Former security service chief tipped as Dutch
prime minister
May 28,
2024
https://www.dutchnews.nl/2024/05/former-security-service-chief-to-be-next-dutch-prime-minister/
Dick
Schoof, the former head of the domestic security service AIVD is set to be the
next Dutch prime minister.
Schoof, 67,
is currently the most senior civil servant in the justice ministry. He has
previously headed the counter-terrorism unit NCTV and the immigration service
IND as well as the AIVD.
The four
parties have been in talks on possible prime ministerial candidates since last
week, when Ronald Plasterk, a former Labour minister and PVV leader Geert
Wilders’ first choice, pulled out over integrity concerns.
The four
parties are working to put together what they call an “extra-parliamentary”
cabinet made up of half political appointees and half experts in their field.
The aim is to complete the process before the summer recess.
PVV leader
Geert Wilders said he is “happy and proud” to have Schoof as prime ministerial
candidate. “He has good experience on the right issues… he is an independent
person who is not a member of any political party.” All four new coalition
parties are behind his appointment, Wilders said.
“He has
broad civil service experience in areas that are very important,” said NSC
leader Pieter Omtzigt. “He has no political experience but will pick that up
very soon.”
According
to the Telegraaf, Schoof was formerly a member of the Labour party (PvdA), but
left the party five years ago.
He headed
the AIVD for just one year before moving back to the justice ministry as
director general. The justice ministry is the biggest in The Hague, with some
100,000 civil servants.
He had been
due to retire at the age of 67 but got special dispensation to stay on the job.
Democracy
Schoof said
in an interview with the Groene Amsterdammer earlier this year that he had
difficulty with the frame which said “democracy is about to die, as a result of
the election result”.
“The first
important question is: who am I to say I see it right and the rest don’t?” he
told the magazine.
The rule of
law and democracy are always subject to change, he said, adding that when it
comes to anti-terrorism legislation, “we look at privacy and freedom
differently today than we did 20 years ago”.
His name is
pronounced Skoaf, with a soft, rolling k.
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