Harm Haijo Apotheker (born 5 June 1950,

Loppersum Loppersum (; ) is a village and former municipality in the province of Groningen (province), Groningen in the northeast of the Netherlands. Geography Loppersum is located in the province of Groningen (province), Groningen in the north of the ...

) is a Dutch

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

for the Democraten 66 party. He was mayor of several Dutch townships, including

Leeuwarden Leeuwarden (; ; ; ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in Friesland, Netherlands, with a population of 127,073 (2023). It is the provincial capital and seat of the Provin ...

. From 1998 to 1999 Apotheker was Minister of Agriculture in 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 ...

, but he couldn't find his way in the national political arena. He resigned in 1999 and returned to his previous role as mayor in various townships. Apotheker became acting mayor of

Sneek Sneek (; ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city southwest of Leeuwarden and the seat of the former municipality of Sneek in the province of Friesland, Netherlands. As of 2011 it is the seat of the municipality of Súdw ...

in 2010, which merged with other municipalities to form

Súdwest-Fryslân Southwest Friesland ( ) is a municipality in the northern Netherlands, located in the province of Friesland. It had a population of 89,999 in January 2021. Sneek is the municipal seat. With a total area of 841.56 km2, Southwest-Friesland is ...

in 2011. As mayor of this larger municipality, he blindly signed a forged multimillion-euro contract for a residential construction project in Sneek. This caused the township to pay 7 million euro more than expected. He however remained mayor until January 2018 when he became acting mayor first of

Waadhoeke Waadhoeke is a municipality of Friesland in the northern Netherlands. It was established 1 January 2018 and consists of the former municipalities of Franekeradeel, het Bildt, Menameradiel and parts of Littenseradiel, all four of which were ...

and then, from January 2019, of

Noardeast-Fryslân Noardeast-Fryslân () is a municipality of Friesland in the northern Netherlands. It was established 1 January 2019 and consists of the former municipalities of Dongeradeel, Ferwerderadiel and Kollumerland en Nieuwkruisland, all three of which ...

. He retired from this post in January 2020.

References

1950 births Living people 20th-century Dutch politicians 21st-century Dutch politicians Aldermen in Groningen (province) Democrats 66 politicians Dutch sociologists Mayors of Leeuwarden Mayors in Friesland People from Noardeast-Fryslân People from Sneek Mayors in Overijssel People from Steenwijkerland People from Súdwest-Fryslân Mayors in Groningen (province) People from Veendam People from Waadhoeke Ministers of agriculture of the Netherlands Municipal councillors in Groningen (province) People from Loppersum Protestant Church Christians from the Netherlands University of Groningen alumni Second Kok cabinet members {{Netherlands-mayor-stub