Cornelis (Cees) van der Knaap (born 27 January 1951, in
Bennekom
Bennekom is a village and parish in the Netherlands, which is part of the Municipality of Ede in the south-west of the Veluwe district of the Province of Gelderland. It adjoins the town of Wageningen on the Lower-Rhine to the south, and Ede to ...
) is a
Dutch politician. He was
State Secretary for
Defence for the
Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA).
Biography
After attending a
MULO school, Van der Knaap worked for
Vroom & Dreesmann. Between 1970 and 1975 he served as an
enlisted soldier
An enlisted rank (also known as an enlisted grade or enlisted rate) is, in some armed services, any rank below that of a commissioned officer. The term can be inclusive of non-commissioned officers or warrant officers, except in United States mi ...
in the
Royal Netherlands Army
The Royal Netherlands Army ( nl, Koninklijke Landmacht) is the land branch of the Netherlands Armed Forces. Though the Royal Netherlands Army was raised on 9 January 1814, its origins date back to 1572, when the was raised – making the Dutc ...
. After that he worked for the
customs
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out of a country. Traditionally, customs ...
service. Since 1978 he has worked for the
National Federation of Christian Trade Unions in the Netherlands, first as district board member, later as a member of the national board of the transport union. In 1992 he became a member of the national board of the federal trade union, first as coordinator working conditions, later as general secretary.
In
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...
Van der Knaap became a member of the
House of Representatives for the
Christian Democratic Appeal. In 2002 he became
State Secretary for
Defence in the
First Balkenende cabinet, a post he has held until 2008, even though there were considerable mutations between the
second Balkenende cabinet, the
third cabinet Balkenende
The third Balkenende cabinet was the executive branch of the Government of the Netherlands from 7 July 2006 until 22 February 2007. The cabinet was formed by the Christian-democratic Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and the conservative-libe ...
and the
Fourth Balkenende cabinet. Van der Knaap is a trustee of
Jan Peter Balkenende, and has been an important contact between the cabinet and the trade unions in times of crisis.
Van der Knaap has become
mayor of
Ede in 2008,
his successor as State Secretary was
Jack de Vries.
References
*
Parlement.com biography
1951 births
Living people
Christian Democratic Appeal politicians
Dutch trade union leaders
Dutch trade unionists
Mayors in Gelderland
Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands)
People from Ede, Netherlands
State Secretaries for Defence of the Netherlands
21st-century Dutch politicians
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