Timmermans, Dutch 'football diplomat' who wants Europe to think big
(BRUSSELS) - Frans Timmermans, the Dutch foreign minister named first vice-president of the European Commission on Wednesday, is a multilingual advocate of "football diplomacy" who believes in a leaner, more-focused Europe.
The son of a diplomat, the 53-year-old Labour politician spent most of his life outside the Netherlands before becoming its foreign minister.
His emotive speech before the UN in July, after Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was downed over east Ukraine killing nearly 200 Dutch citizens, got the world's attention and has been watched over a million times on YouTube.
Incoming Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker announced Wednesday that Timmermans will now have a key role as his "right-hand man" in his new team.
Born in Maastricht, the southern city that in 1992 gave its name to the treaty creating the European Union, he went to an English school in Rome and later studied French literature and European law as a postgraduate at France's Nancy University.
Timmermans' first foreign ministry job was at the embassy in Moscow in the early 1990s, during the collapse of the Soviet Union.
His knowledge of Russia could help in dealing with Europe's biggest current diplomatic crisis -- the situation in Ukraine.
The diplomat went on to work for the Dutch EU commissioner for external relations, Hans van den Broek, and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe in the 1990s.
Elected MP for the Dutch Labour party (PvdA) in 1998 (he had previously been a member of the more centrist D66), Timmermans became minister for European affairs under Christian Democrat premier Jan Peter Balkenende from 2007 to 2010.
He has been foreign minister under the Liberal-led coalition of Prime Minister Mark Rutte since 2012.
Timmermans reportedly speaks fluent Russian, as well as English, French, German and Italian.
In March, Timmermans penned an article in German daily Handelsblatt, along with his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, calling for Europe to be "big on big issues and small on small issues".
Targeting the perceived inefficiency of Brussels institutions, he called for the EU's foreign policy chief to play a stronger coordinating role.
An avid football fan, Timmermans was on the board of directors of first division Roda JC football club until 2012.
Given the recent success of the national team at the World Cup, he has encouraged Dutch envoys to use "football diplomacy" and talk about the sport in a bid to break the ice when working abroad.