Mr. L. J. Brinkhorst, Ministry of Economy is laureate of RUS Prix 2005 in nomination "Contribution into development of Russian-Dutch economic relations on state level"

Laurens Jan Brinkhorst was born in Zwolle on 18 March 1937.

After completing his secondary education, he went on to study law at Leiden University and graduated in 1959. In 1961, he was awarded an MA in public law and government from Columbia University, New York, USA, and subsequently worked for Shearman and Sterling, a law firm in New York.

In 1962, Mr Brinkhorst accepted a position at the Europe Institute of Leiden University, and was appointed director of the Institute in 1965. In the same year, he became senior lecturer in the law of international organisations. From 1967 to 1973, he held the chair of European law at Groningen University.

Mr. Brinkhorst was State Secretary for Foreign Affairs in the Den Uyl government from 11 May 1973 to 8 September 1977, with the European Affairs portfolio.

He was a member of the House of Representatives of the States General from 1977 to 1982, and was the leader of the Democrats 66 (D66) parliamentary party in 1981/1982.

In 1982, he was appointed head of the delegation of the Commission of the European Communities in Japan. In 1987, he took office as Director-General of Environment, Consumer Protection and Nuclear Safety, and in 1989 as Director-General of Environment, Nuclear Safety and Civil Protection at the European Commission. He served as a member of the European Parliament from 1994 to 1999.

Mr. Brinkhorst has held various other posts. He was a member of Groningen Provincial Council for D66, a member of the advisory council of the World Resources Institute in Washington DC, a member of the board of governors of the Netherlands Institute for Economics, extraordinary professor of international environmental law at Leiden University, a member of the board of directors of the Salzburg Seminar and the International Institute of Sustainable Development, and visiting professor of international environmental law at the University of Lausanne.

Mr. Brinkhorst was Minister of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries in the second Kok government from 8 June 1999 to 22 July 2002. He then worked for NautaDutilh, a Brussels law firm, as their European affairs adviser, and held the chair of transnational and European governance at the University of Tilburg.

Mr. Brinkhorst was appointed Minister of Economic Affairs in the second Balkenende government on 27 May 2003. He was appointed Deputy Prime Minister on 31 March 2005.