Cornelis (Cees) van der Knaap (born 27 January 1951) is a Dutch politician. He was State Secretary for Defence for 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).

Biography

After attending a MULO school, Van der Knaap worked for

Vroom & Dreesmann Vroom & Dreesmann (V&D) was a Dutch chain of department stores founded in 1887. In 2015, V&D operated 67 branches throughout the Netherlands, of which 64 department stores and 3 standalone locations of La Place (restaurant chain), La Place, ...

. Between 1970 and 1975 he served as an enlisted soldier in the

Royal Netherlands Army The Royal Netherlands Army (, KL) is the Ground warfare, 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 Dutch standing a ...

. After that he worked for the

customs Customs is an authority or Government agency, agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling International trade, the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out ...

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 Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

Van der Knaap became 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 ...

for the

. 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 and 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 ...

. Van der Knaap is a trustee of

Jan Peter Balkenende Jan Pieter Balkenende Jr. ( ; born 7 May 1956), commonly known as Jan Peter Balkenende, is a Dutch jurist and politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 July 2002 to 14 October 20 ...

, and has been an important contact between the cabinet and the trade unions in times of crisis. Van der Knaap has become

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 ...

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 Dutch MPs 2006–2010 People from Ede, Netherlands State Secretaries for Defence of the Netherlands Christian Democratic Appeal MPs {{Netherlands-mayor-stub