nomination
Dutch foreign minister to become EU commissioner
Wopke Hoekstra is currently Foreign Minister of the Netherlands. photo
© Jilmer Postma/ANP/dpa
Wopke Hoekstra is to take over Frans Timmermans’ previous job. What is known about the Dutch Foreign Minister.
The Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra is to become EU Commissioner, succeeding Frans Timmermans. Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced this to journalists in The Hague.
The cabinet is to decide on the nomination on Friday. It is not yet known which department the 47-year-old Christian Democrat will take over in Brussels. The EU Commission still has to approve the nomination.
Experienced in finance and foreign policy
Hoekstra has been foreign minister and deputy prime minister since 2022 and previously finance minister. It has not yet been decided who will succeed him as foreign minister.
The Dutch post in the EU Commission had become vacant after Timmermans’ resignation. He is the red-green coalition’s top candidate in the early parliamentary elections in the Netherlands in November. The social democrat was previously climate chief and also vice-chairman of the commission. It had already been decided that Slovak Maros Sefcovic would become climate chief and EU vice.
“He’s very experienced in finance and foreign policy,” Rutte said, explaining Hoekstra’s decision. Hoekstra had drawn their displeasure during the Corona crisis because of harsh words about the budgetary policy of southern European member states. But this conflict has been resolved, said Rutte.