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 ( , VVD) is a Conservative liberalism, conservative-liberal List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands. The VVD, whose forerunner was the Freedom Party (Netherl ...

(VVD) until 2010, when he joined the

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) party.

Career

Political 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 Election, elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and S ...

(MEP) for three consecutive terms. From 1994 to 1998, he was chairman of the group of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party. De Vries 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 (government), Purple cabinet, was the Executive (government), executive branch of the Cabinet of the Netherlands, Dutch government from 3 August 1998 until 22 July 2002. The cabinet was a c ...

EU Anti-Terrorism Coordinator, 2004–2007

De Vries served as the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

anti-terrorism Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to co ...

coordinator from March 2004 to March 2007. In this capacity, he worked for

Javier Solana Francisco Javier Solana de Madariaga CYC (; 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 Gener ...

in the

Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters The area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ) of the European Union (EU) is a policy domain concerning home affairs and migration, justice as well as fundamental rights, developed to address the challenges posed to internal security by coll ...

(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. De Vries 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 A member state is a state that is a member of an international organization or of a federation or confederation. Since the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) include some members that are not sovereign 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 The 2004 Madrid train bombings (also known in Spain as 11M) were a series of coordinated, nearly simultaneous bombings against the Cercanías commuter train system of Madrid, Spain, on the morning of 11 March 2004—three days before Spain's ...

. 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.

Later career

As of September 2008, De Vries was chairman of the European Security Research and Innovation Forum (ESRIF). 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 (government), executive branch of the Politics of the Netherlands, government of the Netherlands from 14 October 2010 until 5 November 2012. The Cabinet of the ...

, a

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in ...

with the support of the

Party for Freedom The Party for Freedom ( , PVV) is a right-wing populist, far-right political party in the Netherlands. Geert Wilders is the founder, party leader, and sole registered member of the party. Founded in 2006 as the successor to Wilders' one-ma ...

(PVV) led by nationalist

Geert Wilders Geert Wilders (born 6 September 1963) is a Dutch politician who has led the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) since he founded it in 2006. He is also the party's leader in the House of Representatives. Wilders is best known for his right-wing p ...

he left the party and joined the social-liberal

(D66) party then in opposition. In 2025, the European Commission appointed De Vries as member of its Ukraine Facility’s audit board, chaired by Marek Belka.Commission appoints members to the Ukraine Facility Audit Board

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

, press release of 11 February 2025.

Decorations

References

External links

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 MPs 2002–2003 Dutch officials of the European Union Dutch political writers European Court of Auditors Fellows of St Antony's College, Oxford Governmental studies academics Leiden University alumni Academic staff of Leiden University Members of the Court of Audit (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 Diplomats from New York City Politicians 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 Scholars of terrorism 20th-century Dutch civil servants 20th-century Dutch diplomats 20th-century Dutch economists 20th-century Dutch male writers 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 Second Kok cabinet members