Hans van Baalen, who oversaw Europe’s main alliance of liberal parties during a surge in the liberal European Parliament presence, died of cancer on Thursday. He was 60 years old.
His death was announced by the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Party, which van Baalen has led for the last six years.
“It is with profound sadness and with a heavy heart that we announce that Mr. Hans van Baalen, ALDE Party President, passed away peacefully in the late hours of Thursday 29 April, after a short illness,” Jacob Moroza-Rasmussen, ALDE Party secretary-general, said in a statement. “He was 60 years old, and is survived by his wife Ineke and son Robert.”
An ALDE spokesperson confirmed to POLITICO that the illness was cancer.
A former member of the Dutch parliament, van Baalen later spent 10 years as an MEP for Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD).
In 2015, he took over as president of the ALDE Party, earning a reputation in Brussels for orchestrating the growth of liberal groups within the European Parliament. During his tenure, ALDE regained its previous position as the third-biggest force in the Parliament, after the European People’s Party and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats.
Following the announcement of van Baalen’s death, Rutte paid tribute to his friend.
Van Baalen, Rutte said, “played a decisive role in the enormous growth of the liberal group in the European Parliament.”
Rutte said their ties go back decades, to 1993, adding: “I cherish our friendship.”
On Friday, other prominent liberal figures in Brussels and Amsterdam reacted to van Baalen’s death.
Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo called him “a colorful figure whose enthusiasm and approach played an important role in strengthening ties between European liberal parties in recent years.” And European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager described him as “the kindest man and the most dedicated European.”
Meanwhile, Guy Verhofstadt, an MEP and former Belgian prime minister, praised van Baalen for being a “crafty compromise maker in the European Parliament” and “a trusted president of the ALDE Party.”
“A true liberal heart,” Verhofstadt added.