Franciscus Max "Franc" Weerwind (born 22 September 1964) is a Dutch politician of

Democrats 66 Democrats 66 (; D66) is a social liberal and progressive political party in the Netherlands, which is positioned on the centre to centre-left of the political spectrum. It is a member of the Liberal International (LI) and the Alliance of Li ...

(D66) who served as minister for legal protection in the 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 January 2022 until July 2024.

Early life and education

Weerwind was born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

and is of

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

se descent. He grew up in

Nieuw-Vennep Nieuw-Vennep is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is located near the capital city Amsterdam as well as Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. It has a population of 31,415 (2021), and is a part of the municipality of Haarlemmermeer, which ...

and 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 ...

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...

between 1986 and 1992 (he did not complete his study). During his attending years at the university, and at the same time as the then crown prince

Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands Willem-Alexander (; Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand; born 27 April 1967) is King of the Netherlands since 30 April 2013. Willem-Alexander was born in Utrecht during the reign of his maternal grandmother, Queen Juliana, as the eldest ch ...

, he became a member of the

student fraternity In North America, fraternities and sororities ( and ) are social clubs at colleges and universities. They are sometimes collectively referred to as Greek life or Greek-letter organizations, as well as collegiate fraternities or collegiate sorori ...

LSV Minerva in 1987.

Political career

In 2000, Weerwind became deputy city manager of

Leiderdorp Leiderdorp () is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland near the city of Leiden. It had a population of in . The municipality covers an area of of which is water. Leiderdorp has now become a suburb ...

and a year later he became city manager of

Wormerland Wormerland () is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. Population centres The municipality of Wormerland contains the following towns, villages and hamlets: It borders the municipalities of: Local government ...

. On 1 december 2004, he was appointed mayor of the municipality of

Niedorp Niedorp (; West Frisian: ''Nierup'') is a former municipality in the north-western Netherlands, in the province of North Holland and the region of West-Frisia. Niedorp, along with neighbouring Barsingerhorn, received city rights in 1415, and si ...

, and from September 2009 until September 2015 he was mayor of

Velsen Velsen () is a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is located on both sides of the North Sea Canal. On the north side of the North Sea Canal there is a major steel plant, Tata Steel IJmuiden, formerly known as ...

. From September 2015 until January 2022 he was mayor of

Almere Almere () is a Planned community, planned List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Flevoland, Netherlands across the IJmeer fro ...

. When Weerwind was Minister for Legal Protection, the Dutch government resumed adoptions of children from the Philippines, Hungary, Lesotho, Taiwan, Thailand and South Africa in 2022, after a nearly two-year-freeze on new international adoptions. Inspired by Italian laws against its

Mafia "Mafia", as an informal or general term, is often used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the Sicilian Mafia, original Mafia in Sicily, to the Italian-American Mafia, or to other Organized crime in Italy, organiz ...

, he introduced a bill in 2023 to limit communication for prisoners in the strictest facilities. Interactions with attorneys would be monitored under the legislation to allow for intervention in case of the exchange of external messages or the exertion of pressure on an attorney. Following further

amendment An amendment is a formal or official change made to a law, contract, constitution, or other legal document. It is based on the verb to amend, which means to change for better. Amendments can add, remove, or update parts of these agreements. They ...

s by 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 ...

, the

Council of State A council of state is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head ...

advised that the bill would violate the constitution, and Weerwind subsequently toned down his proposal. Weerwind's term as minister ended on 2 July 2024, when the

Schoof cabinet The Schoof cabinet is the current demissionary cabinet of the Netherlands, sworn in on 2 July 2024. Led by independent politician and civil servant Dick Schoof as prime minister of the Netherlands, the cabinet was formed after the 2023 Dutch gen ...

was sworn in.

Personal life

Weerwind is married to Ilse Overzier. They have two children.

Electoral history

Notes

References

External links

Franc Weerwind
Government.nl {{DEFAULTSORT:Weerwind, Franc 1964 births Living people 20th-century Dutch civil servants 21st-century Dutch civil servants 21st-century Dutch politicians Democrats 66 politicians Dutch people of Surinamese descent Leiden University alumni Mayors in North Holland Mayors of Almere Ministers without portfolio of the Netherlands People from Niedorp People from Velsen Politicians from Amsterdam