Jacobus Maria "Jacques" Aarden (11 August 1914 – 23 November 1997) was a Dutch politician.

Career

In 1940, Aarden finished his education in economics. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he joined the new

Catholic People's Party The Catholic People's Party (, KVP) was a Roman Catholicism in the Netherlands, Catholic Christian democracy, Christian democratic list of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1945 as ...

, even though he also considered joining the Labour Party. He became a member of the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

Voorburg Voorburg () is a town and former municipality in the west part of the province of South Holland, Netherlands. Together with the town Leidschendam and the village Stompwijk, it merged into the municipality of Leidschendam-Voorburg in 2002. Sit ...

in 1946, a position he would hold for 20 years. On 12 July 1962 he joined the

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. He often voted in favour of pieces of left-progressive legislation, unlike most of his party. Tensions in the Catholic People's Party caused the so-called ‘

Night of Schmelzer The Night of Schmelzer was a debate in the House of Representatives (Netherlands), House of Representatives of the Netherlands that took place from 13 October to the early hours of 14 October 1966. This night marked the final day of the general de ...

’ which ended the KVP- ARP-Labour

Cals cabinet The Cals cabinet was the Executive (government), executive branch of the Politics of the Netherlands, Dutch Government from 14 April 1965 until 22 November 1966. The cabinet was formed by the Christian democracy, christian-democratic Catholic P ...

. When the party began drifting towards cooperation with Freedom and Democracy instead of the liberal People's Party Aarden and his allies responded by writing an address. He refused to cooperate with the rightist

De Jong cabinet The De Jong cabinet of the Netherlands, cabinet was the Executive (government), executive branch of the Politics of the Netherlands, Dutch Government from 5 April 1967 until 6 July 1971. The cabinet was formed by the Christian democracy, christ ...

. When the KVP unexpectedly declared its intention to work together closely with the ARP and

Christian Historical Union The Christian Historical Union (, CHU) was a Protestant Christian democratic political party in the Netherlands. The CHU is one of the predecessors of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), into which it merged in September 1980. History 187 ...

Aarden and his ‘radicals’ left the KVP (26 February 1968). Aarden and his followers created the group-Aarden which he would lead until 1971. Group Aarden merged with elements from the ARP and CHU to create the leftist

Political Party of Radicals The Political Party of Radicals (, PPR) was a progressive Christian (''radicaal-christelijke'') and green political party in the Netherlands. The PPR played a relatively small role in Dutch politics and merged with other left-wing parties to for ...

, Aarden became its leader. After the 1971 election only Aarden en de Gaay Fortman gained positions in the House of Representatives. After a period of absence due to overwork Aarden got a position in 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 ...

in 1973. On 1 September 1984 he left politics.

Personal life

Religiously he was among the more traditional Catholics. He took a special interest in the veneration of

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

. His father was Petrus Jacobus Maria Aarden. He married Maria Pietronella Philomena Korst and had four sons and four daughters with her.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aarden, Jacobus 1914 births 1997 deaths Catholic People's Party politicians People from Leidschendam-Voorburg Leaders of the Political Party of Radicals Political Party of Radicals politicians Members of the Council of State (Netherlands) Dutch MPs 1967–1971