Maxime Jacques Marcel Verhagen (; born 14 September 1956) is a retired

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

politician of the

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( nl, Christen-Democratisch Appèl, ; CDA) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolution ...

(CDA) party and historian. Verhagen studied Contemporary history at the Leiden University obtaining a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...

degree. Verhagen worked as a political consultant and campaign manager for the Christian Democratic Appeal from February 1986 until July 1989. After the European Parliamentary election of 1989 Verhagen was elected as a

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

on 25 July 1989. After the election of 1994 Verhagen was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives on 17 May 1994 serving as a

frontbencher In many parliaments and other similar assemblies, seating is typically arranged in banks or rows, with each political party or caucus grouped together. The spokespeople for each group will often sit at the front of their group, and are then kn ...

and

spokesperson A spokesperson, spokesman, or spokeswoman, is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others. Duties and function In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have receiv ...

for

Foreign Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United S ...

and European Affairs. After the election of 2002 Party Leader and

Parliamentary leader A parliamentary leader is a political title or a descriptive term used in various countries to designate the person leading a parliamentary group or caucus in a legislative body, whether it be a national or sub-national legislature. They are their ...

Jan Peter Balkenende Jan Pieter "Jan Peter" Balkenende Jr. (; born 7 May 1956) is a Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 to 14 October 2010. Balkenende studied H ...

became Prime Minister and Verhagen was selected as his successor as Parliamentary leader on 11 July 2002. After the election of 2003 Verhagen continued as Parliamentary leader. After the election of 2006 Verhagen was appointed as

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

in the Cabinet Balkenende IV taking office on 22 February 2007. The Cabinet Balkenende IV fell exactly 3 years into its term and Verhagen took over as Minister for Development Cooperation taking office on 23 February 2010. Shortly after the election of 2010 Balkenende announced he was stepping down as Party Leader and Verhagen was anonymously selected as his successor on 9 June 2010. After the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

Verhagen returned to the House of Representatives as Parliamentary leader on 17 June 2010 and following a successful cabinet formation with Liberal Leader

Mark Rutte Mark Rutte (; born 14 February 1967) is a Dutch politician who has served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands since 2010 and Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) since 2006. After a business career working for Unileve ...

formed the Cabinet Rutte I with Verhagen appointed as

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president ...

and Minister of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation taking office on 14 October 2010. The Cabinet Rutte I fell 18 months into its term and shortly thereafter Verhagen unexpectedly announced his retirement and that he wouldn't stand for the election of 2012. Verhagen retired from active politics at 56 and became active in the private and public sectors as a corporate and non-profit director, and works as a trade association executive serving as Chairman of the Construction association since July 2013 and became a Member of the Social and Economic Council for the Industry and Employers confederation (VNO-NCW) in October 2015.

Early life and education

Maxime Jacques Marcel Verhagen was born on 14 September 1956 in

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...

in the Netherlands Province of

Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...

in a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

family. He studied at Leiden University where he obtained an

degree in History in 1986. For a brief period during his college years, Verhagen was associated with both left-wing radicalism and the liberal

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a conservative-liberal Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49 political party in ...

(VVD). He joined the CDA in 1976.

Politics

Verhagen started working for the CDA and was elected to the city council of

Oegstgeest Oegstgeest () is a town and municipality in the province of South Holland in the western Netherlands. Its population was in . Etymology The portion ''geest'' in the name refers to the geest lands, which were excavated in the seventeenth cen ...

, and then elected as a

for the European People's Party after the European Parliament election of 1989. After the general election of 1994, he was elected to the

House of Representatives of the Netherlands The House of Representatives (, pronounced ; commonly referred to as the ', literally "Second Chamber of the States General") is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of the Netherlands, the States General, the other one being the Senate ...

. On 11 July 2002 he became CDA

parliamentary leader A parliamentary leader is a political title or a descriptive term used in various countries to designate the person leading a parliamentary group or caucus in a legislative body, whether it be a national or sub-national legislature. They are their ...

in the House of Representatives. After became

in the

fourth Balkenende cabinet The fourth Balkenende cabinet was the executive branch of the Government of the Netherlands from 22 February 2007 until 14 October 2010. The cabinet was formed by the Christian-democratic Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and Christian Unio ...

in 2007, he was succeeded in that position by Pieter van Geel. After the resignation of the Labour Party ministers, he became interim Minister for Development Cooperation. Rice-verhagen-apr2 600

When the

Leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal The Leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal is the most senior politician within the Christian Democratic Appeal ( nl, Christen-Democratisch Appèl, CDA) in the Netherlands.The current leader has been Wopke Hoekstra since 10 December 2020. H ...

and

in the

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

became

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier 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. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Verhagen succeed him as the

in the

on 11 July 2002. During the Cabinets Balkenende I, II en III Verhagen became the unofficial Deputy leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal. He became the

in the Cabinet Balkenende IV serving from 22 February 2007 to 14 October 2010, while he also served as Minister for Development Cooperation following the resignation from

Bert Koenders Albert Gerard "Bert" Koenders (; born 28 May 1958) is a Dutch politician of the Labour Party (Netherlands), Labour Party (PvdA) who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2014 to 2017. He is curr ...

. As such, at the request of gay rights groups, Verhagen called upon the Nuncio to the Netherlands, Monsignor François Bacqué, to respond to accusations that the Roman Catholic Church opposed homosexual rights. He later expressed concern at the lifting of the excommunication of controversial bishop Richard Williamson, a member of the

Society of Saint Pius X The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) ( la, Fraternitas Sacerdotalis Sancti Pii X; FSSPX) is an international fraternity of traditionalist Catholic priests founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, a leading traditionalist voice at the Sec ...

. The

did badly in the general election of 2010, and the then

Party leader and

, resigned the same day. Verhagen replaced him as

leader Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets vi ...

of the

parliamentary party. After the 2010 Dutch cabinet formation Verhagen became the Minister of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation and

in the

first Rutte cabinet The first Rutte cabinet, also called the Rutte–Verhagen cabinet was the executive branch of the Government of the Netherlands from 14 October 2010 until 5 November 2012. The cabinet was formed by the conservative-liberal People's Party for Fr ...

. Verhagen resigned in November 2012, together with the rest of the cabinet.

Other activities

* European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Ex-Officio Alternate Member of the Board of Governors (2007-2010)

Controversy

In 2021, Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant published about an

integrity Integrity is the practice of being honest and showing a consistent and uncompromising adherence to strong moral and ethical principles and values. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions. In ...

case study in which Maxime Verhagen was involved. Verhagen had been paid by the Province of Limburg to negotiate with industrial company

VDL Groep VDL Groep is an international industrial and manufacturing company established in 1953. From its head office in Eindhoven, Netherlands, VDL supervises its subsidiaries, which have a high level of autonomy and responsibility for results. The bus ...

as an 'ambassador' of the Province of Limburg. At the same time, Verhagen was on VDL Groep's payroll as an advisor. Verhagen was subsequently fired by the Province of Limburg.

Personal

Verhagen is married to Annemieke Beijlevelt since 1984 and has 2 sons and 1 daughter. They live in

Voorburg Voorburg is a town and former municipality in the west part of the province of South Holland, Netherlands. Together with Leidschendam and Stompwijk, it makes up the municipality Leidschendam-Voorburg. It has a population of about 39,000 peo ...

Decorations

References

External links

;Official *
Drs. M.J.M. (Maxime) Verhagen
Parlement & Politiek , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Verhagen, Maxime 1956 births Living people Christian Democratic Appeal MEPs Christian Democratic Appeal politicians Contemporary historians Deputy Prime Ministers of the Netherlands Dutch campaign managers Dutch corporate directors Dutch nonprofit directors Dutch political consultants Dutch Roman Catholics Dutch trade association executives Leaders of the Christian Democratic Appeal Leiden University alumni Leiden University faculty Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Members of the Social and Economic Council MEPs for the Netherlands 1989–1994 Ministers for Development Cooperation of the Netherlands Ministers of Agriculture of the Netherlands Ministers of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands Municipal councillors in South Holland Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau Politicians from Maastricht People from Oegstgeest People from Voorburg Recipients of the Decoration of Merit Sint-Maartenscollege (Maastricht) alumni 20th-century Dutch historians 20th-century Dutch politicians 21st-century Dutch historians 21st-century Dutch politicians