Johan Remkes

Johannes Wijnandus "Johan" Remkes (born 15 June 1951) is a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and businessman. He has been serving as the acting Mayor of The Hague since 12 October 2019.

Remkes applied at the University of Groningen in June 1970 majoring in Economics and obtaining a Bachelor of Economics degree in June 1972. Remkes served on the Municipal Council of Groningen from April 1978 until May 1982 and served on the Provincial-Council of Groningen from May 1978 until October 1993 and as a member of the Provincial-Executive of Groningen from May 1982 until October 1993 and served again on the Municipal Council of Groningen from May 1994 until July 1996.

Remkes became a Member of the House of Representatives after the resignation of Nell Ginjaar-Maas, taking office on 26 October 1993. After the election of 1998 Remkes was appointed as State Secretary for Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment in the Cabinet Kok II, taking office on 3 August 1998. The Cabinet Kok II resigned on 16 April 2002 following the conclusions of the NIOD report into the Srebrenica massacre during the Bosnian War and continued to serve in a demissionary capacity. After the election of 2002 Remkes returned as a Member of the House of Representatives, taking office on 23 May 2002. Following the cabinet formation of 2002 Remkes was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations in the Cabinet Balkenende I, taking office on 22 July 2002. The Cabinet Balkenende I fell just four months later on 16 October 2002 and continued to serve in a demissionary capacity. After the election of 2003 Remkes again returned as a Member of the House of Representatives, taking office on 30 January 2003. Following the cabinet formation of 2003 Remkes continued as Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations in the Cabinet Balkenende II, taking office on 27 May 2003. The Cabinet Balkenende II fell on 30 June 2006 and continued to serve in a demissionary capacity until it was replaced by the caretaker Cabinet Balkenende III with Remkes remaining as Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, taking office on 7 July 2006. After the election of 2006 Remkes once again returned as a Member of the House of Representatives, taking office on 30 November 2006. The Cabinet Balkenende III was replaced by the Cabinet Balkenende IV following the cabinet formation of 2007 on 22 February 2007 and he continued to serve in the House of Representatives as a frontbencher. In March 2010 Remkes announced that he wouldn't stand for the election of 2010 and continued to serve until the end of the parliamentary term on 17 June 2010.

Remkes remained in active politics, in June 2010 he was nominated as the next Queen's Commissioner of North Holland, serving from 1 July 2010 until 1 January 2019. He also served on several state commissions and councils on behalf of the government (Parliamentary Reform Commission, Council for Public Administration, Advisory Council for Spatial Planning and the Van Thijn Commission). After his retirement Remkes occupies numerous seats as a corporate director and nonprofit director for supervisory boards in the business and industry world and several international non-governmental organizations and research institutes (Martini Hospital, Verwey-Jonker Institute and the Parliamentary Documentation Center).

Remkes van born in Zuidbroek, Groningen. He served as a member of the House of Representatives from 26 October 1993 to 3 August 1998, when he became State Secretary for Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment in the Second Kok cabinet, serving until 22 July 2002. He returned to the House of Representatives for two short periods serving from 23 May to 22 July 2002 and from 30 January to 27 May 2003.

He became Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations and Deputy Prime Minister in the First Balkenende cabinet. After the fall of the cabinet, he remained Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations in the Second and Third Balkenende cabinets but was replaced as Deputy Prime Minister by VVD Leader Gerrit Zalm. He served as Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations from 22 July 2002 until 22 February 2007 and as Deputy Prime Minister from 22 July 2002 to 27 May 2003.

He returned as a member of the House of Representatives after the inauguration of the Fourth Balkenende cabinet, serving from 30 November 2006 to 17 June 2010. On 1 July 2010, he became the Queen's Commissioner of North Holland; his title changed to King's Commissioner upon Willem-Alexander's accession to the throne in 2013.

In 2018, he made known he would step down from the position in January 2019 to definitely retire from politics. He will be succeeded by former Haarlemmermeer alderman Arthur van Dijk.