Lodewijk Frans Asscher (; born 27 September 1974) is a Dutch politician and jurist who served as Leader of the Labour Party (PvdA) from 2016 to 2021 and

parliamentary leader A parliamentary leader is a political title or a descriptive term used in various countries to designate the person leading a parliamentary group or caucus in a legislative body, whether it be a national or sub-national legislature. They are the ...

in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

from 2017 to 2021. Asscher worked as a researcher at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other bein ...

from 1996 until 2002. He was elected as a municipal councillor of Amsterdam on 8 March 2002 and assumed the leadership of the Labour Party in the municipal council on 3 April 2004. He worked as an associate professor of Intellectual property law at the

from 1 May 2002 until 1 May 2006. Asscher was the '' lijsttrekker'' (top candidate) for the PvdA in the 2006 municipal election and became Deputy Mayor and alderman on 26 April 2006. Following the resignation of Mayor of Amsterdam Job Cohen to run for the Labour Party leadership for the election of 2010, Asscher as Deputy Mayor served as ''ad interim'' Mayor of Amsterdam from 12 March 2010 until 7 July 2010. After the election of 2012 Asscher was appointed as

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

and

Minister of Social Affairs and Employment The Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment ( nl, Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid; SZW) is the Dutch ministry responsible for social affairs, relations between employers and employees, social security, trade unions and ema ...

in the Cabinet Rutte II, serving from 5 November 2012 until 26 October 2017.

Early life and education

Lodewijk Frans Asscher was born on 27 September 1974 in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

in a mixed religious family; his father is of

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

descent and his mother is

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

. His father is a member of the centre-right

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( nl, Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie ; VVD) is a conservative-liberal Andeweg, R. and G. Irwin ''Politics and Governance in the Netherlands'', Basingstoke (Palgrave) p.49 political party i ...

and his mother a member of the Labour Party. Asscher went to the

Christelijk Gymnasium Sorghvliet Christelijk Gymnasium Sorghvliet, commonly known simply as Sorghvliet, is an independent Protestant gymnasium in The Hague. Sorghvliet is consistently ranked among the top 10 schools in the Netherlands by the influential magazine Elsevier. Sorghv ...

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a list of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's ad ...

. He studied

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

( propaedeutics in 1995) and Dutch law (

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in 1998) at the

. In 2002, he received his PhD in law from the University of Amsterdam.

Politics

Amsterdam

Asscher entered the municipal council after the Dutch municipal elections of 2002. Besides his role as the group leader of the Labour Party in the Amsterdam municipal council, he took part in the commission on General Affairs. Until 1 January 2006, Asscher taught information law at the

. In his book ''"New Amsterdam"'', Asscher advocated the eventual disappearance of the

red light district A red-light district or pleasure district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters, are found. In most cases, red-light districts are partic ...

. A few days after the release of the book, Asscher revoked that statement, stating that he was not against prostitution, but rather against

sexual slavery Sexual slavery and sexual exploitation is an attachment of any ownership right over one or more people with the intent of coercing or otherwise forcing them to engage in sexual activities. This includes forced labor, reducing a person to a s ...

. After the Dutch municipal elections of 2006, where he led the Labour Party's campaign in Amsterdam, Asscher was installed as an

alderman An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members them ...

on 26 April. His portfolio included Economics, Airport and Harbour; he also was Deputy Mayor of Amsterdam from 2006 until 2010. He served as Acting Mayor of Amsterdam from 12 March 2010 to 7 July 2010 and then became the alderman in charge of Finances until 5 November 2012.

Netherlands

On 5 November 2012, he became

and

in the

Second Rutte cabinet The second Rutte cabinet, also called the Rutte–Asscher cabinet, was the executive branch of the Government of the Netherlands from 5 November 2012 until 26 October 2017. The cabinet was formed by the conservative-liberal People's Party for F ...

. In Amsterdam he was succeeded by

Eberhard van der Laan Eberhard Edzard van der Laan (; 28 June 1955 – 5 October 2017) was a Dutch politician who served as Minister for Housing, Communities and Integration from 2008 to 2010 and Mayor of Amsterdam from 2010 until his death in 2017. He was a member ...

(also PvdA). In September 2014, Asscher announced heightened scrutiny of four Dutch-Turkish organisations that he suspected of hindering integration, including a religious group,

Millî Görüş Millî Görüş (, "National Outlook" or "National Vision") is a religious-political movement and a series of Islamist parties inspired by Necmettin Erbakan. It argues that Turkey can develop with its own human and economic power by protecting ...

. This led to the expulsion of 2 Dutch Turkish MPs from the Labour Party after they harshly criticised the move. On 9 December 2016, Asscher won the leadership of the Labour Party in an

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

against incumbent

Diederik Samsom Diederik Maarten Samsom (; born 10 July 1971) is a Dutch environmentalist and retired politician who served the Labour Party (''Partij van de Arbeid'' PvdA) from 2012 to 2016. He was the first leader in the 70-year history of the PvdA to have b ...

. He obtained 54,5% of the vote. In the Dutch general election of 2017, the PvdA suffered the biggest defeat in Dutch electoral history, receiving only 5.7% of the votes and losing 29 of its 38 seats. The PvdA did not rejoin the government after the election. Asscher was succeeded as Minister of Social Affairs and Employment by Wouter Koolmees in the

Third Rutte cabinet The third Rutte cabinet was the cabinet of the Netherlands from 26 October 2017 until 10 January 2022 (since 15 January 2021 demissionary). It was formed by a coalition government of the political parties People's Party for Freedom and Democra ...

, on 26 October 2017. While being the presumptive party leader for the 2021 parliamentary elections, Asscher withdrew as leader on 14 January 2021 with just two months before the election, due to his role as Minister of Social Affairs in the ''

toeslagenaffaire The Dutch childcare benefits scandal ( nl, kinderopvangtoeslagaffaire or , ) is a political scandal in the Netherlands concerning false allegations of fraud made by the Tax and Customs Administration while attempting to regulate the distribut ...

'' (social benefits scandal).

Personal

Lodewijk Asscher is married to Jildau Piena, with whom he has three sons.Lodewijk Asscher: wordt hij Wibaut of Cohen?
Wordpress, 14 October 2011

Bibliography

* (1999) ''Constitutionele convergentie van pers, omroep en telecommunicatie'' (Constitutional Convergence of Press, Broadcaster, and Telecommunication) * (2002) ''Communicatiegrondrechten'' (Fundamental Rights of Communication) * (2005) ''Nieuw Amsterdam'' (New Amsterdam) * (2010) ''De ontsluierde stad'' (The Unveiled City)

References

External links

*
Mr.Dr. L.F. (Lodewijk) Asscher
Parlement.com , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Asscher, Lodewijk 1974 births Living people Aldermen of Amsterdam Deputy Prime Ministers of the Netherlands Dutch legal scholars Dutch legal writers Dutch people of Jewish descent Dutch political writers Dutch scholars of constitutional law Intellectual property law scholars Jewish Dutch politicians Jewish mayors of places in the Netherlands Labour Party (Netherlands) politicians Leaders of the Labour Party (Netherlands) Mayors of Amsterdam Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Ministers of Social Affairs of the Netherlands Municipal councillors of Amsterdam University of Amsterdam alumni University of Amsterdam faculty 20th-century Dutch jurists 20th-century Dutch male writers 21st-century Dutch educators 21st-century Dutch jurists 21st-century Dutch male writers 21st-century Dutch politicians