My Job
Advise and counsel clients on the political and regulatory aspects of business critical issues/situations
My Experience
More than 4 decades of diplomacy with a focus on European affairs and international political, security and defence affairs.
My Specialisms
My Proudest Achievements
Negotiate, get ratified and executed the establishment of a Scottish Court of Justice in the Netherlands to judge the suspects of the terrorist Lockerbie bombing; presiding Coreper during the NL 2016 EU Council presidency (migration crisis, adoption of major financial legislation, budget negotiations a.o.)
My Education
- Master of Public International Law, University of Amsterdam
- Master of Arts, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University.
My Languages
Dutch, French, English, German.
My Interests outside work
Jogging, cooking (better to mess up in the kitchen than in politics), wine
My Favourite Brussels anecdote
To confront Eurosceptics complaining about the mammoth Brussels bureaucracy with the reality that even in a midsize member state like the Netherlands just the national tax authority employs more people than the Commission; and, in balance, confront those who produce all the dreaded lengthy Brussels texts, with an ironic quote from Catherine Ashton: “why use none or only on adjective if they are for free?”