Wim Kok
Willem Kok was a Dutch politician and trade union leader who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 22 August 1994 until 22 July 2002. He was a member of the Labour Party.
Kok studied business administration at the Nyenrode Business School, obtaining a Bachelor of Business Administration degree, and worked as a trade union leader for the Dutch Confederation of Trade Unions from 1961 until 1976, serving as its chairman from 1972. In 1976 it merged to form the Federation of Dutch Trade Unions, with Kok serving as its first chairman until 1986. In the 1986 general election, Kok was elected to the House of Representatives, taking office on 3 June 1986. Shortly after the election, incumbent leader of the Labour Party Joop den Uyl announced he was stepping down and endorsed Kok as his successor, taking office on 21 July 1986. For the 1989 general election, Kok served as lead candidate, after which he struck a coalition agreement with incumbent Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers of the Christian Democratic Appeal, forming the third Lubbers cabinet. Kok became deputy prime minister and minister of finance, taking office on 7 November 1989.
For the 1994 general election, Kok served as lead candidate again and, following a cabinet formation, formed the first Kok cabinet, taking office as Prime Minister of the Netherlands on 22 August 1994. For the 1998 general election, Kok served as lead candidate once more, and after another successful cabinet formation, formed the second Kok cabinet, continuing as prime minister for a second term. In December 2001, Kok announced he was stepping down as party leader and that he would not stand for the 2002 general election or serve another term as prime minister. Kok left office following the installation of the first Balkenende cabinet on 22 July 2002.
Kok retired from active politics at 63 and became active in the private and public sectors as a corporate and non-profit director, served on several and councils on behalf of the government, and continued to be active as a lobbyist for the European Union, advocating further European integration. Kok was known for his abilities as a manager and negotiator. During his premiership, his cabinets were responsible for several major social reforms, such as the legalization of same-sex marriage and euthanasia, and further reducing the deficit. Kok was granted the honorary title of Minister of State on 11 April 2003 and continued to comment on political affairs as a statesman until his death at the age of 80. He holds the distinction of leading the first purple coalitions as prime minister and is consistently ranked both by scholars and the public as one of the best prime ministers after World War II.
Early life
Willem Kok was born on 29 September 1938, in Bergambacht in the Dutch province of South Holland, the son of Willem Kok, a carpenter, and Neeltje de Jager.After completing his studies in business at the Nyenrode Business Universiteit, he started his career in 1961 at the socialist Dutch Confederation of Trade Unions, where he was chairman from 1973 until 1982. In 1982, the NVV merged with the Dutch Catholic Trade Union Federation to form the Federation of Dutch Trade Unions, of which he served as chair until 1986. In this position, he helped negotiate the Wassenaar Agreement.
Political career
Parliamentary leader and Minister of Finance
Kok was elected to the House of Representatives on 3 June 1986, after the 1986 general election. Soon after the election Joop den Uyl, the leader of the Labour Party and the party's parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives, announced that he was stepping down after serving twenty years as party leader. Kok was elected to succeed him and became party and parliamentary leader of the Labour Party in the House of Representatives on 21 July 1986, serving as opposition leader during the parliamentary period of the second Lubbers cabinet.Kok led his party in the 1989 general election. The Labour Party lost three seats, but the following cabinet formation resulted in a coalition agreement with the Christian Democratic Appeal, which formed the third Lubbers cabinet. Kok entered government for the first time and became both Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands and Minister of Finance, serving from 7 November 1989 until 22 August 1994.
Prime Minister of the Netherlands
First term (1994–1998)
In the 1994 general election, the Labour Party lost twelve seats, but the CDA with new leader Elco Brinkman lost twenty seats, making the Labour Party the largest party in the House of Representatives. After an arduous cabinet formation with the conservative liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and the social liberal Democrats 66, a deal was struck that resulted in the first Kok cabinet, with Kok as prime minister. It was considered groundbreaking in Dutch politics as this was the first Cabinet of the Netherlands since 1918 without a Christian democratic party.The main aim of the first Kok cabinet was to create employment. The Dutch economy had been in a deep recession for years. The market was allowed more influence in the economy. This led to a policy of tax reduction, economizing, and trying to keep people out of social care by supporting employment; large infrastructure projects were set in motion. Another aim was to put an end to the enormous debt of the Dutch government. The Treaty of Amsterdam was signed during this cabinet.
Kok's first term also saw various cuts and changes to education and welfare. Regarding education, spending on education, culture and sciences was cut by 1,772 million guilders. In addition, according to one study, "A law concerning the modernization of the universities' administrative structure replaced the democratized structure of the 1970s with a more autocratic system, inspired by the management style of business concerns." Although primary education received some extra money, which made it possible to introduce computers and decrease the average number of pupils in 4 years, the latter resulted in a shortage of classrooms and teachers. Before 1996, the government provided a study allowance to people with a low income. That year, the Study Costs Allowance Act was introduced, under which the number of standard amounts decreased and hard income limits were introduced. According to one study, "It soon became apparent that the WTS gave rise to a lot of distressing situations. These situations are mainly related to the hard income limits that led to a major drop in income. In addition, the income limit of the WTS was independent of the number of children per family." In the 1998 coalition agreement, however, "these hard limits were corrected and more money was made available to more people." Regarding welfare, amendments were made to the General Child Benefit Act in 1995, under which benefit was increased with age only for the first child, while from 1996 child benefit only became payable for children up until the age of 18, while previously child benefit was paid up until the age of 24 under certain circumstances. Social Assistance was revised in 1995, with a tightening of both eligibility and entitlement rules. A special supplement for pensioners was abolished, the eligibility criteria were tightened, certain cash benefits to children and widows were reduced, unemployment eligibility criteria were tightened, and benefits were cut in the disability pension law. A linking law was adopted, which made it possible to link data sets from the population register, social security, and the aliens police
. The goal of this was to oppose illegal residence by excluding illegal aliens from collective provisions such as social security benefits. In 1996, compulsory sick pay was entirely privatized, and wage continuation as a percentage of usual wages went down from 75 to 70%, although duration was extended to 52 weeks. With the review of a rent allowance, residents of non-self-contained accommodation were no longer entitled to rent subsidy in 1997. As noted by one study, "For people with a minimum social benefit and children, purchasing power decreased in the first three years of the cabinet's term of office. During the whole cabinet period their purchasing power increased with a meagre two-tenths of a per cent per annum, due to an increase of two per cent in the election year." Under pressure from the churches and other groupings, however, "the cabinet placed the problem of poverty on the policy agenda." Some support was given to financially vulnerable groups, with compensations in the individual rent subsidy for households with children and an income at the level of the social minimum, measures for those elderly with only a general old age pension or a small additional pension, and a higher extra allowance for the first child. In addition, before the elections of 1998, "the decreased purchasing power was repaired with 850 million guilders, mainly for people on social benefit."
Despite its cuts and changes to welfare and education, a number of progressive measures were introduced during the Kok cabinet's time in office. In 1994, a reform was passed including part-time workers in the occupational pension funds. In terms of residential care, a personal budget was introduced in 1995 to meet various individual needs; offering a choice "between care in kind, or cash payments that could also be used to purchasing services from private and market sector." Employment protection was also maintained while past plans to reduce it were "shelved," income tax for the lower paid was cut, and 40,000 jobs in the public sector for the long-term unemployed were created. From 1995, "elderly people with an income in the first tax bracket have a tax benefit. Due to the elderly person's deduction, the net AOW pension is higher." In 1997, a separate tax deduction for single elderly persons was introduced on 1 January 1997. According to one study, "For this group of elderly people with only an AOW pension, this measure provides an additional income benefit of approximately 1 percent." The personal contribution for the costs of disability support services under the Disability Facilities Act was also considerably relaxed as of 1 April 1996. According to one report "The personal contribution for a wheelchair has been cancelled and for the other facilities in kind it remains limited to f 100."
Under a circular from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment dated 6 June 1996, municipalities "have been given the option of allocating municipal income support benefits categorically." An amendment to the General Assistance Act 'in connection with the prevention and combating of poverty and social exclusion' "has ensured that from 1 July 1997 municipalities can also provide categorical special assistance in addition to individual special assistance." The government also attempted to support child care through the Stimulation of Child Care Act, which made childcare provisions "a shared responsibility between the government, the employer and the working parent." From 1996, municipalities "have been able to appeal to a new subsidy option to provide childcare to single parents on social assistance, who are following schooling or who accept part-time or full-time work." In 1996 some 525 municipalities applied for this subsidy. As of 1 January 1997, municipalities and water boards "have more extensive opportunity to grant a waiver."
In 1997, more flexibility introduced into the parental leave scheme, with employees able to request to spread leave over more than 26 weeks or take up more hours per week. That same year the rent subsidy was changed, with subject subsidies for tenants becoming more explicitly aimed at support for lower-income groups. Also in 1997, coverage of the AWBZ was extended to residential care for the elderly. From 1997 the TOG act on 'allowance for cost of maintenance of multiple and severely physically handicapped children' "offers a financial support to parents who look after their severely handicapped children at their home." In January 1998, national Disability Insurance was abolished, but a new law called was introduced. In addition, an Act of 24 April 1997 provided for "a new insurance to protect self-employed workers and their spouses in case of long-term disability." An Act of 11 September 1997 provided for "new regulations that concern persons who are under the age of 65, suffer from physical or mental disabilities and can therefore only work full-time in jobs which are especially suited for them." It also provided that each community "has the responsibility to provide as many employment opportunities as possible to persons who are considered able to work only in jobs tailored to their needs or capacities." From July 1997 onwards, "the residents of care homes no longer pay individually for the viewing and listening fee." The Temporary Income Provision Former In-land Navigation Entrepreneurs Act of 1997 sought "to rectify a lack of income support for entrepreneurs who have become incapable of continuing their work for reasons of old-age or disability. The income assistance and benefit provisions become effective as of 1 January 1999."
From April 1998 onwards, persons aged 65 and above received a support higher than other persons entitled to social assistance, known as the elderly person norm. An Act of 23 April 1998 established new rules with regard to the integration of the disabled, such as renumeration, the promotion of equal opportunities, the provision of facilities, reintegration benefits, allowances for occupationally disabled WAZ insured persons, income supplements for occupationally disabled self-employed persons, wage supplements, and starter loans.
In the 1998 general election, the Labour party gained eight seats; the coalition retained its majority, and cabinet formation resulted in a continuation of policies with the second Kok cabinet.