Bert de Vries

Berend Bert de Vries is a retired Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal . He served as a Member of the House of Representatives from November 21, 1978 until November 7, 1989. After the Dutch general election of 1982 the Christian Democratic Appeal lostseats and incumbent Prime Minister Dries van Agt unexpectedly announced that he was stepping down. After a short cabinet formation a new cabinet was formed De Vries became the new Parliamentary leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal in the House of Representatives on November 4, 1982 after Ruud Lubbers became Prime Minister. He served as Parliamentary leader until November 7, 1989 with a short brake from May 22, 1986 until July 15, 1986 following the Dutch general election of 1986 when Lubbers temporarily resumed the function for the cabinet formation which formed the Cabinet Lubbers II. After the Dutch general election of 1989 De Vries became Minister of Social Affairs and Employment in the Cabinet Lubbers III on Nov

Berend de Vries was born in Groningen. His father had a detective agency. As a student, he was employed to assist in observation work, for collecting evidence of adultery. After the Mulo he was an official of the IRS. In the evening he attended the HBS. As a working student, he attended the study economics at the University of Groningen and he received a Master of Economics degree. Through the work at Groningen, he joined Philips, where he worked in the finance department. Thereafter he worked at the Erasmus University. At the same time he received his PhD in Economic Sciences at the Vrije Universiteit.

Source: Wikipedia