Life and Career
Born in Amsterdam, De Hoop Scheffer graduated with an LL.M. degree at Leiden University in 1974. After completing military service in the air force, where he became a reserve officer, he worked for the ministry of foreign affairs from 1976 to 1986. For the first two years, he was stationed at the Dutch embassy in Ghana. After that, he worked at the Dutch delegation at NATO headquarters in Brussels until 1980.
Although he has been a member of the D66 party, he became a member of the Christen-Democratisch Appèl (CDA) in 1982. At the elections of 1986, he was elected to the House of Representatives. He was a spokesman on foreign affairs for his party. Between 1997 and 2001, he was the leader of the CDA delegation in the House of Representatives, at a time when the CDA was in opposition. This made him the party leader.
When the list of candidates for the 2002 elections was chosen, his position as the party leader of the CDA became uncertain. After a power struggle with the party chairman Van Rij, De Hoop Scheffer resigned as party leader. Jan Peter Balkenende succeeded him, and had the top spot on the CDA list of candidates in the elections on 15 May 2002.
Read more about this topic: Jaap De Hoop Scheffer
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