Anna Theodora Bernardina "Ank" Bijleveld-Schouten (born 17 March 1962) is a Dutch politician of the

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( , CDA) is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in the Netherlands. Formed as a federation in 1975 by the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolutionary Party, and the Christian Historical ...

(CDA). She served as

Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

in the third cabinet of

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Mark Rutte Mark Rutte (; born 14 February 1967) is a Dutch politician who has served as the 14th Secretary General of NATO, secretary general of NATO since October 2024. He previously served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands, prime minister of the Neth ...

from 26 October 2017 to 17 September 2021. A

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

by occupation, she served as a member of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

from 16 November 1989 until 16 January 2001, when she was appointed Mayor of

Hof van Twente Hof van Twente () is a municipality in the region Twente, in the province Overijssel in the eastern Netherlands. The municipality was established January 1, 2001, as the result of the merger of the municipalities of Diepenheim, Goor, Markelo, Amb ...

, serving from 1 January 2001 until 22 February 2007. She resigned after she was appointed as State Secretary for the Interior and Kingdom Relations in the

Fourth Balkenende cabinet The fourth Balkenende cabinet was the Executive (government), executive branch of the Politics of the Netherlands, Government of the Netherlands from 22 February 2007 until 14 October 2010. The Cabinet of the Netherlands, cabinet was formed by ...

, serving from 22 February 2007 until 14 October 2010. After the election of 2010, Bijleveld returned to the

serving from 17 June 2010 until 1 January 2011 when she resigned after she was appointed as

King's Commissioner A King's commissioner (, ''CvdK'') is the head of government and legislature in a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands. When the List of monarchs of the Netherlands, reigning monarch is a woman, the title is Queen's commission ...

Overijssel Overijssel (; ; ; ) is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the eastern part of the country. The province's name comes from the perspective of the Prince-Bishopric of Utrecht, Episcopal principality of Utrecht ...

. Following the election of 2017 Bijleveld was asked to become

in the

Third Rutte cabinet The third Rutte cabinet was the cabinet of the Netherlands from 26 October 2017 until 10 January 2022 (since 15 January 2021 demissionary). It was formed by a coalition government of the political parties People's Party for Freedom and Democra ...

. Bijleveld accepted and resigned as

the same day she took office as the new

on 26 October 2017.

Early life and education

Bijleveld was born in the Dutch province of

. Between 1980 and 1986, she studied

public administration Public administration, or public policy and administration refers to "the management of public programs", or the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day",Kettl, Donald and James Fessler. 2009. ''The Politics of the ...

at the

University of Twente The University of Twente ( ; Abbreviation, abbr. ) is a Public university, public technical university located in Enschede, Netherlands. The university has been placed in the top 170 universities in the world by multiple central ranking tables. ...

Political career

In 1986 Bijleveld became a member of the

Enschede Enschede (; local ) is a list of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the province of Overijssel and the Twente region of the eastern Netherlands. The east of the urban area reaches ...

municipal council for the Christian Democratic Appeal. She served as a Member of the House of Representatives from 16 November 1989 until 16 January 2001. She was

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

from 1 January 2001 until 22 February 2007, when she resigned to become the State secretary for the Interior and Kingdom Relations in the

until 14 October 2010. On 17 June 2010 she again became a member of the House of Representatives. She was an MP till 1 January 2011 when she became

Minister of Defence, 2017–2021

Bijleveld left that position in 2017 as she was appointed to be

. Early in her tenure, Bijleveld oversaw Dutch efforts to disrupt a 2018 attempt by Russian intelligence agents to hack the

Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW; French: ''Organisation pour l'interdiction des armes chimiques'', OIAC) is an intergovernmental organisation and the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), ...

(OPCW). In October 2019, journalists from NRC and NOS revealed that an air raid on the

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

i city

Hawija Hawija (, Al-Ḥawīja) is the central town of Al-Hawija District in the Kirkuk Province of Iraq, west of Kirkuk, and north of Baghdad. The town has a population of about 480,000 inhabitants. Hawija District has approximately 520,000 inhabitan ...

in early June 2015 had been carried out by Dutch F16s. This bombing of a weapons depot resulted in 70 civilian deaths. Bijleveld's predecessor, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, was aware of this, but had incorrectly informed the House of Representatives about this. Bijleveld was criticized, because she too could have informed the House of Representatives about this earlier. For this reason

GroenLinks (, ; GL) is a Green politics, green List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands. It was formed on 1 March 1989 from the merger of four Left-wing politics, left-wing parties: the Communist Party of the Neth ...

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

arian Isabelle Diks filed a motion of no confidence on 5 November 2019, which was supported by 71 parliamentarians. In this parliamentary debate Rutte and Bijleveld stated that the number of seventy civilian deaths was uncertain and that this was also not known to the

United States Central Command The United States Central Command (USCENTCOM or CENTCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the United States Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Defense. It was established in 1983, taking over the previous responsibilit ...

. After inquiries from NRC and NOS, United States Central Command however confirmed that they have known this number of casualties for a while now. The fact that journalists could get this information led to a fourth debate about this bombing. In this debate, Bijleveld survived another vote of no confidence, which was supported by only 69 parliamentarians. Bijleveld resigned on 17 September 2021 after the

filed a motion of disapproval on how she and

Sigrid Kaag Sigrid Agnes Maria Kaag (; born 2 November 1961) is a Dutch politician, humanitarian and diplomat who is the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process since 2025 and the Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Ga ...

handled the evacuation of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, even though the day before she said she wouldn't resign.

Electoral history

Personal life

Bijleveld has been married to Riekele Bijleveld since 1984 (her husband has been a member of the municipal council of

on behalf of the CDA party since 2018)www.margriet.nl
/ref> and has two daughters. She is a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Notes

References

External links

*
Drs. A.Th.B. (Ank) Bijleveld-Schouten
Parlement.com
(acting) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bijleveld, Ank 1962 births Living people 20th-century Dutch civil servants 20th-century Dutch politicians 20th-century Dutch women politicians 21st-century Dutch civil servants 21st-century Dutch women politicians Christian Democratic Appeal politicians Dutch Roman Catholics Female defence ministers King's and Queen's Commissioners of Overijssel Mayors in Overijssel Mayors of Almere Dutch MPs 2010–2012 Ministers of defence of the Netherlands Ministers without portfolio of the Netherlands Municipal councillors of Enschede Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau People from Hof van Twente People from Kampen, Overijssel State secretaries for the interior of the Netherlands University of Twente alumni Women government ministers of the Netherlands Women King's and Queen's Commissioners of the Netherlands Women mayors of places in the Netherlands Christian Democratic Appeal MPs