Former Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok, led two centrist coalitions between 1994 and 2002, overseeing a period of recovery and then of strong economic growth has died of heart failure at the age of 80. He also helped to create the country’s famed consensus-based politics and oversaw the pioneering legalization of euthanasia and gay marriage.
He was a labour union leader earlier in his career, he was one architect of the country’s famed “polder” or consensus-based model of politics, in which unions agreed to pay restraint in exchange for more jobs, while employers and the government guaranteed support and retraining after redundancies. As prime minister, he reined in spending on healthcare, pensions, education and child benefits, using the savings to promote employment.
Kok was friends with Tony Blair, then British prime minister and Bill Clinton, the US president as they crafted the moderate centre-left third way.
Current Prime Minister Mark Rutte praised Kok as someone who “stood above political parties”, Kok was “totally reliable, totally upright, and always focused on solutions”.
< Alma Siddiqua
Netherlands: Former Prime Minister Wim Kok is No More
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