Cees van der Knaap

Infobox_Politician
name = Cees van der Knaap


caption = Cees van der Knaap, official Government portrait.
birth_date = Birth date and age|1951|1|27|df=y
birth_place = Bennekom, Netherlands
residence =
death_date =
death_place =
office = State Secretary for Defense
salary =
term_start = 2002
term_end = 2008
predecessor = Henk van Hoof
successor = Jack de Vries
party = Christian Democratic Appeal
religion = Protestant
constituency =
majority =
spouse =
children =
website = [http://www.maximeverhagen.nl/ www.maximeverhagen.nl]
footnotes =

Cornelis (Cees) van der Knaap (Bennekom, 27 january 1951) is a Dutch politician. He is the current State Secretary of Defense for the Christian Democratic Appeal.

After attending MULO Van der Knaap worked for Vroom & Dreesman. Between 1970 and 1975 he served as enlisted soldier in the Royal Netherlands Army. After that he worked for the customs service. Since 1978 he has worked for the National Federation of Christian Trade Unions in the Netherlands, first as district board member, later as member of the national board of the transport union In 1992 he became member of the national board of the federal trade union, first as coordinator working conditions, later as general secretary.

In 1998 Van der Knaap became a member of the Tweede Kamer for the Christian Democratic Appeal. In 2002 he became state secretary for defense in the First cabinet Balkenende, a post he has held ever since, even though there were considerable mutations between the second cabinet Balkenende, the third cabinet Balkenende and the Fourth cabinet Balkenende. Van der Knaap is a trustee of Jan Peter Balkenende, and has been an important contact between the cabinet and the trade unions in times of crisis.

Van der Knaap was nominated to become mayor of Ede in 2008, his successor as State Secretary will be Jack de Vries.