Jacques Tichelaar

Jacques Tichelaar (born 2 January 1953) is a Dutch politician and former trade union leader and educator. He is a member of the Labour Party. Since 1 May 2009 he had been the King's Commissioner (governor on behalf of the king) in the province of Drenthe. He resigned on 1 March 2017.

Previously he was a teachers' trade union leader from 1994 to 2002 and an MP from 2002 to 2009. He acted as a parliamentary leader from 2007 to 2008.

In 2002 he received an honorary doctorate in business administration at Kingston University.

Biography

In 1973 Tichelaar finished his havo (secondary school) and enrolled at the Pedagogische Academie (academy for primary school teachers) in Heerenveen. Before he entered politics, Tichelaar was vice-director of a primary school, general secretary of the education labour union General Union of Education Personnel, and chair of its successor the General Education Union, which is affiliated with the FNV, the major Dutch federation of labour unions.

Since the 2002 election he was a member of the Tweede Kamer (House of Representatives). He focused on education and agriculture. He was also chair of the committee for finance.

During the 2006–2007 Dutch cabinet formation, Tichelaar was secondant of Wouter Bos during the confidential negotiations. He was unexpectedly chosen over MPs like Nebahat Albayrak, the PvdA's second candidate on the list, because of his experience with negotiations from his union years. Since Tichelaar had also had many conversations with CDA leader Maxime Verhagen about the reasons why the 2003 information talks between the two parties had failed, he was expected to understand the CDA party best among PvdA MPs.