René van der Linden

Rene van der Linden
Rene van der Linden
	Rene van der Linden in 2005
President of the Senate
	In office; 6 October 2009 – 28 June 2011
Preceded by	Yvonne Timmerman-Buck
Succeeded by	Fred de Graaf
President of the Parliamentary ; Assembly of the Council of Europe
	In office; 1 January 2005 – 1 January 2008
Preceded by	Peter Schieder
Succeeded by	Lluís Maria de Puig
Member of the Senate
	In office; 8 June 1999 – 9 June 2015
Parliamentary group	Christian Democratic Appeal
State Secretary for Foreign Affairs
	In office; 14 July 1986 – 9 September 1988
Prime Minister	Ruud Lubbers
Preceded by	Wim van Eekelen
Succeeded by	Berend-Jan van ; Voorst tot Voorst
Member of the House of Representatives
	In office; 29 November 1988 – 19 May 1998
	In office; 8 June 1977 – 14 July 1986
Parliamentary group	Christian Democratic Appeal (1980–1986) ; Catholic People's Party ; (1977–1980)
Personal details
Born	Pierre René Hubert Marie van der Linden; 14 December 1943 (age 77); Eys, Netherlands
Nationality	Dutch
Political party	Christian Democratic Appeal ; (from 1980)
Other political; affiliations	Catholic People's Party ; (until 1980)
Residence	Nuth, Netherlands
Alma mater	Catholic University Brabant ; (Bachelor of Economics, Master of Economics)
Occupation	Politician · Diplomat · Civil servant · Economist · Researcher · Political consultant · Corporate director · Nonprofit director · Trade association executive · Education administrator · Teacher · Author · Lobbyist

Pierre René Hubert Marie "Rene" van der Linden (born 14 December 1943) is a retired Dutch politician and diplomat of the Catholic People's Party (KVP) and later the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and economist.

Van der Linden applied at the Catholic University Brabant in June 1964 majoring in Economics and obtaining an Bachelor of Economics degree in June 1966 and worked as student researcher before graduating with an Master of Economics degree in July 1970. Van der Linden worked as an economics teacher in Tilburg from April 1969 until July 1971. Van der Linden worked as a civil servant for the department of Food Quality of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries from July 1971 until January 1973 and served as Chief of staff for the European Commissioner of the Netherlands from January 1973 until January 1977 serving under Pierre Lardinois from January 1973 until January 1977 and for Henk Vredeling from January 1977 until June 1977.

Van der Linden was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives after the election of 1977, taking office on 8 June 1977 serving as a frontbencher and spokesperson for European Affairs and Agriculture and deputy spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Benelux. After the election of 1986 Van der Linden was appointed as State Secretary for Foreign Affairs in the Cabinet Lubbers II, taking office on 14 July 1986. On 9 September 1988 Van der Linden resigned following the conclusions of a parliamentary inquiry report into a passport fraud investigation that was mishandled by his predecessor as State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Wim van Eekelen who was then serving as Minister of Defence and who had resigned four days earlier on 6 September 1988. Van der Linden returned as a Member of the House of Representatives following the appointment of as Mayor of Hilversum, taking office on 29 November 1988 serving again as a frontbencher chairing the parliamentary committee for Foreign Affairs and spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, European Affairs, Agriculture and Benelux. In December 1997 Van der Linden announced that he wouldn't stand for the election of 1998 and continued to serve until the end of the parliamentary term on 19 May 1998. Van der Linden remained in active in national politics, he was elected as a Member of the Senate after the Senate election of 1999, taking office on 8 June 1999 serving as a frontbencher chairing the parliamentary committee for European Affairs and spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and deputy spokesperson for Agriculture and Benelux. Van der Linden also served as President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from 1 January 2005 until 1 January 2008. Van der Linden also became active in the private sector and public sector and occupied numerous seats as a corporate director and nonprofit director on several boards of directors and supervisory boards (Atlantic Association, Robeco, Oxfam Novib, Trilateral Commission, Akkerbouw, Van Lanschot and Institute of International Relations Clingendael). Van der Linden also worked as a trade association executive for the Industry and Employers confederation (VNO-NCW) and as an education administrator for the Maastricht School of Management serving as Chairman of the Education board from October 1999 until November 2016. Van der Linden was nominated as President of the Senate following the appointed of Yvonne Timmerman-Buck as a Member of the Council of State, serving from 6 October 2009 until 28 June 2011. In November 2014 Van der Linden announced that he wouldn't stand for the Senate election of 2015 and continued to serve until the end of the parliamentary term on 9 June 2015.

Education[]

Economics: international administrative studies at Catholic Economics Faculty in Tilburg, (1966–1970), (now known as Tilburg University)

Career[]

Member of the First Chamber (Senate) of the States-General of the Netherlands (1999–2015)
President of the First Chamber (Senate) of the States-General of the Netherlands (from 2009 until 2011)
President of the of the First Chamber of the States-General (from 2002 to 2009)
Member of the Second Chamber of the States-General of the Netherlands (1977–1986 and 1988–1998)

Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs with responsibility for European Affairs (1986–1988)

Member of the cabinet of European Commissioner Pierre Lardinois (1973–1977) and European Commissioner Henk Vredeling (1977)
Civil servant, Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries of the Netherlands (1971–1973)
Teacher of economics (1969)

Party political posts[]

Chairperson of EPP/CD group in the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) (1999–2005) and vice-chairperson (1989–1999) Second vice-chairperson of the Christian Democratic political group, CDA, Second Chamber of the States-General of the Netherlands (1982–1986) Member of the party executive of the CDA Member of the party executive of the former , (KVP), and vice-chairman of the KVP youth section

Controversies[]

Controversial claims about citizenship issues in Baltic Countries[]

During a press conference in Tallinn on 19 September 2007, a controversy ensued when Linden accused Estonia of not permitting non-citizen residents to take part in local elections.^[1] Former Prime Minister of Estonia Mart Laar attempted to correct him, pointing out that all permanent residents in Estonia have the right to vote (but not to be elected) in local elections. However van der Linden referred to reports of the Amnesty International and other human rights organizations.

In reaction, the Estonian Social Democratic Party issued a statement calling that van der Linden be immediately dismissed from his post. Admitting that Linden's term of office is due to end in late 2007 anyway, the statement declared that he had with his inaccurate comments disqualified himself.^[2]^[3]

On 2 October 2007, speaker of Estonian Parliament, Ene Ergma, sent a strongly worded open letter to van der Linden, asking him to do his homework and "give up spreading erroneous information about Estonia", which "created confusion and bewilderment both in the Estonian public and internationally."^[4] In his reply, van der Linden expressed amazement at the content of the letter and the fact that Ene Ergma made accusations public before giving him any right of reply. He also pointed out that Ene Ergma never expressed such views to him during their meeting, which took place less than two weeks before.^[5]

Later that month, in a press conference in Lithuania, he claimed that millions of people live without status in the Baltic countries.^[6]^[7] The population of Estonia is roughly 1,342,000, of which roughly 8.5% are without defined citizenship.

Alleged financial interest in Russia[]

In August 2007, van der Linden became embroiled in controversy after articles in the Eesti Päevaleht suggested that van der Linden's family had business interests in Russia.^[8]^[9] This is suspected to explain his lack of criticism towards Putin and the Russian government for human rights violations and his pro-Russia and anti-Baltic stand,^[10] as well as his stand against relocating the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn from central Tallinn.

After a 3 October 2007 phone call from van der Linden, threatening investigation by French police, Marko Mihkelson, chairman of the Estonian parliament's European Union affairs committee, held a press conference on 8 October 2007 where he presented materials collected from various publicly available Russian media sources in which central topic is van der Linden's role as the head of the supervisory council of a certain Dutch investment company that established the biggest industrial park in Europe in , Russia in late 2006.^[11] Subsequently, van der Linden denied all accusations and stated that he never had any financial interest in Russia neither is he serving as mentioned chairman.^[12] He was called the head of the supervisory board of at the home page of the Dutch investment company .^[13] However, a representative of Noble House Holding told Estonia's ETV, on 7 October 2007, that van der Linden is not a member of the company's supervisory board and that the supervisory board would be appointed only next year.^[14]

Decorations[]

Ribbon bar	Honour	Country	Date	Comment
Honours
	Knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre	Holy See	17 February 1987
	Commander of the Order of the Oak Crown	Luxembourg	18 April 1988
	Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion	Netherlands	21 December 1988
	Commander of the Order of Isabella the Catholic	Spain	10 December 1990
	Knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great	Holy See	20 October 2003
	Commander of the Order of Merit	Germany	6 May 2004
	Presidential Medal of Merit	Philippines	30 January 2005
	Grand Officer of the Order of Merit	Italy	15 September 2005
	Officer of the Order of Polonia Restituta	Poland	30 April 2006
	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of San Marino	San Marino	22 July 2006
	Commander of the Legion of Honour	France	1 November 2007
	Commander 1st Class of the Order of the Dannebrog	Denmark	19 August 2009
	Officer of the Order of Leopold II	Belgium	21 January 2011
	Order of the Republic	Turkey	14 February 2013	^[15]
	Grand Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau	Netherlands	9 June 2015	Elevated from Knight (18 May 1998)

Other honours[]

Honorary citizen of Nafplio
Honorary citizen of Liège
Honorary President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
Friendship Award of Azerbaijan Republic 2013

References[]

^ Reporter (Kanal 2) 19 September 2007: Eesti venelaste ahistamise jutt viis Mart Laari sõnasõtta Archived 2007-10-23 at the Wayback Machine (Adobe Flash video, English sound, Estonian subtitles)
^ Eesti Päevaleht 1 October 2007: SDE: van der Lindeni peaks maha võtma, edited by Erik Rand
^ Estonian politicians call for resignation of PACE president Archived 2007-10-03 at the Wayback Machine
^ Estonian lawmakers call for top EU official to be fired Archived 2007-10-13 at the Wayback Machine
^ "Van der Linden strikes back". www.baltictimes.com. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
^ The Baltic Times 2 October 2007: Estonia blasts UN, PACE 'propaganda' and 'lies'
^ Regnum 24 September 2007: PACE president stresses need for equal treatment for all those living in the Baltic states Archived 2011-05-21 at the Wayback Machine
^ Eesti Päevaleht 3 August 2007: REPLIIK: Kremli käpiknukud
^ http://www.epl.ee/artikkel/400769 Mihkelson: Linden ületas piire
^ Jamestown Foundation 3 August 2007: PACE Chairman Bending to the Kremlin Wind against Estonia Archived 2007-09-13 at the Wayback Machine by Vladimir Socor
^ "Mihkelsoni allikaks van der Lindeni majandushuvide kohta oli Vene meedia". Eesti Päevaleht. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
^ Rene van der Linden andis Mihkelsonile vastulöögi Archived 2007-10-11 at the Wayback Machine
^ Noble House Archived 2007-10-11 at the Wayback Machine
^ "Van der Linden controversy re-ignites". www.baltictimes.com. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
^ cumhurbaskanligi@tccb.gov.tr. "T.C.CUMHURBAŞKANLIĞI : Anasayfa". www.tccb.gov.tr. Retrieved 28 September 2018.

External links[]

Official

(in Dutch) Drs. P.R.H.M. (René) van der Linden Parlement & Politiek
(in Dutch) Drs. P.R.H.M. van der Linden (CDA) Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal

Political offices
Preceded by Wim van Eekelen	State Secretary for Foreign Affairs 1986–1988	Succeeded by Berend-Jan van Voorst tot Voorst
Preceded by Peter Schieder	President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe 2005–2008	Succeeded by Lluís Maria de Puig
Preceded by Yvonne Timmerman-Buck	President of the Senate 2009–2011	Succeeded by Fred de Graaf

[1] Reporter (Kanal 2) 19 September 2007: Eesti venelaste ahistamise jutt viis Mart Laari sõnasõtta Archived 2007-10-23 at the Wayback Machine (Adobe Flash video, English sound, Estonian subtitles)

[2] Eesti Päevaleht 1 October 2007: SDE: van der Lindeni peaks maha võtma, edited by Erik Rand

[3] Estonian politicians call for resignation of PACE president Archived 2007-10-03 at the Wayback Machine

[4] Estonian lawmakers call for top EU official to be fired Archived 2007-10-13 at the Wayback Machine

[5] "Van der Linden strikes back". www.baltictimes.com. Retrieved 28 September 2018.

[6] The Baltic Times 2 October 2007: Estonia blasts UN, PACE 'propaganda' and 'lies'

[7] Regnum 24 September 2007: PACE president stresses need for equal treatment for all those living in the Baltic states Archived 2011-05-21 at the Wayback Machine

[8] Eesti Päevaleht 3 August 2007: REPLIIK: Kremli käpiknukud

[9] ttp://www.epl.ee/artikkel/400769 Mihkelson: Linden ületas piire

[10] Jamestown Foundation 3 August 2007: PACE Chairman Bending to the Kremlin Wind against Estonia Archived 2007-09-13 at the Wayback Machine by Vladimir Socor

[11] "Mihkelsoni allikaks van der Lindeni majandushuvide kohta oli Vene meedia". Eesti Päevaleht. Retrieved 28 September 2018.

[12] Rene van der Linden andis Mihkelsonile vastulöögi Archived 2007-10-11 at the Wayback Machine

[13] Noble House Archived 2007-10-11 at the Wayback Machine

[14] "Van der Linden controversy re-ignites". www.baltictimes.com. Retrieved 28 September 2018.

[15] umhurbaskanligi@tccb.gov.tr. "T.C.CUMHURBAŞKANLIĞI : Anasayfa". www.tccb.gov.tr. Retrieved 28 September 2018.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

show v t Members of the Senate of the Netherlands (2011–2015)
Senate, 7 June 2011 - 8 June 2015
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD: 16)	Hermans Broekers-Knol (President) Bruijn Dupuis De Graaf De Grave Van Kappen <Van Rey> Schaap Swagerman
Labour Party (PvdA: 14)	Barth Beuving Ter Horst <> <> Postema <> Sent Sylvester De Vries <Witteveen>
Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA: 11)	Brinkman Hoekstra Van der Linden Martens
Party for Freedom (PVV: 10)	Faber Van Beek Van Dijk Frijters-Klijnen <De Graaf> <De Graaff> <Klever> Kok Kops Popken Reynaers Sørensen Van Strien
Socialist Party (SP: 8)	Kox Elzinga Meijer Reuten Ruers <Smaling> <>
Democrats 66 (D66: 5)	Van Boxtel De Graaf
GreenLeft (GL: 5)	Thissen Strik Vos
Christian Union (CU: 2)	Kuiper Ester
Reformed Political Party (SGP: 1)	Holdijk
50PLUS (50+: 1)	Nagel
Party for the Animals (PvdD: 1)	Koffeman
Independent Senate Group (OSF: 1)
Bold signifies the Parliamentary leader (first mentioned) Bold also signifies the President Brackets () signifies a temporary absent member Italics signifies a temporary member <> signifies a member who prematurely left this Senate See also: Members of the Senate of the Netherlands, 2015–present See also: Members of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands, 2012–present See also: Members of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands, 2010–2012

show v t Second Lubbers cabinet (1986–1989)
Preceded by: First Lubbers cabinet Succeeded by: Third Lubbers cabinet
Prime Minister	Ruud Lubbers (General Affairs)
Deputy Prime Minister	Rudolf de Korte (Economic Affairs)
Ministers	Kees van Dijk (Interior) (1986–1987) Jan de Koning (Interior and Netherlands Antilles and Aruba Affairs) (Ad interim) Kees van Dijk (Interior) (from 1987) Hans van den Broek (Foreign Affairs) Onno Ruding (Finance) Frits Korthals Altes (Justice) Wim van Eekelen (Defence) (1986–1988) Piet Bukman (Defence) (ad interim) Frits Bolkestein (Defence) (from 1988) Elco Brinkman (Welfare, Health and Culture) Jan de Koning (Social Affairs and Employment and Netherlands Antilles and Aruba Affairs) (1986–1987) Louw de Graaf (Social Affairs and Employment) (Ad interim) Jan de Koning (Social Affairs and Employment and Netherlands Antilles and Aruba Affairs) (from 1987) Wim Deetman (Education and Sciences) (1986–1989) Gerrit Braks (Education and Sciences) (Ad interim) Neelie Kroes (Transport and Water Management) Gerrit Braks (Agriculture and Fisheries) Ed Nijpels (Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment)
Minister without portfolio	Piet Bukman (Development Cooperation)
State Secretaries	Dieuwke de Graaff-Nauta (Interior) René van der Linden (Foreign Affairs) (1986–1988) Berend-Jan van Voorst tot Voorst (Foreign Affairs) (from 1988) Henk Koning (Finance) Virginie Korte-van Hemel (Justice) Enneüs Heerma (Economic Affairs) (1986) Yvonne van Rooy (Economic Affairs) (from 1986) (Economic Affairs) (1986–1989) Jan van Houwelingen (Defence) Dick Dees (Welfare, Health and Culture) Louw de Graaf (Social Affairs and Employment) Nell Ginjaar-Maas (Education and Sciences) Gerrit Brokx (Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment) (1986) Enneüs Heerma (Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment) (from 1986)