Mark Rutte

He is the youngest child of Izaäk Rutte (5 October 1909 – 22 April 1988), a merchant, and his second wife, Hermina Cornelia Dilling (13 November 1923 – 13 May 2020), a secretary.

Izaäk Rutte worked for a trading company; first as an importer in the Dutch East Indies, later as a director in the Netherlands.

His second wife was a sister of his first wife, Petronella Hermanna Dilling (17 March 1910 – 20 July 1945), who died while she and he were interned together in Tjideng, a prisoner-of-war camp in Batavia, now Jakarta, during World War II.

Rutte has seven siblings as a result of his father's two marriages.

Mark Rutte (born 14 February 1967) is a Dutch politician who has served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands since 2010.

He is currently acting in a demissionary capacity, scheduled to leave national politics following the installation of the next cabinet after the 2023 general election.

Rutte attended the Maerlant Lyceum from 1979 until 1985, specialising in the arts.

One of his elder brothers died from AIDS in the 1980s.

Rutte later described the deaths of his brother and his father as events that changed the course of his life.

Rutte combined his studies with a position on the board of the Youth Organisation Freedom and Democracy, the youth organisation of the VVD, of which he was the chair from 1988 to 1991.

After his studies Rutte entered the business world, working as a manager for Unilever and its food subsidiary Calvé.

Although his original ambition was to attend a conservatory and become a concert pianist, he instead went to study history at Leiden University, where he obtained an MA degree in 1992.

Between 1993 and 1997, Rutte was a member of the national board of the VVD.

Until 1997, Rutte was part of the human resource department of Unilever, and played a leading role in several reorganisations.

Between 1997 and 2000, Rutte was staff manager of Van den Bergh Nederland, a subsidiary of Unilever.

In 2000, Rutte became a member of the Corporate Human Resources Group, and in 2002, he became human resource manager for IgloMora Groep, another subsidiary of Unilever.

After embarking on a business management career working for Unilever, Rutte entered national politics in 2002 as a member of Jan Peter Balkenende's cabinets.

Rutte also served as a member of the VVD candidate committee for the general election of 2002.

Rutte served as State Secretary (i.e. Deputy Minister) at the Social Affairs and Employment Ministry from 22 July 2002 to 17 June 2004 in the First and Second Balkenende cabinets.

Rutte was responsible for fields including bijstand (municipal welfare) and arbeidsomstandigheden (Occupational safety and health).

Rutte was elected as Member of Parliament in 2003.

After the 2003 elections Rutte was briefly also a member of the House of Representatives, from 30 January to 27 May 2003.

In 2003, as State Secretary, Rutte advised municipalities to check, exceptionally, Somali residents for social assistance fraud, after some Somalis working in England were also found to receive social assistance benefits in the Netherlands.

A Somali man entitled to benefits was stopped by social investigators and checked for fraud on the basis of his external characteristics, after which he refused the investigators access to his home.

The Municipal Executive (College van burgemeester en wethouders) of Haarlem decided to withdraw the right of the man to social benefits.

He disagreed with this and his appeal was upheld by the administrative judge.

Rutte was the leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) from 2006 through 2023.

On 2 August 2022 he became the longest-serving prime minister in the history of the Netherlands.

Rutte won the 2006 VVD leadership election and led the party to victory in the 2010 general election.

After lengthy coalition negotiations, he became prime minister of the Netherlands.

He was the first liberal to be appointed prime minister in 92 years.

An impasse on budget negotiations led to his government's early collapse in April 2012, but the VVD's victory in the subsequent election allowed Rutte to return as prime minister to lead a coalition between the VVD and the Labour Party (PvdA), which became the first cabinet to see out a full four-year term since 1998.

Though the VVD lost seats in the 2017 general election, it remained the largest party.

After a record-length formation period, Rutte was appointed to lead a new coalition between the VVD, Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), Democrats 66 (D66) and Christian Union (CU).

Though Rutte and his cabinet resigned in response to the childcare benefits scandal, the VVD won the 2021 general election.

Rutte began his fourth term in 2022 after another record-length formation period.

On 7 July 2023, he announced his government's resignation after his coalition failed to agree on how to handle increasing migration.

His government has since taken on a caretaker role pending the formation of a new cabinet.

Due to his ability to come out of political scandals with his reputation undamaged, Rutte has been referred to as "Teflon Mark".

Rutte was born in The Hague, in the province of South Holland, in a Dutch Reformed family.