Dries van Agt
Dutch politician
Andreas Antonius Maria "Dries" van Agt (Dutch: [ˈdris fɑn ˈɑxt] ; 2 February 1931 – 5 February 2024) was a Dutch politician, jurist and diplomat who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 19 December 1977 until 4 November 1982. He was a prominent leader of the Catholic People's Party (KVP) and later of its successor party, the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA).
Van Agt was known for his abilities as a skilled debater and negotiator. During his premiership, his cabinets were responsible for several major public sector and civil service reforms and further reducing the deficit following the recession in the 1980s. Van Agt continued to comment on political affairs as a statesman until he suffered a major stroke in May 2019 that forced him to undergo rehabilitation. He held the distinction as the eldest living and earliest-serving former prime minister following the death of Piet de Jong in July 2016, until his death by assisted suicide in February 2024.
Early life
Van Agt was born and grew up in Geldrop. He was the son of textile manufacturer Frans van Agt (1899–1974) and Anna Frencken (1902–1978), and was the eldest of five children. He was a great-great-grandson of Godefridus Marcelis Frencken, who served as mayor of Asten from 1843 to 1904.
Education
He attended gymnasium-A at the Augustinianum in Eindhoven from 1943 to 1949, where his future fellow minister Hans Gruijters was a classmate of his.
The public source identifies “Dries van Agt” as dutch politician. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Dries, Dutch and politician.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q318334. VIAF identifies the subject as 50106807. The Library of Congress control number is n79004152. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1931, 2024, 1977 and 1982.
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This entry incorporates text from “Dries van Agt” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.