Dutch foreign minister is the 'right man' to fill European Commission post, prime minister says
Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra holds his headphones during joint press statements with French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna and Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu in Bucharest, Romania, on Jan. 27, 2023. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Friday Aug. 25, 2023 that Hoekstra is “the right man” to replace Frans Timmermans at the European Commission after Timmermans quit this week to lead a unified center-left bloc into elections in November. Credit: AP/Andreea Alexandru
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Friday that the foreign minister of the Netherlands is “the right man” to to fill a European Commission vacancy after Frans Timmermans quit this week to lead a center-left bloc into the country's November general election.
Rutte's ruling coalition proposed Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra as the new Dutch representative to the commission after Timmermans, 62, resigned Tuesday as the climate czar and vice president of the European Union's executive arm.
Hoekstra told reporters before a Dutch Cabinet meeting Friday that it would be difficult to leave the Ministry of Foreign Affairs while war is raging in Ukraine “but nobody is indispensable.”
It remains to be seen how other EU nations will receive his candidacy. Hoekstra upset countries in southern Europe in 2020 with comments about their ability to fund a medical response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa called the comments “repugnant” at the time.
Rutte later told Dutch news show Nieuwsuur, “Hoekstra and I have said we could have communicated in a more subtle way.” The prime minister noted Friday that he and Hoekstra had ultimately worked out a compromise accepted throughout Europe.
Hoekstra has little experience in the climate portfolio that Timmermans oversaw in Brussels, but Rutte said the foreign minister would be a strong player in international talks, including during the U.N. climate meeting later this year in Dubai.
He said Europe needs “somebody who is experienced in international negotiations, bringing people together. (Hoekstra) has that as head of the finance ministry and for a few years as foreign minister.”
European Commissioner for European Green Deal Frans Timmermans speaks during a media conference on threats of climate change and environmental degradation on peace, security, and defense at EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, June 28, 2023. European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans is the only candidate to lead a merged campaign between two left-leaning parties in the Dutch general election in November, the parties announced Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. Credit: AP/Virginia Mayo
Lawmakers in the European Parliament would need to approve Hoekstra before he can take the post in Brussels.
Timmermans is returning to the Dutch political scene after winning 91.8% of votes cast by members of the Labor Party and Green Left in a leadership contest in which he was the only candidate.
He will be seeking to succeed Rutte as prime minister once a new governing coalition is formed after the Nov. 22 general election.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
