Hans Vijlbrief

Johannes Alexander "Hans" Vijlbrief (born 17 August 1963) is a Dutch civil servant, economist, and politician, who currently serves as State Secretary for the Extractive Industries.

He is a member of the social-liberal party Democrats 66 (D66).

Vijlbrief was born on 17 August 1963 in Voorschoten, a village in South Holland close to Leiden.

His father, Johan, was a sales manager at beverage company Riedel and would later found his own bottler.

He attended the high school Visser 't Hooft Lyceum in Leiden, earning his atheneum diploma in 1981.

Thereafter, he studied general economics at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam until 1987.

Vijlbrief started his career at the Ministry of Economic Affairs, after earning his doctorate at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 1992.

Subsequently, he worked at the Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB) before returning to Economic Affairs, where he filled several positions as director and director-general.

He continued studying at the university, receiving his doctorate in economics in 1992.

His dissertation was titled Unemployment insurance and the Dutch labour market.

After obtaining his PhD, Vijlbrief started working at the Ministry of Economic Affairs, where he filled a number of positions at the directorate General Economic Policy.

Minister Hans Wijers appointed him as interim director of that division in 1997.

Besides, he became director at Erasmus University Rotterdam of the Research Centre for Financial Economic Policy, a part-time job, the next year.

He left the Ministry to work as deputy director at the Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB) in 1999.

Vijlbrief has told that he later came to regret the move, calling the agency "too quiet" and lacking in pressure.

He also became an endowed professor in 2000 at the Vrije Universiteit, his alma mater, specialized in economic policy, and he simultaneously quit his job in Rotterdam.

Vijlbrief returned to the Ministry of Economic Affairs in 2001 in the position of director of General Economic Policy.

In July 2004, Minister Laurens Jan Brinkhorst promoted him to Director-General for Economic Policy.

Vijlbrief, who had been a member of D66 since 2008, also became more politically involved, helping write the party's election program for the 2010 general election.

While in this position, Vijlbrief also chaired a re-evaluation group called "Security and Terrorism" (2009–2010).

Starting in February 2010, he served as Director-General for Energy, Telecommunications, and Markets.

Vijlbrief's former position was subsequently eliminated.

Its responsibilities were transferred to the secretary-general (general economic policy and EU matters) and his new job (competition and consumer policy).

His professorship at the Vrije Universiteit came to an end that same year.

Vijlbrief was appointed Treasurer-General of the Ministry of Finance in 2011, and occupied that post until he became president of the advisory body Eurogroup Working Group six and a half years later.

He had been a member of that group while serving as Treasurer-General, assisting Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem.

Moreover, Vijlbrief led Maria van der Hoeven's successful campaign to get appointed Executive Director of the International Energy Agency in 2011.

Vijlbrief served as the Treasurer-General of the Ministry of Finance starting in July 2011, after he was appointed by the Council of Ministers.

His predecessor, Ronald Gerritse, had vacated the position when he became chairman of the Authority for the Financial Markets.

The position also included membership of the Eurogroup Working Group (EWG), an advisory body responsible for preparing the monthly meetings of the Eurogroup.

He had been a member of the body's board since 2011 and was also serving on its Risk Committee.

That same month, Vijlbrief became a member of the board of the European economic think tank Bruegel.

Besides, Vijlbrief was chairman of the Economic Policy Committee, a European advisory body, between 2012 and 2014.

In his position at the Eurogroup, Vijlbrief worked for a number of years together with Jeroen Dijsselbloem, when he was Minister of Finance and President of the Eurogroup, on handling the Greek and European debt crises.

He also managed the two campaigns to get Dijsselbloem elected Eurogroup president.

In March 2014, Vijlbrief was chosen to chair the board of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the eurozone's emergency fund to address government debt.

During the 2017 Dutch general election season, he was a co-author of D66's election program.

Just after he had been re-elected at the working group, Vijlbrief was appointed State Secretary for Finance together with Alexandra van Huffelen in January 2020.

He succeeded Menno Snel, who had resigned as a result of the childcare benefits scandal, and became responsible for the Tax Administration and tax affairs.

Vijlbrief was elected to the House of Representatives in 2021, but he left this position upon his appointment as State Secretary for the Extractive Industries as part of the new fourth Rutte cabinet in January 2022.