Ruud Lubbers facts for kids

Quick facts for kids His Excellency Ruud Lubbers
Lubbers in 1985
Prime Minister of the Netherlands
In office 4 November 1982 – 22 August 1994
Monarch	Beatrix
Deputy	Gijs van Aardenne (1982–1986) Rudolf de Korte (1986–1989) Wim Kok (1989–1994)
Preceded by	Dries van Agt
Succeeded by	Wim Kok
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
In office 1 January 2001 – 20 February 2005
Secretary-General	Kofi Annan
Preceded by	Sadako Ogata
Succeeded by	António Guterres
Leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal
In office 25 October 1982 – 29 January 1994
Preceded by	Dries van Agt
Succeeded by	Elco Brinkman
Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives
In office 14 September 1989 – 7 November 1989
Preceded by	Bert de Vries
Succeeded by	Elco Brinkman
In office 3 June 1986 – 14 July 1986
Preceded by	Bert de Vries
Succeeded by	Bert de Vries
In office 24 Augustus 1981 – 4 November 1982
Preceded by	Dries van Agt
Succeeded by	Bert de Vries
In office 7 November 1978 – 10 June 1981
Preceded by	Willem Aantjes
Succeeded by	Dries van Agt
Member of the House of Representatives
In office 14 September 1989 – 7 November 1989
In office 3 June 1986 – 14 July 1986
In office 22 December 1977 – 4 November 1982
In office 8 June 1977 – 8 September 1977
Minister of Economic Affairs
In office 11 May 1973 – 19 December 1977
Prime Minister	Joop den Uyl
Preceded by	Harrie Langman
Succeeded by	Gijs van Aardenne
Personal details
Born	Rudolphus Franciscus Marie Lubbers (1939-05-07)7 May 1939 Rotterdam, Netherlands
Died	14 February 2018(2018-02-14) (aged 78) Rotterdam, Netherlands
Political party	Christian Democratic Appeal (from 1980)
Other political affiliations	Catholic People's Party (1964–1980)
Spouse	Ria Hoogeweegen ​ (m. 1962)​
Children	3
Alma mater	Rotterdam School of Economics (BEc, M.Econ)
Occupation	Activist · businessperson · conservationist · corporate executive · diplomat · economist · nonprofit executive · lobbyist · politician · professor
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	Netherlands
Branch/service	Royal Netherlands Air Force
Years of service	1962–1963 (Conscription) 1963–1969 (Reserve)
Rank	Second lieutenant
Battles/wars	Cold War

Rudolphus Franciscus Marie "Ruud" Lubbers ( 7 May 1939 – 14 February 2018) was a Dutch politician, diplomat and businessman who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1982 to 1994, and as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 2001 to 2005. He was a member of the Catholic People's Party (KVP), which later merged to become the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party.

Lubbers studied Economics at the Erasmus School of Economics obtaining a Master of Science degree and worked as a corporate director for the manufacturing company Hollandia in Rotterdam from April 1963 until May 1973 and as trade association executive for the Christian Employers' Association (NCW) from January 1965 until May 1973. After the election of 1972 Lubbers was appointed as Minister of Economic Affairs in the Cabinet Den Uyl taking office on 11 May 1973. Lubbers was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives after the election of 1977 serving from 8 June 1977 until 8 September 1977. Following the cabinet formation of 1977 Lubbers was asked to become Minister of Housing and Spatial Planning in the new cabinet but declined and returned as a Member of the House of Representatives on 22 December 1977, serving as a frontbencher and spokesperson for Economic Affairs. Following the resignation of Parliamentary leader Willem Aantjes Lubbers was selected as his successor taking office on 7 November 1978.

Shortly after the election of 1982 incumbent Prime Minister and Leader Dries van Agt unexpectedly announced he was stepping down and Lubbers was anonymously selected as his successor as Leader and the de facto next Prime Minister. Following cabinet formation of 1982 Lubbers formed the Cabinet Lubbers I and became Prime Minister of the Netherlands taking office on 4 November 1982. For the election of 1986 Lubbers served as Lijsttrekker (top candidate) and after a cabinet formation formed the Cabinet Lubbers II and continued as Prime Minister for a second term. For the election of 1989 Lubbers again served as Lijsttrekker and following another successful cabinet formation formed the Cabinet Lubbers III and continued as Prime Minister for a third term. In October 1993 Lubbers announced he was stepping down as Leader, and that he would not stand at the election of 1994 or serve another term as Prime Minister. He left office at the installation of the Cabinet Kok I on 22 August 1994.

Lubbers semi-retired from active politics and became active in the public sector as a non-profit director and served on several state commissions and councils on behalf of the government, he also served as a distinguished visiting professor of international relations and globalization at the Tilburg University and the John F. Kennedy School of Government of the Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts from February 1995 until December 2000. In November 2000 Lubbers was nominated as the next United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees serving from 1 January 2001 until 20 February 2005. Following his retirement Lubbers continued to be active in the public sector and worked as an advocate, lobbyist and activist for humanitarian, conservation, environmentalism, sustainable development and climate change issues. He was subject to some scrutiny in 2004, which led to his resignation from the United Nations.

Lubbers was known for his abilities as a team leader and consensus builder. During his premiership, his cabinets were responsible for major reforms to social security, stimulating privatization and sustainable development, revitalizing the economy following the recession in the 1980s and reducing the deficit. Lubbers was granted the honorary title of Minister of State on 31 January 1995 and continued to comment on political affairs as a statesman until his death at the age of 78. At 43 years, he is the youngest Prime Minister of the Netherlands. He was the longest-serving Prime Minister with 11 years, 291 days until Mark Rutte overtook this record on 2 August 2022. He is consistently ranked both by scholars and the public as one of the best Prime Ministers after World War II.

Biography

Early life

Rudolphus Franciscus Marie Lubbers was born on 7 May 1939 in Rotterdam in the Province of South Holland. He studied economics at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, and was a student of the first Nobel Prize in Economics laureate Jan Tinbergen. As suggested by the title of his 1962 thesis – "The influence of differing productivity trends in various countries on the current account of the balance of payments" – his main interest was in monetary affairs. He originally planned an academic career, but was compelled by family circumstances to join the management of Lubbers' Construction Workshops and Machinery Fabricators Hollandia B.V.

Politics

Prime Minister of the Netherlands Lubbers receives President Jose Napoleon Duarte of El Salvador.

Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers, Prime Minister of Luxembourg Pierre Werner and Prime Minister of Belgium Wilfried Martens at the Binnenhof on 10 November 1982.

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher and Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers at a press conference in The Hague on 19 September 1983.

Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers and Prime Minister of Canada Pierre Trudeau at Valkenburg Naval Air Base on 8 November 1983.

Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers and President of Gabon Omar Bongo at Zestienhoven Airport on 7 November 1984.

Pope John Paul II and Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers at the Catshuis on 13 May 1985.

Leader of East-Germany Erich Honecker, Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers and Minister of Foreign Affairs Hans van den Broek at Zestienhoven Airport on 3 June 1987.

Chancellor of West-Germany Helmut Kohl and Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers at the Catshuis on 30 November 1987.

President of the United States George H. W. Bush and Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers at the Catshuis on 17 July 1989.

Ruud Lubbers at a symposium on 10 June 2016.

From 11 May 1973 to 19 December 1977, Ruud Lubbers was Minister of Economic Affairs in the Den Uyl-government and a member of the Catholic People's Party (KVP). He was an effective, if sometimes somewhat bad-tempered minister. He chose to return to Parliament on the formation of the Van Agt-government in 1977, becoming senior deputy parliamentary leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), the alliance between the KVP and the other two main Christian parties. His career got an unexpected boost when the leader of the parliamentary faction of the CDA, Willem Aantjes, had to resign in 1978 because of accusations that he had served in the Germanic-SS during the Second World War. Lubbers succeeded him and suddenly found himself in a powerful political position.

In 1982, after the general election won by Prime Minister Dries van Agt, a similar thing happened when Van Agt suddenly announced he would not serve for a third term. Lubbers took over the post. He was the youngest prime minister in Dutch history; he had turned 43 only six months earlier. Major aspects of his time in office included extensive cutbacks in public spending, the launch of far-reaching deregulation and privatisation programs, and a massive demonstration in The Hague (1983) against the planned installation in the Netherlands of nuclear-armed U.S. cruise missiles (which was cancelled after all due to arms reduction talks between the US and the Soviet Union).

After leaving office in 1994, Lubbers was put forward as a candidate for the head of NATO, but the U.S. vetoed his appointment. He was on the advisory board of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF), where he was regularly involved in meetings regarding the financial and monetary system.

Lubbers was regarded by many during his time in office as an ideological heir to Margaret Thatcher. One of his campaign slogans was: "Meer markt, minder overheid" (more market, less government).

Ecological activities

In the follow-up of the Earth Summit in 1992, Lubbers engaged with the Earth Charter Initiative in cooperation with Mikhail Gorbachev and Maurice Strong. The Earth Charter document was launched in the Peace Palace in The Hague in June 2000. Lubbers was an active member of the international Earth Charter Commission and reached out, especially to youth in the Netherland, with the message of the Earth Charter for a sustainable and peaceful world.

Academic

From 1995 to 2000, he taught Globalization Studies at Tilburg University in the Netherlands and at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in the United States. He was also vice-chairman of the Independent World Commission on the Oceans and chair of Globus, the Institute for Globalization and Development based in Tilburg.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees

At the end of the year 2000, Lubbers was appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan to succeed Sadako Ogata as UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

From 1 January 2001, Lubbers headed the UNHCR, which comprised over 5,000 employees who work across the globe, and which was concerned with an estimated 21 million refugees and internally displaced in over 120 countries worldwide. During his tenure, the number of refugees worldwide decreased by almost 22%, from 21.8 million in 2001 to close to 17.1 million at the beginning of 2004.

Lubbers also favoured a generous refugee policy for the Netherlands, and he was critical of the Foreign Citizens Law (Vreemdelingenwet). He also stabilised the UNHCR's financial situation and greatly increased the financial means for the sheltering of refugees.

He annually donated some $300,000 to the refugee agency since he assumed his post in 2001, thereby covering his own $167,000 annual salary and travel expenses.

Lubbers resigned as High Commissioner on 20 February 2005.

Personal life and death

On 10 October 1962, Lubbers married Ria Hoogeweegen (born 12 November 1940) and had two sons and one daughter, Paul, Bart and Heleen.

Lubbers died in Rotterdam on 14 February 2018, at the age of 78, of natural causes. Among the world leaders who offered condolences were former President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev, Prime Minister of Russia and former President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev, Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, Secretary-General of the United Nations and former Prime Minister of Portugal and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi and President of the European Commission and former Prime Minister of Luxembourg Jean-Claude Juncker. His ceremonial funeral was held in Rotterdam on 20 February 2018 and was attended by Prime Minister Mark Rutte and all living former Prime Ministers Dries van Agt, Wim Kok and Jan Peter Balkenende and other high-profile (former) politicians. This was also the last public appearance of his successor as Prime Minister Wim Kok, who himself died eight months later at the age of 80.

Decorations

Honours

Honours
Ribbon bar	Honour	Country	Date	Comment
	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion	Netherlands	8 October 1994	Elevated from Knight (11 April 1978)

Awards

Honorary degrees

See also

In Spanish: Ruud Lubbers para niños