Education
University of Groningen.
University of Groningen.
He is the King"s Commissioner of North Holland since 1 July 2010. He returned to the House of Representatives for two short periods serving from May 23 to July 22, 2002, and from January 30 to May 27, 2003. He became Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations and Deputy Prime Minister in the Cabinet Balkenende I. After the fall of the cabinet, he remained Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations in the Cabinets Balkenende II and III but was replaced as Deputy Prime Minister by Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratic (People's Party for Freedom and Democracy) Party leader Gerrit Zalm.
He served as Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations from July 22, 2002, until February 22, 2007, and as Deputy Prime Minister from July 22, 2002, until May 27, 2003.
He previously served as a Member of the House of Representatives from October 26, 1993, until Augustus 3, 1998, when he became State Secretary for Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment in the Cabinet Kok II, serving from Augustus 3, 1998, until July 22, 2002. He returned as a Member of the House of Representatives after the inauguration of the Cabinet Balkenende IV, serving from November 30, 2006, until June 17, 2010, when he became the Queen"s Commissioner of North Holland.