Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof has gone against expectations and chosen to nominate Wopke Hoekstra as the country’s commissioner in the new European Commission.
That is despite Hoekstra’s Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party not being part of the country’s ruling coalition.
He was made a commissioner by the previous progressive Dutch Government and is serving as outgoing Commissioner for Climate and Transport. In the future, the Netherlands wants to see him in a financial or economic role at the EC.
Schoof said on July 23 that Hoekstra had “the relevant experience, knowledge and skills to successfully and independently fulfil this position”.
“As incumbent Commissioner, Wopke Hoekstra has … meaningfully contribute[d] to European co-operation. I have every confidence that he will maintain to do so in the next term,” he added.
I have just nominated Wopke Hoekstra for the position of Commissioner in the new European Commission. This gives the Netherlands a strong candidate for a substantial portfolio. I informed the House of Representatives this morning. pic.twitter.com/qUOscc36BH
— Dick Schoof (@MinPres) July 23, 2024
Dutch media reported that the President of the EC, Ursula von der Leyen, backed her fellow European People’s Party member in the European Parliament for a new commissioner role.
German Von der Leyen supported the way Hoekstra handled negotiations on climate regulations as Climate Commissioner and how he handled the Climate Summit in Dubai and the presentation of the European Union 2040 agenda. In addition, Hoekstra speaks German, having worked for Shell in Berlin and Hamburg.
Alongside that, the current right-wing Dutch Government did not find a qualified candidate within its ranks.
That echoed the situation in the early 1990s regarding Hans van den Broeck, also a CDA politician, when partners of the ruling Dutch coalition at the time, without CDA, were unwilling to grant the post to anyone among their own ranks.
At the CDA, though, Hoekstra’s reputation has been tarnished. Party members are said to believe that during his tenure as party leader, he prioritised his career advancement over the CDA’s wider interests.
Dutch Newspaper Het Parool cited Marnix van Rij, a former Secretary of State for CDA , who said of Hoekstra: “He ended up looking after himself and his career more than anything else.”
When Hoekstra quit as party leader last year, he left the CDA party behind in relative disarray.
Now, though, CDA seniors have seemed to applaud what they see as the nomination of “their candidate”.
Party President Henri Bontenbal wrote on X: “A CDA’er in this place, we are happy about that! Wopke has earned his stripes in Europe in a short time. We are happy that he gets to work for a strong, sustainable and social Europe for another full term.”
Previously, Hoeksta had refused to lead the list in a poll, causing an internal election that led to a split within the party. That prompted Pieter Omtzigt to break away from the CDA and create his own centrist party, the New Social Contract (NSC).
That party had, unlike the CDA, a good result in the last national elections and is, again unlike the CDA, part of the current government.
Reports have indicated that Omtzigt and his party explored alternatives and lobbied hard with von der Leyen for other candidates. This approach risked the Netherlands being assigned a less prominent position in the EC.
Many Member States aspire to a lead portfolio but Hoekstra does have experience as a finance minister and former McKinsey consultant.
He has a reputation of being something of a hardliner on that front, having pushed hard on fiscal sobriety with countries in financial trouble during the Covid crisis.
