US embassy cable - 04THEHAGUE1955

UNCLAS THE HAGUE 001955 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PINR, NL, EUN 
SUBJECT: BIO INFO ON NEW DUTCH EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER NEELIE 
KROES 
 
1. PM Balkenende announced the nomination of former 
transport minister Neelie Kroes as the new Dutch European 
Commissioner on August 3.  Kroes will succeed Frits 
Bolkestein as Dutch EU Commissioner.  Balkenende said he 
expected President Barroso would give Kroes "a heavy 
economic portfolio," such as Energy or Transport.  The 
GONL's goal throughout the selection process has been to 
obtain a significant financial or economic portfolio in the 
new Commission. 
 
2. Kroes is considered to be one of the most influential 
people in the Netherlands; her nickname is "the Queen of 
networking."  The common thread in her career has been the 
transportation sector in which she has held managerial, 
political and advisory positions.  Kroes was born July 19, 
1941 into an entrepreneurial Rotterdam family.  She studied 
international monetary economics at Rotterdam's Erasmus 
University, specializing in transport and harbor questions. 
After completing her studies, she became managing director 
of her father's heavy transport company. 
 
3. Kroes began her political career as a member of the 
Rotterdam City Council for the Liberal (free-market 
conservative) Party.  She was elected to Parliament in 1971, 
where she became the Liberal Party spokesperson on 
transport.  She was State Secretary for Transport, Public 
Works and Water Management from 1977 to 1981, and then 
Minister of Transport, Public Works and Water Management 
from 1982 to 1989.  In 1991, she became President of 
Nijenrode University, the Netherlands Business School, a 
position she held until a few years ago. 
 
4. At present, Kroes holds numerous board and consultancy 
positions, primarily with major transport and building 
companies.  She also chairs such lobbying organizations as 
Netherlands Distribution Land and Netherlands Aviation 
Consult.  Kroes' EU experience includes service as an 
advisor to Belgian EU Commissioner for Transport Karel van 
Miert in the early 1990s, and participation in the Transport 
2000 advisory group.  She was considered for the position of 
Dutch Commissioner in 1994, but did not get the job as Hans 
van den Broek opted for a second term. 
 
5. Kroes is viewed in the Netherlands as a pioneer owing to 
her status as the first Dutch woman to hold various senior 
government and private sector positions.  She was the first 
female board member of the Rotterdam Chamber of Commerce, 
the first female state secretary and minister at the 
Ministry of Transport, the first female President of a Dutch 
University, and now the first female Dutch European 
Commissioner.  In 1988 and 2003, the Financial Times named 
her the most powerful woman in the Netherlands.  Kroes has 
argued forcefully against the serious shortage of women in 
senior Dutch managerial and political positions.  When both 
the Balkenende governments were formed, she presented the 
Prime Minister with shortlists and bios of capable women 
worth considering for cabinet positions. 
 
6. Kroes has been to the United States several times 
including three months in 1960 as an exchange student in 
Evanston, Illinois.  She speaks fluent English.  She is 
divorced with one son. 
 
Russel