- Laurens Jan Brinkhorst
Laurens Jan Brinkhorst (born
March 18 1937 ) is a Dutch D66politician .Brinkhorst was an undersecretary of state of foreign affairs and a minister of agriculture. Furthermore he was the leader of the D66-group in the Second Chamber of the Dutch parliament. He was also a minister of economic affairs in the
second Balkenende cabinet .Journalists gave him the nickname "Brilly the kid".He is the father of the Dutch princess
Laurentien Brinkhorst , who married Prince Constantijn in 2001.Laurens-Jan Brinkhorst was born in the city of
Zwolle . After getting his high school diploma ("gymnasium-B-diploma" in Dutch) he studied law at theUniversity of Leiden ("Rijksuniversiteit Leiden" in Dutch) (doctoral exam in 1959). He got his M.A. in Public Law and Government atColumbia University inNew York . Afterwards he worked atShearman & Sterling in New York.From 1962, and from 1965 as a director, he worked at the Europe-institute at the Rijksuniversiteit Leiden where he became a Reader (Lector) in 1965 as well. During the period 1967-1973 he was Professor of European Law at the University of Groningen (
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen in Dutch). OnMay 11 ,1973 he became Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Cabinet of Den Uyl.In 1977 he was again a member of the Second Chamber of the Dutch parliament for D66 and in 1981 became the leader of his party in parliament. From 1983-1987 he was Ambassador of the European Community in
Japan .In 1994 Brinkhorst became a member of the
European Parliament , serving there until 1999.Brinkhorst was also a member of the "Provinciale Staten" (the provincial parliament) of the province of Groningen for D66, a member of the board of advice of the World Resources Institute in
Washington DC , a member of the board of governors of the "Nederlands Economisch Instituut" (Dutch Economical Institute), a professor by special appointment of international environmental law at the University of Leiden, a member of the Board of Directors of the Salzburg Seminar, a member of the Board of Directors of the International Institute of Sustainable Development, and a professor (on a temporary basis) of internationalenvironmental law at the University ofLausanne .On the 8th of June 1999 he became the minister of agriculture, environmental control and fishery in the cabinet Kok-II. Afterwards (2002) he became an Adviser of European Affairs at NautaDulith in
Brussels and was awarded a professorship in transnational and European Governance at the University ofTilburg . After the electoral defeat of D66 he became a minister of economic affairs in thesecond Balkenende cabinet . Brinkhorst, as well asAlexander Pechtold , resigned from his minister post after the second Balkenende cabinet lost the confidence of parliament onJune 29 ,2006 . The next day, Balkenende offered the resignation of the full cabinet to the Dutch Queen.As of November 1, 2006 Brinkhorst is a professor at the University of Leiden.
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