Gijsbert Marius "Gijs" de Vries (born 22 February 1956) is a retired Dutch-American politician and diplomat who served as State Secretary for the Interior and Kingdom Relations from 1998 to 2002 and European Union Counter-terrorism Coordinator from 2004 until 2007. He was a member of the

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) until 2010, when he joined the Democrats 66 (D66) party.

Career

From 1984 to 1998, Gijs de Vries was 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 ...

(MEP) for three consecutive terms. From 1994 to 1998, he was chairman of the group of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party. He resigned from the European Parliament to become State Secretary for the Interior and Kingdom Relations under the

Second Kok cabinet The second Kok cabinet, also called the second Purple cabinet was the executive branch of the Dutch government from 3 August 1998 until 22 July 2002. The cabinet was a continuation of the previous first Kok cabinet and was formed by the soc ...

. He was later appointed the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

anti-terrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or ...

coordinator from March 2004 to March 2007. As of September 2008, he was chairman of the European Security Research and Innovation Forum (ESRIF). As the EU anti-terrorism coordinator, he worked for

Javier Solana Francisco Javier Solana de Madariaga (; born 14 July 1942) is a Spanish physicist and PSOE politician. After serving in the Spanish government as Foreign Affairs Minister under Felipe González (1992–1995) and as the Secretary General of NA ...

in the

Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest an ...

(PJCCM)

pillar A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

. Solana outlined his duties as being to streamline, organise and co-ordinate the EU and its members fight against terrorism. He stood down from the post in March 2007, citing personal reasons, although it is commonly understood that the position's mandate did not have the necessary operational powers, as well as an overall reluctance within member states to supply information regarding anti-terror activities, even though the member states fully supported the establishment of the anti-terrorism coordinator after the 2004 Madrid train bombings. In September 2007, MEPs called for the post to be filled, having been vacant for six months, as well as for it to be given real powers to carry out the post's tasks. On 20 September 2007, the Belgian Gilles de Kerchove was appointed to succeed De Vries in the post. Prior to 2010 De Vries had been a member of the

(VVD). However, due to dissatisfaction at the VVD's decision to form 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 ...

, a minority government with the support of the Party for Freedom (PVV) led by nationalist

Geert Wilders Geert Wilders (; born 6 September 1963) is a Dutch politician who has led the Party for Freedom (''Partij voor de Vrijheid'' – PVV) since he founded it in 2006. He is also the party's leader in the House of Representatives (''Tweede Kamer'' ...

he left the party and joined the social-liberal Democrats 66 (D66) party then in opposition.Parlement en Politiek Biografie Gijs de Vrijs

Decorations

References

External links

;Official *
Drs. G.M. (Gijs) de Vries
Parlement & Politiek {{DEFAULTSORT:Vries, Gijs de 1956 births Living people Counterterrorism and the European Union Democrats 66 politicians Dutch expatriates in Belgium Dutch expatriates in England Dutch officials of the European Union Dutch political writers European Court of Auditors Experts on terrorism Fellows of St Antony's College, Oxford Governmental studies academics Leiden University alumni Leiden University faculty Members of the Court of Audit (Netherlands) Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) MEPs for the Netherlands 1984–1989 MEPs for the Netherlands 1989–1994 MEPs for the Netherlands 1994–1999 Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau People from Leiden People from New York City People's Party for Freedom and Democracy MEPs People's Party for Freedom and Democracy politicians State Secretaries for the Interior of the Netherlands Terrorism studies Terrorism theorists 20th-century Dutch civil servants 20th-century Dutch diplomats 20th-century Dutch economists 20th-century Dutch male writers 20th-century Dutch politicians 21st-century Dutch civil servants 21st-century Dutch diplomats 21st-century Dutch economists 21st-century Dutch educators 21st-century Dutch male writers 21st-century Dutch politicians