29 Facts About Ruud Lubbers

Rudolphus Franciscus Marie "Ruud" Lubbers was a Dutch politician, diplomat and businessman who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 1982 to 1994, and as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 2001 to 2005.

Ruud Lubbers was a member of the Catholic People's Party, which later merged to become the Christian Democratic Appeal party.

Ruud Lubbers was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives after the election of 1977 serving from 8 June 1977 until 8 September 1977.

Shortly after the election of 1982 incumbent Prime Minister and Leader Dries van Agt unexpectedly announced he was stepping down and Ruud Lubbers was anonymously selected as his successor as Leader and the de facto next Prime Minister.

In October 1993 Ruud Lubbers announced he was stepping down as Leader, and that he would not stand at the election of 1994 or serve another term as Prime Minister.

Ruud Lubbers left office at the installation of the Cabinet Kok I on 22 August 1994.

In November 2000 Ruud Lubbers was nominated as the next United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees serving from 1 January 2001 until 20 February 2005.

Ruud Lubbers was known for his abilities as a team leader and consensus builder.

Ruud Lubbers was granted the honorary title of Minister of State on 31 January 1995 and continued to comment on political affairs as a statesman until his death at the age of 78.

Ruud Lubbers is consistently ranked both by scholars and the public as one of the best Prime Ministers after World War II.

Rudolphus Franciscus Marie Ruud Lubbers was born on 7 May 1939 in Rotterdam in the Province of South Holland.

From 11 May 1973 to 19 December 1977, Ruud Lubbers was Minister of Economic Affairs in the Den Uyl-government and a member of the Catholic People's Party.

Ruud Lubbers was an effective, if sometimes somewhat bad-tempered minister.

Ruud Lubbers chose to return to Parliament on the formation of the Van Agt-government in 1977, becoming senior deputy parliamentary leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal, the alliance between the KVP and the other two main Christian parties.

Ruud Lubbers's career got an unexpected boost when the leader of the parliamentary faction of the CDA, Willem Aantjes, had to resign in 1978 because of accusations that he had served in the Germanic-SS during the Second World War.

Ruud Lubbers succeeded him and suddenly found himself in a powerful political position.

Ruud Lubbers was the youngest prime minister in Dutch history; he had turned 43 only six months earlier.

Ruud Lubbers was on the advisory board of the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum, where he was regularly involved in meetings regarding the financial and monetary system.

Ruud Lubbers was regarded by many during his time in office as an ideological heir to Margaret Thatcher.

Ruud Lubbers was an active member of the international Earth Charter Commission and reached out, especially to youth in the Netherland, with the message of the Earth Charter for a sustainable and peaceful world.

Ruud Lubbers was vice-chairman of the Independent World Commission on the Oceans and chair of Globus, the Institute for Globalization and Development based in Tilburg.

From 1 January 2001, Ruud Lubbers headed the UNHCR, which comprised over 5,000 employees who work across the globe, and which was concerned with an estimated 21 million refugees and internally displaced in over 120 countries worldwide.

Ruud Lubbers favoured a generous refugee policy for the Netherlands, and he was critical of the Foreign Citizens Law.

Ruud Lubbers stabilised the UNHCR's financial situation and greatly increased the financial means for the sheltering of refugees.

Ruud Lubbers annually donated some $300,000 to the refugee agency since he assumed his post in 2001, thereby covering his own $167,000 annual salary and travel expenses.

The complaint was reported in the media, prompting Ruud Lubbers to inform UNHCR staff about the accusation.

Ruud Lubbers asked Max van der Stoel, former High Commissioner on National Minorities, to comment on the confidential report.

In October 2005, Annan reiterated that he had come to the conclusion that "the evidence did not support the accusation" but that, because of ongoing media-pressure, Ruud Lubbers' resignation was in the best interests of the UNHCR.

Ruud Lubbers died in Rotterdam on 14 February 2018, at the age of 78, of natural causes.