”At that time, happiness was simply a fact of life”

Willem Drees sr. has been prime-minister of The Netherlands from 1948 till 1958. He lead The Netherlands during harsh times. In this article Martin van Tuijl writes  about different prime-ministers of The Netherlands. All of them were important for history and examples for current prime-ministers, but also for Martin van Tuijl as a person.

Who is the best prime-minister (PM) ever of The Netherlands? Approximately five years ago, Mark Rutte took office. At that time, he expressed the hope that he would equal the performance of Pieter Cort van der Linden, PM of this country between 1913 and 1918. This liberal PM guided the country through the difficult years of World War I. In 2002, the ‘Historisch Nieuwsblad’ organized an election among members of the Dutch parliament for the best PM and the worst PM of the twentieth century. The winner was Cort van der Linden, the last liberal PM prior to Mark Rutte. The second place was for Willem Drees sr. (PvdA, social-democrats), the third spot was held by Joop den Uyl (PvdA, social-democrats), while Ruud Lubbers (CDA, Christian-democrats) finished as fourth. By the way, Joop den Uyl was also elected as the worst PM of the previous century, while Lubbers held the fifth spot in this ranking. My knowledge of the performance of Cort van der Linden is very limited, which is also true for all other PMs, prior to 1945. For me, Drees sr. and Lubbers, in alphabetical order, are the best prime ministers since World War II. Admittedly, I am not an expert in Dutch political history after World War II. However, there is always Wikipedia to offer some assistance.

A cold and dark winter turns into a sunny spring
When Ruud Lubbers (Rotterdam, 7 May 1939) took office, in the autumn of 1982, unemployment was very high, while government finances were getting totally out of control.  Almost a dozen years later, he resigned. Lubbers had already announced his resignation some time before the elections of 1994. When he left office, the economic situation in the Netherlands had changed from a ‘cold and dark winter’ into a ‘sunny spring’. Lubbers was an inspiring PM, who appeared to be a very strong magnet for the electorate. In 1986, his Christian-democrat party (CDA) gained nine extra seats in the Second Chamber of the Dutch parliament, jumping from 45 seats to 54 seats. Three years later, the CDA succeeded in keeping those 54 seats. After that election, the Christian-democrats formed a coalition with the social-democrats, posterior to reigning seven years with the liberal party (VVD). Thus, Lubbers showed that he was capable of presiding a coalition, not only with a right-wing party, but also with a left-wing party.

Willem Drees sr. (Amsterdam, 5 July 1886 – The Hague, 14 May 1988) guided the country through the difficult years (1948–1958) of post-war recovery. Many people have warm feelings about this relatively quiet period. Personally, I do not share this ‘Toen was geluk nog heel gewoon’ (At that time, happiness was simply a fact of life) feeling. However, Drees sr. steered The Netherlands with great skills to times of more prosperity (and not prosparity, PM Rutte). For example, his name is forever attached to the AOW, the first and the mandatory tier of our pension system. His son, Willem Drees jr., an expert in the field of public finance, founded a new political party (DS’70). He was not pleased with the emergence of New Left within the PvdA. One year later, his father left the social-democrat party for the same reason. According to sources, Drees sr. considered New Left as radical and too eager to spend public funds and, therefore, as having political views that were unrealistic.

Tilburg University
My admiration for politicians like Drees sr. and Lubbers is second to none. As a matter of fact, my current position in university politics shows some resemblance to the viewpoint of Drees sr. in 1971. From 2008 until 2012, I held a seat in the University Council for the Independents, from 2009 until 2012 even as the chairman of this renowned fraction. This party used to be strongly in favour of relieving many restrictions regarding the opening hours of the campus of Tilburg University. Some time ago, Univers reported that TiU International shares this opinion. Moreover, the Executive Board has come up with a nice proposal with respect to this issue. These two gentlemen deserve a lot of praise for this. Hardly surprising, the union fraction, AbvaKabo, opposed vehemently against this proposal. They even accused TiU International of attempting to sweeten their potential electorate. Much to my regret, the Independents agreed with them. My former party has also taken too few initiatives to foster the use of the English language in the Council. This puts me in an awkward position. One option is to continue my solidarity with my successors who have worked extremely hard. However, the temptation to follow the tracks of a great man like Drees sr. is certainly not negligible.