Gijs van Aardenne

Gijs van Aardenne
Gijs van Aardenne
	Minister of Economic Affairs
	In office; 4 November 1982 – 14 July 1986
Prime Minister	Ruud Lubbers
Preceded by	Jan Terlouw
Succeeded by	Rudolf de Korte
	In office; 19 December 1977 – 11 September 1981
Prime Minister	Dries van Agt
Preceded by	Ruud Lubbers
Succeeded by	Jan Terlouw
Member of the House ; of Representatives
	In office; 25 August 1981 – 4 November 1982
	In office; 3 August 1971 – 19 December 1977
	In office; 18 February 1971 – 10 May 1971
Parliamentary group	People's Party for ; Freedom and Democracy
Personal details
Born	Gijsbert Michiel Vredenrijk van Aardenne; 18 March 1930; ALS
Political party	People's Party for ; Freedom and Democracy ; (from 1958)
Spouse	Marijke Eerligh (m. 1956)
Children	2 sons and 2 daughters
Alma mater	Leiden University ; (BS, B.Math, MPhys, MMath)
Occupation	Politician · Economist · Mathematician · Accountant · Businessperson · Corporate director · Nonprofit director · Trade association executive

Gijsbert Michiel Vredenrijk "Gijs" van Aardenne (18 March 1930 – 10 August 1995) was a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and businessperson.^[1]

Van Aardenne studied

Minister of Economic Affairs in the Cabinet Van Agt-Wiegel taking office on 19 December 1977. After the election of 1981 Van Aardenne returned to the House of Representatives on 25 August 1981 and served as a frontbencher and spokesperson for Finance. After the election of 1982 Van Aardenne was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Affairs in the Cabinet Lubbers I taking office on 4 November 1982. In February 1985 Van Aardenne announced that he wouldn't stand for the election of 1986 following a critical parliamentary inquiry

and announced his retirement.

Van Aardenne semi-retired from active politics at 56 and became active in the

ALS which resulted in him needing to use a wheelchair by December 1994, due to the progression of his illness he wasn't able to attend Senate meetings after his installation and died just two months later in August 1995 at the age of 65. Van Aardenne was known for his abilities as an effective consensus builder and skillful manager. He holds the distinction as the longest-serving Minister of Economic Affairs after World War II

with 7 years, 153 days.

Biography

Early life

Van Aardenne was the son of a surgeon and studied mathematics and physics at Leiden University. After his studies he was employed at a steel factory in Dordrecht, becoming its general manager from 1967 to 1971.

Politics

He joined the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) in 1958 and was a Member of Parliament between 1971 and 1977, and again in 1981. He became minister of economic affairs in the First Van Agt cabinet (1977–81). Nuclear energy and problems in the shipbuilding industry were prominent issues during these years. He took the same post as well as Deputy Prime Minister in the first First Lubbers cabinet (1982–1986).

He got into political trouble for downplaying the financial struggles of the Rijn-Schelde-Verolme shipyard, which would collapse in 1983 in spite of many years of large financial support from the government. For this reason he was omitted from the 1986 Lubbers cabinet.

Van Aardenne remained politically active, amongst others acting in the formation of the first

ALS

, which resulted in him needing to use a wheel chair. He died from ALS in 1995.

Decorations

Ribbon bar	Honour	Country	Date
Honours
	Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion	Netherlands	18 November 1981
	Commander of the Order of Orange-Nassau	Netherlands	26 August 1986

References

^ "Persoonlijk archief van G.M.V. van Aardenne" (in Dutch). Nationaal Archief. Retrieved 25 September 2019.

External links

Official

(in Dutch) Drs. G.M.V. (Gijs) van Aardenne Parlement & Politiek

Political offices
Preceded by Ruud Lubbers	Minister of Economic Affairs 1977–1981 1982–1986	Succeeded by Jan Terlouw
Preceded by Jan Terlouw	Minister of Economic Affairs 1977–1981 1982–1986	Succeeded by Rudolf de Korte
Preceded by Frans Andriessen	Minister of Finance 1980 Ad interim	Succeeded by Fons van der Stee
Preceded by Jan Terlouw	Deputy Prime Minister 1982–1986	Succeeded by Rudolf de Korte
Civic offices
Preceded by Joop Bakker	Chairman of the Supervisory board of the Cadastre Agency 1986–1994	Succeeded by Albert-Jan Evenhuis
Preceded by Joop Bakker	Chairman of the Supervisory board of Staatsbosbeheer 1988–1995	Succeeded by Hans Wiegel
Preceded by Bé Udink	Chairman of the Supervisory board of the Public Pension Funds PFZW 1986–1990	Succeeded by Hans de Boer
Preceded by Jaap Boersma	Chairman of the Supervisory board of Public Pension Funds APB 1990–1995	Succeeded by Bert de Vries
Business positions
Preceded by Unknown	Chairman of the Executive Board of the Hospitals association 1987–1995	Succeeded by Bert de Vries
Preceded by Joop Bakker	Chairman of the Supervisory board of the DSM Company 1988–1995	Succeeded by Hans Wijers
Non-profit organization positions
Preceded by Jan de Pous	Chairman of the Supervisory board of the Energy Research Centre 1990–1995	Succeeded by Jan Terlouw

[1] "Persoonlijk archief van G.M.V. van Aardenne" (in Dutch). Nationaal Archief. Retrieved 25 September 2019.

[1]

v t e First Lubbers cabinet (1982–1986)
Preceded by: Third Van Agt cabinet Succeeded by: Second Lubbers cabinet
Prime Minister	Ruud Lubbers (General Affairs)
Deputy Prime Minister	Gijs van Aardenne ( Economic Affairs )
Ministers	Koos Rietkerk (Interior) (1982–1986) (†) Frits Korthals Altes (Interior) (Ad interim) Rudolf de Korte (Interior) (from 1986) Hans van den Broek (Foreign Affairs) Onno Ruding (Finance) Frits Korthals Altes (Justice) Job de Ruiter (Defence) Elco Brinkman (Welfare, Health and Culture) Jan de Koning (Social Affairs and Employment and Netherlands Antilles and Aruba Affairs ) Wim Deetman (Education and Sciences) Neelie Kroes (Transport and Water Management) Gerrit Braks (Agriculture and Fisheries) Pieter Winsemius (Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment)
Minister without portfolio	Eegje Schoo (Development Cooperation)
State Secretaries	Marius van Amelsvoort (Interior) Wim van Eekelen (Foreign Affairs) Henk Koning (Finance) Virginie Korte-van Hemel (Justice) Economic Affairs ) Economic Affairs ) Jan van Houwelingen (Defence) Charl Schwietert (Defence) (1982) Willem Hoekzema (Defence) (from 1982) Joop van der Reijden (Welfare, Health and Culture) Louw de Graaf (Social Affairs and Employment) Annelien Kappeyne van de Coppello (Social Affairs and Employment) Nell Ginjaar-Maas (Education and Sciences) Gerard van Leijenhorst (Education and Sciences) Jaap Scherpenhuizen (Transport and Water Management) Ad Ploeg (Agriculture and Fisheries) Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment )

v t e First Van Agt cabinet (1977–1981)
Preceded by: Den Uyl cabinet Succeeded by: Second Van Agt cabinet
Prime Minister	Dries van Agt (General Affairs)
Deputy Prime Minister	Hans Wiegel (Interior)
Ministers	Chris van der Klaauw (Foreign Affairs) Frans Andriessen (Finance) (1977–1980) Gijs van Aardenne (Finance) (Ad interim) Netherlands Antilles Affairs ) (from 1980) Job de Ruiter (Justice) Gijs van Aardenne ( Economic Affairs ) Roelof Kruisinga (Defence) (1977–1978) Jan de Koning (Defence ) (Ad interim) Willem Scholten (Defence) (1978–1980) Pieter de Geus (Defence) (from 1980) Leendert Ginjaar (Health and Environment) Wil Albeda (Social Affairs) Arie Pais (Education and Sciences) Dany Tuijnman (Transport and Water Management) Netherlands Antilles Affairs ) (1977–1980) Gerrit Braks (Agriculture and Fisheries) (from 1980) Pieter Beelaerts van Blokland (Housing and Spatial Planning) (1977–1981) Dany Tuijnman (Housing and Spatial Planning) (from 1981) (Ad interim) Til Gardeniers-Berendsen (Culture, Recreation and Social Work)
Ministers without portfolio	Jan de Koning (Development Cooperation ) Science Policy) (1977–1979) († ) Science Policy ) (Ad interim) Science Policy ) (from 1979)
State Secretaries	Henk Koning (Interior) Durk van der Mei (Foreign Affairs) Ad Nooteboom (Finance) (1977–1980) Marius van Amelsvoort (Finance) (from 1980) Bert Haars (Justice) Economic Affairs ) Economic Affairs ) Cees van Lent (Defence) Wim van Eekelen (Defence) Els Veder-Smit (Health and Environment) Louw de Graaf (Social Affairs) Klaas de Jong (Education and Sciences) Ad Hermes (Education and Sciences) Neelie Kroes (Transport and Water Management) Gerrit Brokx (Housing and Spatial Planning) Jeltien Kraaijeveld-Wouters (Culture, Recreation and Social Work) Gerard Wallis de Vries (Culture, Recreation and Social Work)

Authority control databases
International	VIAF
National	Germany Netherlands
People	Netherlands