Rotterdam Acting Mayor Alexandra van Huffelen (centre) poses for a photo during the 2012 Rotterdam Summer Carnival with on the left then Director of the Cabinet of the St. Maarten Minister Plenipotentiary and later Minister Perry Geerlings. (Nico van der Ven photo)
THE HAGUE--Alexandra van Huffelen (53) of the Democratic Party D66 will be the new State Secretary of Kingdom Relations and Digitalising in the Rutte IV cabinet. She succeeds Raymond Knops, who will not return in the new Dutch government.
Van Huffelen currently holds the position of caretaker State Secretary of Finance. She studied public administration at Leiden University and Rotterdam Erasmus University. In the 1990s she worked at the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning, and the Environment VROM. From 2000 to 2010, she worked at energy company Essent.
After the 2010 municipal elections, Van Huffelen was appointed Alderman Sustainability, Inner City and Outdoor Space of the Municipality Rotterdam. She was also responsible for the redevelopment of the Rotterdam city centre. She was also Acting Rotterdam Mayor.
On June 1, 2014, Van Huffelen became general director of the Amsterdam public transport company GVB. Following the 2019 First Chamber of the Dutch Parliament elections, was installed as a Member of the Senate for D66. She has been a D66 member since 1989 and has held various positions in the party, including treasurer of the Rotterdam D66 branch.
Since January 29, 2020, Van Huffelen has been State Secretary of Finance. In that role she was responsible for handling the infamous allowances affair that involved the Tax Office and adversely affected a large number of families with children in the Netherlands.
The new Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations will be former Member of the Second Chamber Hanke Bruins Slot of the Christian Democratic Party CDA who currently is a commissioner of the province Utrecht.current Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Kajsa Ollongren (D66) will become Minister of Defence in the next Dutch government, which is scheduled to be sworn in on Monday, January 10.
In the corridors during the last part of the formation talks, Raymond Knops was mentioned as a candidate for the Minister of Defence post. Knops earned a seat in the Second Chamber as number five on the CDA slate in the last elections and may very well return to Parliament.
Former St. Eustatius Commissioner Marnix van Rij, currently Chairman of the CDA party, will become the next State Secretary of Fiscal Affairs. Current Member of the Second Chamber and Kingdom Relations spokesperson for the liberal democratic VVD party Aukje de Vries will become State Secretary of Allowances and Customs.
New Minister for Legal Protection will be Franc Weerwind (D66) is familiar with the Dutch Caribbean community. He has a Surinamese background, is Chairman of the National Institute for the Slavery Past and its Legacy NiNsee) and is currently the Mayor of Almere, a city with a large number of inhabitants from the Dutch Caribbean.
