18 Facts About Jan Pronk

Jan Pronk was selected as a Member of the European Parliament on 13 March 1973 and dual served in both positions.

In July 1980 Jan Pronk was nominated as Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development taking office on 18 August 1980.

In October 2001 Jan Pronk announced that he wouldn't stand for the election of 2002 and declined to serve in new cabinet position.

In June 2004 Jan Pronk was nominated as the first Special Representative of the United Nations in Sudan serving 1 July 2004 until 10 December 2006.

Jan Pronk is known for his abilities as a skillful negotiator and effective debater and continues to comment on political affairs as of 2023.

Jan Pronk holds the distinction of as the second longest-serving cabinet member since 1850 with 17 years, 114 days.

Jan Pronk was born in Scheveningen in the Netherlands on March 16,1940.

Jan Pronk attended the Protestant secondary school Zandvliet Lyceum in the Hague, where he graduated the gymnasium in 1958 with a curriculum that focused on exact sciences.

Jan Pronk continued to study economics at the Netherlands School of Economics in Rotterdam, graduating in 1964.

In 1971 Jan Pronk was elected to the House of Representatives for the Labour Party.

In 2002 the Labour Party lost half its seats; Jan Pronk was re-elected to Parliament, but he refused the position because he wanted new faces to enter Parliament.

Since 2002 Jan Pronk has held several positions in the United Nations.

In June 2004 Jan Pronk was appointed UN Special Representative for Sudan by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

On September 21,2006, Jan Pronk asked the warring parties in Darfur, including President Omar al-Bashir and the seven rebel movements, to observe a "month of tranquility" during Ramadan, which would begin September 23,2006.

In mid-October 2006, the army of Sudan accused Jan Pronk of "waging psychological warfare on the armed forces" and demanded his deportation after Jan Pronk published thoughts on army military defeats in his weblog.

Jan Pronk lost the election, between September 16 and September 23,2007, to Lilianne Ploumen.

On 28 May 2013, Jan Pronk publicly announced he is ending his membership of the Labour Party.

In 1984 Jan Pronk gave up alcohol in one day and became an avid runner.