Hoekstra was born in Bennekom, Gelderland. He studied law at Leiden University from 1994 and obtained his LLM degree in 2001. He also studied history at this university for one year, in which he received a propaedeutic diploma in 1997. During his student years in Leiden he was president of the fraternity Minerva. Hoekstra took elective courses in law and economics at LUISS in Rome in 2000, before he obtained an MBA degree at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France and Singapore in 2005.
Before he joined the government, Hoekstra was a partner with the consultancy firm McKinsey. Hoekstra was also chairman of the supervisory board of the National Maritime Museum in Amsterdam and ambassador for the Prinses Maxima Centrum for pediatric oncology. Until 2006, he worked for Shell in Berlin, Hamburg and Rotterdam.
Hoekstra was the treasurer of the CDA-affiliated foundation Eduardo Freistichting and board member of the local CDA association in Amsterdam.
In December 2010, it was announced that Hoekstra was a candidate for the Senate election of 2011, for which he was indeed elected, and sworn in on 7 June 2011 as its youngest member. Membership of the Senate is a part-time position, and therefore Hoekstra continued as consultant with McKinsey. On 6 December of the same year, he gave his maiden speech during the debate on a tax-related topic. In the Senate, he stood out as the party's spokesperson for pensions. He was not reluctant to deviate from the party line on a number of ethical issues: he was the only CDA senator to vote in favour of a ban on civil servants refusing to marry same-sex couples (weigerambtenaar) and to vote in favour of legal status for lesbian parents (meemoederschap). He was reelected in 2015. Ahead of the 2017 general election, Hoekstra helped write the CDA's manifesto.
Hoekstra was nominated by the parliamentary press in 2013 as 'political talent of the year' and in 2016 he was the second-youngest person in the De Volkskrant top-200 of influential Dutch people. In 2016, he was one of the lead architects of the party platform.
Hoekstra was appointed Minister of Finance in the third Rutte cabinet on 26 October 2017, succeeding Jeroen Dijsselbloem.
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Wopke Hoekstra
Wopke Bastiaan Hoekstra (Dutch: [ˈʋɔpkə ˈbɑstijaːn ˈɦukstraː]; born 30 September 1975) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) who serves as European Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth in the second von der Leyen commission.
Following a corporate career and a decade in the Dutch Senate and House of Representatives, Hoekstra served as Minister of Finance in the third Rutte cabinet from 2017 to 2022 and Leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) from 2020 to 2023. In January 2022, he became second Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands and Minister of Foreign Affairs in the fourth Rutte cabinet. Hoekstra left the cabinet in September 2023 to succeed Frans Timmermans as European Commissioner for Climate Action in the first von der Leyen commission, and he stayed in his role when the second von der Leyen Commission was inaugurated in December 2024.
Hoekstra was born in Bennekom, Gelderland. He studied law at Leiden University from 1994 and obtained his LLM degree in 2001. He also studied history at this university for one year, in which he received a propaedeutic diploma in 1997. During his student years in Leiden he was president of the fraternity Minerva. Hoekstra took elective courses in law and economics at LUISS in Rome in 2000, before he obtained an MBA degree at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France and Singapore in 2005.
Before he joined the government, Hoekstra was a partner with the consultancy firm McKinsey. Hoekstra was also chairman of the supervisory board of the National Maritime Museum in Amsterdam and ambassador for the Prinses Maxima Centrum for pediatric oncology. Until 2006, he worked for Shell in Berlin, Hamburg and Rotterdam.
Hoekstra was the treasurer of the CDA-affiliated foundation Eduardo Freistichting and board member of the local CDA association in Amsterdam.
In December 2010, it was announced that Hoekstra was a candidate for the Senate election of 2011, for which he was indeed elected, and sworn in on 7 June 2011 as its youngest member. Membership of the Senate is a part-time position, and therefore Hoekstra continued as consultant with McKinsey. On 6 December of the same year, he gave his maiden speech during the debate on a tax-related topic. In the Senate, he stood out as the party's spokesperson for pensions. He was not reluctant to deviate from the party line on a number of ethical issues: he was the only CDA senator to vote in favour of a ban on civil servants refusing to marry same-sex couples (weigerambtenaar) and to vote in favour of legal status for lesbian parents (meemoederschap). He was reelected in 2015. Ahead of the 2017 general election, Hoekstra helped write the CDA's manifesto.
Hoekstra was nominated by the parliamentary press in 2013 as 'political talent of the year' and in 2016 he was the second-youngest person in the De Volkskrant top-200 of influential Dutch people. In 2016, he was one of the lead architects of the party platform.
Hoekstra was appointed Minister of Finance in the third Rutte cabinet on 26 October 2017, succeeding Jeroen Dijsselbloem.