Gerardus Bernardus Maria "Gerd" Leers (born 12 July 1951) is a Dutch politician of 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) party. He is the acting Mayor of Brunssum since 1 January 2018.

Biography

Politics

On 4 September 1990 Leers became a Member of the House of Representatives. He was a member of the permanent parliamentary commission for transport and water management. The political peak in his House of Representatives period was the Betuwe route, of which Leers was a strong proponent. However, he was also involved in a construction fraud scandal. Leers became

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 ...

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; ; ; ) is a city and a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital city, capital and largest city of the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. Maastricht is loca ...

on 1 February 2002 after Karl Dittrich withdrew his candidacy. In 2008, he stood for mayor of

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

and of

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

. As mayor Leers took strict measures, such as the raid on the travellers camp Vinkenslag and stopping the subsidy to the football club MVV. He was also a proponent for amnesty for declined asylum seekers. In late 2004 Leers was chosen as best mayor of the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. This choice came after a conflict with the civil service, after heavy criticism from Leers. Leers also gained attention for his attitude with respect to the

policy Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an or ...

on soft drugs. He criticised the tolerance policy that permits consumption and sale of marihuana and

hashish Hashish (; ), usually abbreviated as hash, is a Compression (physics), compressed form of resin (trichomes) derived from the cannabis flowers. European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, Lisbon, As a Psychoactive drug, psychoactive ...

, but prohibits its growing. Leers argued for legal production under government supervision, which would supposedly improve quality and therefore the public health . Leers also proposed the construction of a "weed boulevard" on the south side of

, so that drugs tourists would no longer cause trouble in the city centre. However, this proposal was rejected. In January 2010, he resigned from office after an affair concerning a holiday villa project in Byala,

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. It was alleged that he was involved in shady deals to raise the value of villas he had ownership of. On 14 October 2010 he became the new Minister for Immigration and Asylum Affairs in the first Rutte cabinet.

Decorations

References

External links

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Drs. G.B.M. (Gerd) Leers
Parlement & Politiek {{DEFAULTSORT:Leers, Gerd 1951 births Living people Catholic People's Party politicians Christian Democratic Appeal politicians Dutch accountants Dutch management consultants Dutch Roman Catholics Mayors in Limburg (Netherlands) People from Brunssum Mayors of Maastricht Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Ministers without portfolio of the Netherlands Municipal councillors in North Brabant Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau People from Kerkrade Politicians from Maastricht Radboud University Nijmegen alumni University of Central Missouri alumni 20th-century Dutch civil servants 21st-century Dutch politicians Christian Democratic Appeal MPs