22 Facts About Wim Kok

In 1976, it merged to form the Federation of Dutch Trade Unions, with Wim Kok serving as its first chairman until 1986.

Wim Kok became deputy prime minister and minister of finance, taking office on 7 November 1989.

In December 2001, Wim Kok announced he was stepping down as party leader and that he would not stand for the 2002 general election or serve another term as prime minister.

Wim Kok left office following the installation of the first Balkenende cabinet on 22 July 2002.

Wim Kok retired from active politics at 63 and became active in the private and public sectors as a corporate and non-profit director, served on several state commissions and councils on behalf of the government, and continued to be active as a lobbyist for the European Union, advocating further European integration.

Wim Kok was known for his abilities as a manager and negotiator.

Wim Kok was granted the honorary title of Minister of State on 11 April 2003 and continued to comment on political affairs as a statesman until his death at the age of 80.

Wim Kok holds the distinction of leading the first purple coalitions as prime minister and is consistently ranked both by scholars and the public as one of the best prime ministers after World War II.

Willem Wim Kok was born on 29 September 1938, in Bergambacht in the Dutch province of South Holland, the son of Willem Wim Kok, a carpenter, and Neeltje de Jager.

Wim Kok was elected to the House of Representatives on 3 June 1986, after the 1986 general election.

Wim Kok was elected to succeed him and became party and parliamentary leader of the Labour Party in the House of Representatives on 21 July 1986, serving as opposition leader during the parliamentary period of the second Lubbers cabinet.

Wim Kok entered government for the first time and became both Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands and Minister of Finance, serving from 7 November 1989 until 22 August 1994.

The main aim of the first Wim Kok cabinet was to create employment.

Wim Kok was the prime minister, while Annemarie Jorritsma served as the deputy prime minister for the VVD, and Els Borst for D66.

On 15 December 2001, Wim Kok announced he would retire from national politics after the elections of May 2002.

Wim Kok stood down as leader of the Labour Party that same day, in favour of Ad Melkert.

On 16 April 2002, close to the natural end of term for the cabinet, prime minister Wim Kok wished to resign early after being harshly criticised in a government-commissioned report by the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies regarding the fall of Srebrenica in 1995 and the other ministers had no choice but to follow him.

Wim Kok was highly praised for his Third Way and polder model philosophies and for the success of leading his Purple Coalitions.

Between April and November 2004, Wim Kok headed up a review of the Lisbon Strategy and presented a report containing suggestions on how to give new impetus to the Lisbon process.

Wim Kok lobbied for the Lisbon Strategy of the European Commission and was appointed to the Honorary Board of the European Association of History Educators.

Between 2006 and 2007, Wim Kok served as member of the Amato Group, a group of high-level European politicians unofficially working on rewriting the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe into what became known as the Treaty of Lisbon following its rejection by French and Dutch voters.

On October 20,2018, Wim Kok died from heart failure in a hospital in Amsterdam, aged 80, in the presence of his wife, children and grandchildren.