EU’s man of the world

Date: 11/07/1996

TO hear him speak, you would think Hans van den Broek had been a foreign minister all his life. He practically has.

After 11 years in the job in the Netherlands, he is now in his fourth year as the EU's foreign policy ringmaster.

Although a relative latecomer to politics - Van Den Broek was 40 when he entered the lower house of the Dutch parliament - he rose to the upper echelons of government with astonishing speed.

As a young company manager, Van Den Broek was asked to run for office after attracting public attention by negotiating the release of popular Dutch industrialist Dr Tiede Herrema, who was taken hostage by two IRA members in Ireland in 1975.

The law-trained businessman won a legislative seat easily and, six short years later, he became the Netherlands' foreign minister.

Today, he is well-known across the capitals of Europe and North America and his name crops up every time a major international post comes up for grabs.

Former US Secretary of State James Baker refers frequently to Van Den Broek in his memoirs as an “astute statesman” and “ever the problem solver”.

Describing his first tour of western capitals in 1989 as he sought support for modernising NATO's short-range nuclear armoury, Baker says: “Of all my stops, which also included France, the Benelux countries and NATO headquarters, it was my meeting in the Netherlands with Foreign Minister Hans van den Broek that may have been the most important of all.

“He passed me a paper with some ideas. Conceptually, he was right, and it was the first time - but far from the last - that I would see this astute statesman suggest a solution to a diplomatic deadlock. Now at last, I felt I had a valid angle of attack.”

Not all of Van Den Broek's relationships have been so warm. His rivalry with German counterpart Hans-Dietrich Genscher is often illustrated by the now famous story of a 1991 ministerial meeting in The Hague.

Genscher, the first to leave, hopped in the first of a line of waiting limousines, ignoring protests that the car was waiting for Van Den Broek, the meeting's chairman. Journalists regale each other with the tale of Van Den Broek's fury on seeing his car disappear and having to race Genscher to the press conference venue.

While turf battles are a natural part of politics, many accuse Van Den Broek of taking them into the European arena by trying to act as the Union's foreign minister.

As the Commissioner responsible for an area which remains the competence of national governments, Van Den Broek might be compared to a sailing-boat caught in the doldrums without enough wind to fill his sails.

He tried to blow wind into the notion of a Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) by creating the Commission's department for foreign and security policy in 1993. But this, above all other areas, is the field in which governments do not want to hand over any power to the Commission and foreign ministers are not prepared to allow Van Den Broek into the club.

“He must not behave like a minister,” said an official. “His job is to smooth out policies between member states, but he has been unskilful in forging compromises.”

The former foreign minister has had to swallow his pride as Carl Bildt has taken the leading role in the EU's policy on Bosnia. Van Den Broek staff deny there is any rivalry between the Commissioner and the International High Representative, but such rumours are fuelled frequently by reports of the Dutchman mumbling and pacing outside meeting rooms when Bildt - and not himself - is called to brief EU ministers on Bosnia.

“It is the basic problem of all Foreign Affairs Commissioners - what is your competence?” said one colleague. “He is not the main player on the foreign affairs scene, but he cannot be ignored either.”

During his first two years as a Commissioner, Van Den Broek had responsibility for Commission dealings around the world. When, in 1995, the globe was carved up into four geographic slices, officials fastened their seatbelts for a rough ride.

The rivalry began on the very first evening, when Trade Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan threatened to quit after he failed to win the Eastern Europe portfolio.

But aides to both Commissioners say they have put that episode behind them, helped by the fact that they usually find themselves on the same ideological side in Commission debates.

However, Van Den Broek's relations with other officials are not so smooth, according to some sources.

“He has irritated a lot of people in the Commission. He still behaves as though he has general responsibility for foreign policy. He does not have either the backroom tactics of Brittan or the articulate negotiating skills of (Competition Commissioner Karel) Van Miert, so most things he asks for in the Commission are sources of irritation. He is pushy in his attitude and blunt in his proposals,” said one.

But aides point out that, for the area he covers, Van Den Broek is now responsible not only for political relations, but for economic and commercial ones as well.

That, they hope, will be the Commissioner's salvation. Even if CFSP remains a faint breeze rather than a gale, trade will always be important and will boost the Union's - and the Commission's - influence. As one aide put it: “The more we succeed in our economic activities, the more political weight we will have.”

Van Den Broek reportedly enjoys having responsibility for both commercial and political aspects of relations with countries that fascinate him - Russia, Turkey, and the former Communist nations - and he has worked hard on the customs union with Turkey.

“That is what he really likes - winning real political influence from the (EU's) commercial strength,” said an aide. “If the Commission uses its resources carefully, we can play a very important role.”

Van Den Broek clearly wants that role badly. His ambition is clear to those around him. “He is convinced he has to do everything best. He cannot afford to be just above average,” said one.

People who work for him say he is demanding, both on himself and on his colleagues. “He does not like to improvise, he likes to prepare properly. He is a man with clear-cut views and he is not easily deviated. If he thinks he is on the right track, he does not give way,” said one official.

His opinions do not change and neither, it seems, do his habits.

“He is the type of politician who does little else,” said a colleague, explaining that even as a young member of the Dutch parliament, Van Den Broek was singularly dedicated.

Details of life at home with his wife and two daughters (now in their 20s) are kept strictly out of the office - although, it seems, the office is not strictly kept out of the home.

“When he goes away on holiday, he starts calling the office after two and a half days,” said a colleague.

And although travelling and reading are Van Den Broek's loves, both are almost always connected with his work. On long plane rides, he reads from his large collection of political biographies - most of them autographed by other foreign ministers around the world.

But if you remind colleagues of the expression 'all work and no play...', they rush to his defence, praising the Commissioner's sense of humour and good jokes.

“At dinner parties, he is considered to be delightful,” said one close colleague. “He is fun to have around, he talks a lot and he tells stories.”

People who know Van Den Broek well also say he enjoys a good debate. “He has an open mind, and he appreciates counter-arguments, but he can be stubborn and proud of what he is saying.”

Van Den Broek's move to the Commission in 1991 surprised many Dutch politicians. Few expected a highly successful foreign minister with every prospect of several more years in the job ahead of him to leave. Moreover, as Dutch foreign minister he was considered to be closer to the Washington establishment than to the Brussels crowd.

However, after extensive debate over his nomination in the Dutch parliament, he won the support of all

parties and, Dutch officials remember, “there was no doubt about his European conviction”.