THE HAGUE, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Stef Blok is succeeding Halbe Zijlstra as Dutch minister of foreign affairs, he confirmed on Monday after a meeting here with Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
"It's a great job," Blok told national broadcaster NOS. He is expected to be sworn in on Wednesday.
The 53-year-old People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) politician has so far held no position in the third cabinet of Rutte as he left Dutch politics last year. Apparently, the opportunity to become the new foreign minister brought him back to The Hague.
Blok served as Member of Parliament (MP) for the VVD from 1998 until 2012. From 2012 until 2017 he served as minister for housing and the central government sector in the second government of Rutte. Blok was also VVD party leader in the House of Representatives from 2010 to 2012, interim minister of security and justice in 2015 and 2017 and interim interior minister and Kingdom relations in 2016.
His predecessor Zijlstra resigned on Feb. 13 this year for having lied about a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2006. During a speech at a congress of the VVD in May 2016 he had claimed to have attended a meeting with Putin and that he heard the Russian President talk about a "Great Russia".
Last month Zijlstra admitted that he had not been present at that meeting with Putin. Sigrid Kaag, minister for foreign trade and development cooperation, temporarily took over the tasks of Zijlstra until a successor was found.
