Gijs van Aardenne

Gijs van Aardenne

Gijsbert "Gijs" Michiel Vredenrijk van Aardenne (18 March 1930 – 10 August 1995) was a Dutch politician.

Van Aardenne was the son of a surgeon and studied mathematics and physics at Leiden University. After his studies he was employed at a steel factory in Dordrecht, becoming its general manager from 1967 to 1971.

He joined the Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie (VVD) in 1964 and was a Member of Parliament between 1971 and 1977, and again in 1981. He became minister of economic affairs in the first van Agt cabinet (1977–81). Nuclear energy and problems in the shipbuilding industry were prominent issues during these years. He took the same post as well as vice-premier in the first Lubbers cabinet (1982–1986).

He got into political trouble for downplaying the financial struggles of the Rijn Schelde Verolme shipyard, which would collapse in 1983 in spite of many years of large financial support from the government. For this reason he was omitted from the 1986 Lubbers cabinet.

Van Aardenne remained politically active, amongst others acting in the formation of the first Kok cabinet in 1994 and rejecting the post of minister of finances in that. By then he had been diagnosed with ALS, which bound him to a wheel chair and of which he died in 1995.

Sources

• Parliamentory biography (Dutch)

Deputy Prime Ministers of the Netherlands
Drees Van Schaik Teulings Beel Struycken Korthals Biesheuvel Vondeling De Quay Witteveen Bakker Nelissen Geertsema Van Agt De Gaay Fortman Wiegel Den Uyl Terlouw Van Aardenne De Korte Kok Dijkstal Van Mierlo Jorritsma Borst Bomhoff Remkes De Boer Zalm De Graaf Brinkhorst Bos Rouvoet Verhagen Asscher

Ministers of Finance of the Netherlands
Ministry of Finance
Schimmelpenninck Van Bosse Ossewaarde Van Bosse Van Doorn Van Hall Agnites Vrolik Van Bosse Schimmelpenninck van Nijenhuis Van Bosse Blussé van Oud-Alblas Van Delden Van der Heim Gleichman Vissering Van Lynden van Sandenburg Grobbée Bloem Godin de Beaufort Pierson Sprenger van Eyk Pierson Van Tecklenburg De Meester Kolkman Bertling Treub Van Gijn De Vries Corneliszoon De Geer Colijn De Geer Oud De Wilde Colijn Bodenhausen De Geer Welter Steenberghe Albarda Van den Broek Huysmans Lieftinck Drees Van de Kieft Hofstra Zijlstra Witteveen Vondeling Zijlstra Witteveen Nelissen Duisenberg Andriessen Van Aardenne Van der Stee Ruding Kok Zalm Hoogervorst Zalm Bos De Jager Dijsselbloem

Ministers of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands
Ministry of Economic Affairs
Tak van Poortvliet Klerck Van den Bergh Tromp Bastert Havelaar Lely Van der Sleijden De Marez Oyens Kraus Veegens Talma Treub Posthuma Van IJsselsteyn Ruijs de Beerenbrouck Aalberse Koolen Slotemaker de Bruïne Verschuur Colijn Steenberghe Gelissen Steenberghe Colijn Steenberghe Van den Tempel Kerstens Van den Broek Gispen Vos Huysmans Mansholt Van den Brink Zijlstra De Pous Andriessen Den Uyl Bakker De Block De Jong Nelissen Langman Lubbers Van Aardenne Terlouw Van Aardenne De Korte Andriessen Wijers Jorritsma Heinsbroek Hoogervorst Brinkhorst Zalm Wijn Van der Hoeven Verhagen Kamp