Sigrid Kaag

Sigrid Agnes Maria Kaag (Dutch: [ˈsiɣrɪt ˈɑxnɛs maːˈrijaː ˈkaːx]; born 2 November 1961) is a Dutch diplomat and politician, who was the leader of the Democrats 66 (D66) from 4 September 2020 until 12 August 2023. She has served as Minister of Finance and first Deputy Prime Minister in the fourth Rutte cabinet since 10 January 2022. She previously served as Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation from 26 October 2017 to 10 August 2021, and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 25 May 2021 to 17 September 2021 in the third Rutte cabinet.[1]

Sigrid Kaag
Kaag in 2018
First Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands
Assumed office
10 January 2022
Prime MinisterMark Rutte
Preceded byHugo de Jonge
Minister of Finance
Assumed office
10 January 2022
Prime MinisterMark Rutte
Preceded byWopke Hoekstra
Leader of the Democrats 66
In office
4 September 2020 – 12 August 2023
Preceded byAlexander Pechtold
Succeeded byRob Jetten
Leader of Democrats 66 in the House of Representatives
In office
28 September 2021 – 10 January 2022
Preceded byRob Jetten
Succeeded byJan Paternotte
In office
18 March 2021 – 25 May 2021
Preceded byRob Jetten
Succeeded byRob Jetten
Member of the House of Representatives
In office
31 March 2021 – 10 January 2022
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
25 May 2021 – 17 September 2021
Prime MinisterMark Rutte
Preceded byStef Blok
Succeeded byTom de Bruijn (acting)
In office
13 February 2018 – 7 March 2018
Acting
Prime MinisterMark Rutte
Preceded byHalbe Zijlstra
Succeeded byStef Blok
Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation
In office
26 October 2017 – 10 August 2021
Prime MinisterMark Rutte
Preceded byLilianne Ploumen
Succeeded byTom de Bruijn
United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon
In office
17 January 2015 – 26 October 2017
Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon
António Guterres
Preceded byDerek Plumbly
Succeeded byPernille Dahler Kardel (acting)
United Nations Special Coordinator for Syria
In office
16 October 2013 – 30 September 2014
Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Personal details
Born
Sigrid Agnes Maria Kaag

(1961-11-02) 2 November 1961
Rijswijk, Netherlands
Political partyDemocrats 66
Spouse
​
(m. 1993)​
Children4
EducationUtrecht University
American University in Cairo (BA)
St Antony's College, Oxford (MPhil)
University of Exeter (MA)

A diplomat by occupation, Kaag started working for the United Nations in 1994. She was Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa for UNICEF in Amman from 2007 to May 2010, when she was appointed Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the Bureau of External Relations of the UNDP in New York.[2] From October 2013 to September 2014, she served as Under Secretary-General and Special Coordinator of the OPCW-UN Joint Mission in Syria to oversee the elimination of the country's chemical weapons program. From January 2015 to October 2017, Kaag was the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL).[3]

Early life and education

Kaag was born on 2 November 1961 in Rijswijk as the second daughter of Frans Kaag and Agnes Kaag-Robben.[4][5] Her father, who was a classical pianist and music teacher, was originally from Wervershoof, while her mother, a primary school teacher, was from Arnhem.[5][2] The family settled in Zeist, where Kaag grew up.[5]

After completing her secondary education, she initially studied Arabic at Utrecht University, but later switched to The American University in Cairo where she obtained a B.A. degree in Middle East Studies in 1985.[6][7] She subsequently obtained an M.Phil. degree in International Relations from St Antony's College, Oxford in 1987 and an M.A. degree in Middle East Studies from the University of Exeter in 1988.[7] She also received foreign relations training at the Clingendael Institute in The Hague, and studied at the French École nationale d'administration (ENA).[7][8]

Career

Early career

Kaag began her professional career in 1988 as an analyst for Royal Dutch Shell in London, United Kingdom.[9][10] In 1990, she started working for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she was the deputy head of the department of United Nations political affairs.

1994–2017: Career at the United Nations

Kaag started working for the United Nations in 1994 and first served as Senior United Nations Adviser in the Office of the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Khartoum, Sudan. From 1998 to 2004, she was Chief of Donor Relations for the International Organization for Migration and Senior Programme Manager with the External Relations Office of UNRWA in Jerusalem.[10] Working in the Middle East she was responsible for areas as the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria.

From 2007 to May 2010, Kaag was Regional Director for Middle East and North Africa for UNICEF in Amman. In May 2010, she was appointed Assistant Secretary-General and Assistant Administrator and Director of the Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy of the United Nations Development Programme in New York.[9] In this capacity, she was the deputy to Helen Clark and oversaw UNDP's strategic external engagement, organization-wide communication and advocacy, as well as resource mobilization.[2]

Head of the OPCW-UN Joint Mission in Syria

On 13 October 2013, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon nominated Kaag to lead the OPCW-UN Joint Mission for the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons. The United Nations Security Council was set to vote on her nomination three days later, on 16 October.[11] She was then officially confirmed for the position.[12] Kaag led a team of one hundred experts who were responsible for ensuring the elimination of Syria's chemical weapon stockpiles before 30 June 2014.[13]

United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon

By the end of her term in September 2014, news media reported that Kaag was rumored to succeed Lakhdar Brahimi as UN Special Envoy to Syria.[2] On 1 December 2014, the UN Secretary General Ban announced that Kaag would become the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL), succeeding Sir Derek Plumbly.[3][14]

In early 2017, Kaag was considered by international media to be one of the candidates to succeed Helen Clark as Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and head of the United Nations Development Group;[15] the post eventually went to Achim Steiner.

2017–present: Minister and party leader
Kaag addressing the United Nations Security Council in 2018
Kaag meeting with State Counsellor of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi in 2018
United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Sigrid Kaag in 2019

Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation

Following the 2017 Dutch government formation, Kaag was asked for a ministerial post by D66 leader Alexander Pechtold.[16] She was installed as Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation on 26 October 2017.[14] After the resignation of Foreign Minister Halbe Zijlstra on 13 February 2018, she was appointed ad interim to succeed him while conserving her other cabinet position. Kaag was consequently the first female Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. She was replaced by Stef Blok as Foreign Minister on 7 March 2018.

From 2018 to 2022, Kaag served on the joint World Bank–WHO Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB), co-chaired by Elhadj As Sy and Gro Harlem Brundtland.[17][18] In 2019, she joined the World Economic Forum High-Level Group on Humanitarian Investing, co-chaired by Børge Brende, Kristalina Georgieva and Peter Maurer.[19]

2021 Dutch general election

Soon after joining the cabinet, there was speculation about Kaag's candidacy for the D66 leadership, which had arisen after the resignation of Alexander Pechtold.[20] During this period, she also profiled herself by giving speeches,[21] often outside her own portfolio as a minister.[22]

On 21 June 2020, Kaag announced her candidacy for lijsttrekkerschap of the Democrats 66 for the 2021 general election, with the ambition of becoming the Netherlands' first female Prime Minister.[23] Kajsa Ollongren and Rob Jetten were also speculated to stand as candidates, but both refrained from doing so.[24][25] The only opponent was the unknown member Ton Visser, which resulted in Kaag winning the election with 95.7% of the votes.[26] She was elected as party leader on 4 September 2020, making her the second female party leader of D66 after Els Borst in 1998.[23] In this capacity, she led the party into the 2021 Dutch general election.[27][14]

In the run-up to the election, the VPRO documentary Sigrid Kaag: Van Beiroet tot Binnenhof was broadcast on 3 January 2021. Before this, Kaag had been followed for several years by documentary makers.[28] After the elections, GeenStijl published about the communication between the broadcasting company and D66 about the documentary, which they had obtained via a request for access to government information. This showed that D66 did have a lot of substantive requests, some of which were granted, although this was denied beforehand. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also interfered, including the broadcast date of the documentary.[29] Initially, Kaag indicated that this was not at her request,[30] but soon admitted that she was responsible for it.[31] Following this report, the Dutch Media Authority (Commissariaat voor de Media) stated that there was no reason for further investigation, as editorial independence does not appear to have been violated.[32]

D66's campaign for the 2021 general election was successful.[33] Under Kaag's leadership, D66 won 24 seats in the House of Representatives, thereby becoming the second-largest party after the VVD.[34][35] Kaag joined the House of Representatives as the party's parliamentary leader on 31 March 2021.[36]

During a lecture in the Rode Hoed debating centre in September of the same year, she voiced fierce criticism of the political culture that had arisen partly under Mark Rutte's leadership.[37] Shortly after, in April 2021, she joined forces with CDA leader Wopke Hoekstra in putting forward a motion of censure to voice their disapproval of VVD leader Rutte.[38]

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Due to changes within the outgoing cabinet, Kaag was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs on 25 May 2021.[39] She combined this position with her position as Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation until 10 August 2021.[40] Thereafter, she was succeeded as Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation by another former diplomat, Tom de Bruijn.[41]

On 16 September 2021, the House of Representatives passed a motion of censure against her. A majority reproached her for the late evacuation of Dutch citizens and local civilian personnel from Afghanistan amid the 2021 Taliban offensive and Fall of Kabul. In response to the passing of the motion of censure, Kaag announced her intention to resign as minister.[42] King Willem-Alexander granted her resignation on 17 September,[43] and she was succeeded by Ben Knapen.[44]

Minister of Finance

After she negotiated in the 2021–2022 Dutch cabinet formation, Kaag returned to the fourth Rutte cabinet as Minister of Finance and first Deputy Prime Minister. On 12 July 2023, five days after the collapse of the fourth Rutte cabinet, she announced in an interview in Trouw that she would not lead D66 into the 2023 general election, due to the impact of the "hate, intimidation and threats" she receives on her family.[45][46]

Honours and awards

Other activities

European Union organisations

International organizations

Non-profit organizations

Personal life

Kaag is married and has four children.[9][2] Her husband, Anis al-Qaq, is a dentist and a Palestinian national from Jerusalem who served as a deputy minister under Yasser Arafat in the 1990s and as the Palestinian representative to Switzerland.[63][64] Kaag is a noted polyglot and speaks six languages: Dutch, English, French, Spanish, German and Arabic.[13][65] She is a practicing Catholic.[66]

References
  1. "Diplomate Sigrid Kaag wordt nu zelf de baas" (in Dutch). NOS. 23 October 2017. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  2. Giovanni, Janine di (5 June 2014). "Poison Control in Syria". Newsweek. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
  3. "Ms. Sigrid Kaag". UNSCOL. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
  4. Theo Koelé (13 January 2014). "In licht van de tragedie is dit bescheiden missie" (in Dutch). de Volkskrant. Retrieved 15 June 2016.
  5. Visser, Marten (23 December 2022). "Sigrid Kaag terug naar het dorp voor familie. Als de nichten appen, komt er altijd een reactie van de minister". Noordhollands Dagblad (in Dutch). Retrieved 13 July 2023.
  6. Zijl, Frank van (20 November 2017). "Voor Sigrid Kaag is het ministerschap geen eindpost". de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  7. "Sigrid Kaag". Government.nl. 10 January 2022. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  8. "Sigrid A. M. Kaag". UNDP. Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  9. "Secretary-General appoints Sigrid Kaag of Netherlands Director of Partnerships Bureau, United Nations Development Proggramme". United Nations. 3 May 2010. Archived from the original on 19 September 2018. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  10. Dutch woman Sigrid Kaag tasked with eradicating Syria's chemical weapons The Australian, 17 October 2013.
  11. "U.N. names envoy to lead Syria chemical weapons mission". Al Arabiya. 14 October 2013. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  12. "Sigrid Kaag to Lead Syria Chemical Weapons Mission". Time World. 16 October 2013. Archived from the original on 16 October 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
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  14. Sterling, Toby (17 March 2021). "Pro-Europe Dutch politician Kaag books gains in election". Reuters. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  15. "French environment minister candidate for top UN aid job". RFI. 24 March 2017. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  16. Kieskamp, Marno de Boer en Wilma (26 December 2017). "Sigrid Kaag was VN-gezant in Libanon, maar koos voor de Nederlandse politiek: "Het is bijna als een amputatie"". Trouw (in Dutch). Retrieved 19 July 2022.
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  63. "La Journée de la femme chez Sigrid Kaag : pousser les Libanaises vers la politique". L'Orient-Le Jour. 9 March 2015. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
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