BROEK, HANS (HENRI) VAN DEN

(1936– )

Politician. After studying law, Broek served as a solicitor and worked for the ENKA company (which later merged into Akzo Nobel). In 1976, he was elected to Parliament for the Katholieke Volkspartij (KVP, Catholic People’s Party). From 1981 to 1982, he was secretary of European affairs, and during 1982–1993, he served in government as minister of foreign affairs. After that, until 1999, he was a member of the European Commission (EC), the executive body of the European Union (EU) in Brussels. In 2005, he became minister of state.