policy
Updated September 1, 2023, 1:03 pm
Wopke Hoekstra, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, speaks in a joint press statement with Foreign Minister Baerbock at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. © dpa / Wolfgang Kumm/dpa Pool/dpa
Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra resigned from his post. The politician wrote on Friday on X (formerly Twitter) that he wanted to prepare for his likely new role as EU Commissioner for Climate Protection and presented his discharge papers to King Willem-Alexander.
The Christian Democrat was appointed to the position by the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. He is expected to succeed Social Democrat Frans Timmermans, who is the leading candidate of the red-green alliance in Dutch parliamentary elections in November.
Initially, the former Minister of Foreign Trade, Liesje Schreinemacher, will also take charge of Itamaraty. Hoekstra has been Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister since January 2022. The war in Ukraine has shaped his mandate, he wrote.
In our own country, criticism of Hoekstra’s appointment as climate commissioner is now mounting. The Greens, Social Democrats, environmental protection organizations and a citizens’ movement complained that he lacked expertise and had not yet committed to climate protection. © dpa
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