The Australia 2020 Summit was a convention, referred to in Australian media as a summit, which was held on 19–20 April 2008 in Canberra, Australia, aiming to "help shape a long term strategy for the nation's future".^[1] Announced by the new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, the summit drew limited bipartisan support from Brendan Nelson and the opposition Coalition parties, and ran as 10 working groups of 100 participants.^[2]

1002 delegates^[3] attended the summit to discuss ten "critical areas". Ideas and proposals were invited from all members of the community, and an official web site was set up to accept submissions.

The 10 critical policy areas were:

1. Productivity—including education, skills, training, science and innovation.
2. Economy—including infrastructure and the digital economy.
3. Sustainability and climate change.
4. Rural Australia—focusing on industries and communities.
5. Health and ageing.
6. Communities and families.
7. Indigenous Australia.
8. Creative Australia—the arts, film and design.
9. Australian governance, democracy and citizenship.
10. Security and prosperity—including foreign affairs and trade.

Participants[link]

For a full list, see: Australia 2020 Summit participants

The summit was led by a 11-member steering committee, whose initial membership was announced on 26 February 2008. The committee played a key role in selecting the other participants, and each member led one of the working groups together with a government co-chair.^[4] Since the initial announcement, Dr Kelvin Kong (Indigenous Australia) withdrew due to family health reasons, and Dr Jackie Huggins was appointed to replace him. On 14 April 2008, an additional co-chair, Dr Julianne Schultz, was announced for the Creative Australia stream.

The members of the steering committee were as follows:^[4]

Related events[link]

Several events were held in the lead up to the Australia 2020 Summit:

• 2020 Youth Summit: For 100 young people (15 to 24 years) from around Australia in Canberra, 12 and 13 April 2008.
• Canberra 2020 Summit: For Canberra residents, on the theme of innovation, in Canberra, 5 April 2008.
• Foundations of Open: Technology and Digital Knowledge: Australian National University, Canberra, 3 April 2008.

Criticism[link]

The summit was initially criticised for the near-absence of women on the 11-member steering committee who would pick the 1,000 delegates—only actress Cate Blanchett had been named. The Government responded by saying six of the co-chairs would be female politicians.^[5][6] By the time of the summit, there were three women on a 12-member committee.^[4] Additionally, other commentators such as the Institute of Public Affairs, Australians for Constitutional Monarchy and Australian Monarchist League criticised what they saw as the unrepresentative nature of the delegates, which in their view biased the final report towards republicanism and ideas such as constitutional reform and a bill of rights.^[7]

Some of the delegates themselves expressed criticism of how the summit was conducted. In particular, claims were made that the final paper which purported to represent the resolutions of the sub-groups did not reflect ideas which they had espoused or did include ideas which they had not discussed, possibly reflecting an agenda which had been determined before the summit.^[8][9][10] Others were concerned that hard issues, such as terrorism in the group examining foreign affairs and security issues, were ignored.^[11]

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Official site
  • The final report
• Coverage of the event (by ABC)
• Coverage of the event by professor of politics, Robert Manne, May 2008, The Monthly

Wim Kok
Prime Minister of the Netherlands
In office August 22, 1994 – July 22, 2002
Monarch	Beatrix
Deputy	See list Hans Dijkstal (I) Hans van Mierlo (I) Annemarie Jorritsma (II) Els Borst (II)
Preceded by	Ruud Lubbers
Succeeded by	Jan Peter Balkenende
Party leader Labour Party
In office July 21, 1986 – December 15, 2001
Preceded by	Joop den Uyl
Succeeded by	Ad Melkert
Parliamentary leader – Labour Party House of Representatives
In office May 7, 1998 – August 14, 1998
Preceded by	Jacques Wallage
Succeeded by	Jacques Wallage
Member of the House of Representatives
In office May 19, 1998 – August 22, 1998
Parliamentary leader – Labour Party House of Representatives
In office May 4, 1994 – August 22, 1994
Preceded by	Thijs Wöltgens
Succeeded by	Jacques Wallage
Member of the House of Representatives
In office May 17, 1994 – August 22, 1994
Minister of Finance
In office November 7, 1989 – August 22, 1994
Prime Minister	Ruud Lubbers
Preceded by	Onno Ruding
Succeeded by	Gerrit Zalm
Deputy Prime Minister
In office November 7, 1989 – August 22, 1994
Prime Minister	Ruud Lubbers
Preceded by	Rudolf de Korte
Succeeded by	Hans Dijkstal Hans van Mierlo
Parliamentary leader – Labour Party House of Representatives
In office July 21, 1986 – November 5, 1989
Preceded by	Joop den Uyl
Succeeded by	Thijs Wöltgens
Member of the House of Representatives
In office June 3, 1986 – November 6, 1989
Personal details
Born	Willem Kok (1938-09-29) September 29, 1938 (age 73) Bergambacht, Netherlands
Nationality	Dutch
Political party	Labour Party
Spouse(s)	Rita Roukema (b. 1939 m. 1965)
Residence	Amsterdam, Netherlands
Alma mater	Nyenrode Business Universiteit (Dr.h.c.) University of Münster (Dr.h.c.)
Occupation	Politician Lobbyist Corporate director Trade Union Leader
Religion	Non-religious (Agnosticism)[1][2][3]
Signature
Website	Club of Madrid

Willem "Wim" Kok (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈʋɪm ˈkɔk] ( listen)); born September 29, 1938) is a retired Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA). He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from August 22, 1994 until July 22, 2002.

A former Trade Union Leader, Kok served as Chairman of the Netherlands Association of Trade Unions from 1972 until 1976 when it merged to form the Federation Netherlands Labour Movement, Kok served as its first Chairman from 1976 until 1986 when he left to enter politics. He was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives on June 3, 1986 after the Dutch general election of 1986. The Labour Party Party leader and Parliamentary leader of the Labour Party in the House of Representatives Joop den Uyl announced that he was stepping down after serving twenty years as Party leader. Kok was elected to succeed him and became Party leader and the Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives on July 21, 1986 and served as opposition leader during the parliamentary period of the Cabinet Lubbers II. For the Dutch general election of 1989 Kok became the lijsttrekker and the Labour Party lost 3 seats but the following cabinet formation resulted in a coalition agreement with the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) which formed the Cabinet Lubbers III. Kok became Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister serving from November 7, 1989 until August 22, 1994.

For the Dutch general election of 1994 Kok again as lijsttrekker lost 12 seats but the Christian Democratic Appeal with new Party leader Elco Brinkman lost 20 seats. The Labour Party became the largest party in the House of Representatives and after a arduous coalition formation with the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the Democrats 66 (D66) resulted in the Cabinet Kok I. With the following Dutch general election of 1998, Kok again as lijsttrekker won 8 seats and the coalition retained its majority and a formation resulted in a continuation of the policies with a Cabinet Kok II. Kok was highly praised for his Third Way and Polder Model philosophies and his success in leading his Purple Coalitions; and he obtained the status of a statesman by his fellow European leaders.^[4]

After his premiership, Kok retired from active politics at the age of sixty three and became a lobbyist for the European Union and presided over several 'high level groups'. He also occupied many posts in industry and seats on numerous supervisory boards (ING Group, Koninklijke TNT Post, Royal Dutch Shell, KLM, Stork B.V., the International Commission on Missing Persons, the International Crisis Group and the Anne Frank Foundation). Kok is the current president of the Club of Madrid, a organization promotes democracy and change in the global community.

On April 11, 2003 he was granted the honorary title of Minister of State.^[5]

Early life[link]

Wim Kok as Trade Union Leader in 1977.

Wim Kok and President of Russia Vladimir Putin in 2001.

Wim Kok and Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte in 2011.

Willem Kok was born on September 29, 1938 in Bergambacht in the Netherlands Province of South Holland. After completing his studies at the Nyenrode Business Universiteit business school, he started his career in 1961 at the socialist Nederlands Verbond van Vakverenigingen (NVV), where he was chairman from 1973 until 1982. Between 1976 and 1986 he was chair of the Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging (FNV), a merger of the NVV and the Catholic trade union NKV, which he had overseen.

Political career[link]

In 1986, Kok succeeded Joop den Uyl as leader of the social democratic Labour Party. From 1989 until 1994 he was Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance in a cabinet with the centre-right party Christian Democratic Appeal.

In 1994, Kok became Prime Minister in a cabinet with the conservative liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and the social liberal party Democrats 66. This cabinet goes under the name of Cabinet Kok I. This Purple coalition was the first in decades to form a government without the Christian Democratic Appeal. After the elections in 1998 he led a second government with the same partners, Cabinet Kok II.

The main aim of the Cabinet Kok I was to create employment. The Dutch economy had been in a strong recession for years. The market should get more influence in the economy. This let to a policy of tax reduction, economizing and trying to keep people out of the social care by supporting employment. Large infrastructural projects were started. Another aim was to make an end to the enormous debt of the Dutch government. The Treaty of Amsterdam was signed during this cabinet. The Srebrenica massacre occurred under the responsibility of this Government, which led later to the fall of the second Kok cabinet. This was the last cabinet in recent history to serve a full term. Five of the following cabinets resigned and one was a temporary caretaker cabinet.

The second cabinet was the successor of the first cabinet was formed from the same coalition of PvdA, VVD and D66. It was also known as the 'tweede paarse kabinet' ('second purple cabinet') called such because it contained both the social-democratic PvdA (red) and the liberal VVD (blue). The aim of the cabinet was to continue the policy of cabinet Kok I, which was concerned with economizing, tax reduction and making an end to unemployment. Wim Kok was the prime minister, Annemarie Jorritsma as the deputy prime minister for the VVD, and Els Borst for D66. The cabinet was considered boring, because both left-wing and right-wing political parties were a part of it. There was no strong opposition in the House of Representatives. This cabinet was notable for resigning twice. The first time was in May 1999, when D66 stepped out of the coalition when proposed legislation entered by this party was blocked; through negotiations the crisis was solved and the cabinet stayed together. The second and final time was on 16 April 2002, close to the natural end of term for the cabinet, when prime minister Kok wished to resign over the NIOD report into the fall of Srebrenica in 1995 and the other ministers had no choice but to follow him. The Second Kok cabinet remained in place as a caretaker cabinet until 22 July 2002, when it was replaced by the first Balkenende cabinet.

During most of Kok's time as Prime Minister, the Netherlands was booming economically and Kok was credited internationally for the Dutch Polder Model. This same "Polder model" went out of fashion early 2002, which saw the rise of Pim Fortuyn, a political newcomer. Kok's second cabinet fell just weeks before the May 2002 elections when Kok and all his ministers stepped down because of the discussion about the possible Dutch responsibility in the Srebrenica massacre.

Kok was succeeded as leader of the Labour Party by Ad Melkert, who went on to lose the Dutch general election of 2002.

After politics[link]

Kok left Dutch politics after the election, as he had already announced the year before, but that does not mean his political life has ended. Like many whose official political careers have ended, he continues to influence politics.

After his premiership, Kok retired from active politics and became a lobbyist for the European Union. He is the current president of the Club of Madrid. This organization promotes democracy and change in the global community. Members of the club are former heads of state and government.

Lisbon Strategy[link]

Between April and November 2004, Kok headed up a review of the Lisbon Strategy and presented a report containing suggestions on how to give new impetus to the Lisbon process. The European Commission used this report to declare that the social and environmental parts are no longer a priority and declared a return to the Lisbon Agenda under economic terms only.

Kok now lobbies for the Lisbon Strategy of the European Commission and has also been appointed to the Advisory Board of the European Association of History Educators.

Decorations[link]

• Order of Isabella the Catholic
  • Knight Grand Cross (October 19, 2001) ^[6]
• Order of Orange-Nassau
  • Grand Cross (December 10, 2002)
• Order of the Three Stars
  • Grand Officer (November 2004)

References[link]

External links[link]

• W. Kok (Ministry of General Affairs)
• (Dutch) W. (Wim) Kok (Parlement & Politiek)

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Wim Kok

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Wim Kok

v t e Prime Ministers of the Netherlands Schimmelpenninck • de Kempenaer • Thorbecke • van Hall • van der Brugghen • Rochussen • van Zuylen van Nijevelt • van Heemstra • Fransen van de Putte • van Zuylen van Nijevelt •van Bosse • de Vries • J. Heemskerk • Kappeyne van de Coppello • van Lynden van Sandenburg • J. Heemskerk • Mackay • van Tienhoven • Roëll • Pierson • Kuyper • de Meester • T. Heemskerk • Cort van der Linden • Ruijs de Beerenbrouck • Colijn • de Geer • Gerbrandy • Schermerhorn • Beel • Drees • de Quay • Marijnen • Cals • Zijlstra • de Jong • Biesheuvel • den Uyl • van Agt • Lubbers • Kok • Balkenende • Rutte

v t e Presidents of the European Council President-in-Office (1975–2009) Liam Cosgrave · Aldo Moro · Gaston Thorn · Joop den Uyl · James Callaghan · Leo Tindemans · Anker Jørgensen · Helmut Schmidt · Valéry Giscard d'Estaing · Jack Lynch · Francesco Cossiga · Charles Haughey · Pierre Werner · Dries van Agt · Margaret Thatcher · Wilfried Martens · Anker Jørgensen · Poul Schlüter · Helmut Kohl · Andreas Papandreou · François Mitterrand · Garret FitzGerald · Bettino Craxi · Jacques Santer · Ruud Lubbers · Margaret Thatcher · Wilfried Martens · Poul Schlüter · Helmut Kohl · Andreas Papandreou · Felipe González · François Mitterrand · Charles Haughey · Giulio Andreotti · Jacques Santer · Ruud Lubbers · Poul Schlüter · Aníbal Cavaco Silva · John Major · Poul Nyrup Rasmussen · Jean-Luc Dehaene · Andreas Papandreou · Helmut Kohl · Jacques Chirac · Felipe González · Lamberto Dini · Romano Prodi · John Bruton · Wim Kok · Jean-Claude Juncker · Tony Blair · Viktor Klima · Gerhard Schröder · Paavo Lipponen · António Guterres · Jacques Chirac · Göran Persson · Guy Verhofstadt · José María Aznar López · Anders Fogh Rasmussen · Costas Simitis · Silvio Berlusconi · Bertie Ahern · Jan Peter Balkenende · Jean-Claude Juncker · Tony Blair · Wolfgang Schüssel · Matti Vanhanen · Angela Merkel · José Sócrates · Janez Janša · Nicolas Sarkozy · Mirek Topolánek · Jan Fischer · Fredrik Reinfeldt Permanent President (since 2009) Herman Van Rompuy

Leszek Balcerowicz
Deputy Prime Minister of Poland
In office September 12, 1989 – December 23, 1991
President	Wojciech Jaruzelski Lech Wałęsa
Prime Minister	Tadeusz Mazowiecki Jan Krzysztof Bielecki
Deputy Prime Minister of Poland
In office October 31, 1997 – June 8, 2000
President	Aleksander Kwaśniewski
Prime Minister	Jerzy Buzek
Finance Minister of Poland 1st Minister of Finance of the Third Republic of Poland
In office September 12, 1989 – December 23, 1991
President	Wojciech Jaruzelski
Prime Minister	Tadeusz Mazowiecki Jan Krzysztof Bielecki
Preceded by	Andrzej Wróblewski
Succeeded by	Karol Lutowski
Finance Minister of Poland 8th Minister of Finance of the Third Republic of Poland
In office October 31, 1997 – June 8, 2000
President	Aleksander Kwaśniewski
Prime Minister	Jerzy Buzek
Preceded by	Marek Belka
Succeeded by	Jarosław Bauc
President of The National Bank of Poland
In office January 10, 2001 – January 10, 2007
Preceded by	Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz
Succeeded by	Sławomir Skrzypek
Chairman of the Freedom Union
In office April 1, 1995 – December 18, 2000
Preceded by	Tadeusz Mazowiecki
Succeeded by	Bronisław Geremek
Member of Sejm
In office October 20, 1997 – October 18, 2001
Personal details
Born	(1947-01-19) January 19, 1947 (age 65) Lipno, Poland
Political party	Freedom Union, Partia Demokratyczna – demokraci.pl
Spouse(s)	Ewa Balcerowicz
Children	Maciej (b. 1972) & Wojciech (b. 1980) & Anna (b. 1984)
Profession	Economist

Leszek Balcerowicz (pronounced: [ˈlɛʂɛk balt​͡sɛˈrɔvit​͡ʂ] ( listen); born January 19, 1947 in Lipno) is a Polish economist, the former chairman of the National Bank of Poland and Deputy Prime Minister in Tadeusz Mazowiecki's government. He is famous for implementing the Polish economic transformation program in the 1990s, a shock therapy commonly referred to as the Balcerowicz Plan.

He is a professor at the world’s first university institute of postgraduate studies and training in European affairs College of Europe.

Biography[link]

In 1970 he graduated with distinction from the Foreign Trade faculty of the Central School of Planning and Statistics in Warsaw (now the Warsaw School of Economics). Balcerowicz received his MBA from St. John's University in New York, in 1974 and doctorate from the Warsaw School of Economics in 1975.

Leszek Balcerowicz

He was a member of the Polish communist party (Polish United Workers' Party) from 1969 until the declaration of martial law in Poland, in 1981. In the late 1970s he participated in an economic-advisory team associated with the prime minister of People's Republic of Poland. In 1978–1980 he worked at Institute of Marxism-Leninism. Later he became an economics expert in the independent trade union Solidarity, and was forced to leave the communist party.

From September 1989 to August 1991 and also between October 31, 1997 and June 8, 2000 he held the positions of Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister of Poland. Between 1995 and 2000 he was the chairman of Freedom Union, then a centrist political party. On December 22, 2000 he became the Chairman of the National Bank of Poland. He was also a columnist for Wprost, a popular Polish news magazine.

On November 11, 2005, the President of Poland, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, awarded L. Balcerowicz with the country's highest decoration, the Order of the White Eagle, for his contribution to Poland's economic transformation. In 2006 he was elected member of Galeria Chwały Polskiej Ekonomii, a hall of fame for outstanding Polish economists.^[1]

Balcerowicz is a member of the Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, an independent initiative hosted by the UNDP and the first global initiative to focus specificially on the link between exclusion, poverty and the law. He is also a member of the influential Washington-based financial advisory body, the Group of Thirty, and is a Board member of renowned Washington, D.C. think-tank the Peterson Institute. Fellow of Collegium Invisibile.^[2]

Since June 11, 2008 Balcerowicz has been a member of the board of Bruegel, the Brussels-based think tank on international economics.^[3]

Balcerowicz Plan[link]

The Balcerowicz Plan was a series of reforms, which sought to end hyperinflation and balance the national budget. The prices of most consumer goods were freed and caps for annual increases established in state-sector employees' wages. Poland's currency, the Złoty was made convertible within the country's borders. This resulted in a substantial increase in prices and had forced state-owned companies to become competitive. This amounted to a real shock to the Polish economy.

The reforms were controversial and made Balcerowicz an object of harsh criticism, especially in his homeland. On the other hand most economists agree that without introducing such radical changes, Poland's economic success and steady economic growth would not have been possible. Since 1989, Poland's annual growth rate was one of the highest of all post-Communist economies, and have not entered economic recession.

Honorary Doctorates[link]

• 1993 University of Aix-en-Provence,^[4] France
• 1994 University of Sussex,^[4] United Kingdom
• 1996 DePaul University,^[4] United States
• 1998:
  • University of Szczecin,^[4] Poland
  • Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń,^[4] Poland
  • Staffordshire University,^[4] United Kingdom
  • University of Dundee,^[4] United Kingdom
• 1999 University of Economics in Bratislava,^[4] Slovakia
• 2001 Viadrina European University,^[5] Germany
• 2002:
  • University of the Pacific,^[5] Peru
  • University of Iaşi,^[6] Romania
• 2004 University of Duisburg,^[5] Germany
• 2006:
  • University of Economics in Katowice,^[6] Poland
  • Poznań University of Economics,^[7] Poland
  • Wrocław University of Economics,^[8] Poland
  • University of Gdańsk,^[9] Poland
• 2007 Warsaw School of Economics,^[10] Poland
• 2008:
  • University of Warsaw,^[11] Poland
  • University of New South Wales,^[12] Australia
• 2009 Babeş-Bolyai University^[13] Romania
• 2011 Central Connecticut State University ^[14] United States

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Leszek Balcerowicz

• Leszek Balcerowicz at CSA Celebrity Speakers
• Leszek Balcerowicz's Official Website (Polish)
• Interview with L. Balcerowicz by PBS 11/12/2000 (English)
• Business Week Stars of Europe: Agenda Setters (English)
• Leszek Balcerowicz's op/ed commentaries for Project Syndicate

v t e Ministers of Finance of the Republic of Poland 3rd Republic of Poland (since 1989) Leszek Balcerowicz • Karol Lutkowski • Andrzej Olechowski • Jerzy Osiatyński • Marek Borowski • Grzegorz Kołodko • Marek Belka • Leszek Balcerowicz • Jarosław Bauc • Halina Wasilewska-Trenkner • Marek Belka • Grzegorz Kołodko • Andrzej Raczko • Mirosław Gronicki • Teresa Lubińska • Zyta Gilowska • Paweł Wojciechowski • Stanisław Kluza • Zyta Gilowska • Jan Vincent-Rostowski