Dutch icon: Mark Rutte

Mark Rutte (born February 14, 1967) is a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD).  In 2002 Rutte was appointed State Secretary for Social Affairs and Employment in the first Balkenende cabinet, a post which he held after the general election of 2003. He was responsible for fields including bijstand (municipal welfare) and arbeidsomstandigheden (Occupational safety and health).

 On June 17, 2004 Rutte was appointed State Secretary of Higher Education and Science, replacing Annette Nijs. When he was asked to replace her he had little choice: "Gerrit (Gerrit Zalm, the VVD Deputy Prime Minister) is not of the department of variables. I didn't have a choice. Furthermore, it's also very exciting". In office, Rutte has shown particular interest in making the Dutch higher education system more competitive internationally by trying to make it more market oriented (improving the position of students as consumers in the market for education).

He resigned as State Secretary to become the Parliamentary leader of the VVD in the House of Representatives. He was the Lijsttrekker for the VVD for the Dutch general election of 2006. He was  again the Lijsttrekker for the Dutch general election of yesterday. Since his party won the elections he is going to be very important for the Netherlands in the next 4 years!