Off the wire
• Interview: "Youngsters in football need assistance"  • Former police head stands trial for graft  • Britain urged to expedite decision on nuclear power project  • More revenue, less net profit Heineken in H1  • Brunei sends 8-member delegation to Rio Olympic Games  • Indian police arrest 3 for gang rape  • 1st LD Writethru: Britain continues to seek closer ties with China despite nuclear deal delay: PM spokeswoman  • New Beijing water reservoirs to hold 10 mln cubic meters of rain  • Weather forecast for world cities -- Aug. 1  • All five aboard killed as Russian helicopter downed in Syria: Kremlin  
You are here: 　 Home

Former Dutch PM Piet De Jong passes away

Xinhua, August 1, 2016 Adjust font size:

Former Dutch prime minister Piet De Jong died on July 27 this year at the age of 101, his party Christian Democrats (CDA) announced on Monday.

De Jong was prime minister of the Netherlands from 1967 to 1971, as leader of a center-right coalition on behalf of his Catholic People's Party KVP, one of the precursors of the CDA. De Jong also became KVP leader in the senate until 1974.

A decorated naval officer war veteran, De Jong served in the Dutch Navy after World War II. He retired from active service in 1958 and started his political career as undersecretary for the navy. From 1963 until 1967, he was minister of defense and he also served as minister of economic affairs in 1970.

"De Jong was my political grandfather," Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in a statement.

"As a former submarine commander, he managed to pass our country through the turbulent 60s. Understanding but firm, with outstretched hand, but decisive -- just the leader the Netherlands needed at that time. He has been of great importance to our country," he added. Enditem