Boris Dittrich - Parliamentary Career

Parliamentary Career

In 1994 he became a member of parliament representing the social-liberal party D66.

Boris Dittrich rose to become party leader of D66 in 2003 after Thom de Graaf stepped down after disappointing results in the 2003 general elections.

Dittrich negotiated the participation of D66 in the Dutch coalition government Balkenende II with the Christian-democratic CDA and the other liberal party VVD.

Dittrich decided not to become a minister but to stay party leader in parliament in order to check whether the new government would apply the coalition contract. The new government introduced major reforms to which the staggering Dutch economy responded positively.

D66 withdrew its support for the government after 3 years because of a dispute with the Dutch minister Rita Verdonk (minister of foreigners' affairs and integration) over the way she handled the issue of the Dutch passport of Ayaan Hirsi Ali. This caused the fall of the government and new elections were announced for November 2006.

Dittrich has been one of the most productive Dutch parliamentarians since the founding in 1838. He is the only member ever to have drafted four different Private Bills that have successfully become law. Dittrich took the initiative for laws against stalking, for rights of victims to speak during the criminal trial, for abolishing the timelimits on prosecution of crimes like murder and manslaughter, and finally he wrote the law to fix book prices in order to protect smaller bookshops, authors and customers.

During his career Dittrich became a national figure for his initiatives on issues like same-sex marriage, euthanasia, legalising prostitution and decriminalising the use of soft drugs. Issues that have made Holland 'leading' when it comes to legislation developing around the world.

Dittrich was one of the first openly gay members of parliament.

He is a strong advocate for human rights and has represented the Dutch parliament on numerous occasions at meetings at the United Nations. In October 2006 he was asked to address the annual meeting of the IPU (inter parliamentary Union) in Geneva.

Dittrich was also vice president of Liberal International until October 2007.

Dittrich was strongly against Dutch military involvement in the Afghan province of Uruzgan after doing extensive research and he presented extensive arguments to persuade the country to stay out of that fight.

However when the Dutch cabinet (including his own D66-ministers) decided to follow the American lead, and that was also backed by 75% of the Dutch parliament, he decided to take political responsibility and stepped down as leader of the D66 on February 3, 2006. (A loss of faith in the process if you will.)

He continued as a member of parliament until the elections of November 2006.