Biographer: The deepest crisis of Kok was a moment of purification

Wim Kok should have started the discussion with his party and his supporters about the sustainability of the WAO much earlier. But Kok was shocked, especially because his father, a carpenter with a lung of dust, was partially unable to work. That said Marnix Krop, who is working on a biography of the deceased state man yesterday.

At the same time, the 1991 WAO crisis caused Kok to reach a considerable height, says Krop, "because he took the gauntlet and finally received the support of over 80% of members of the party congress ".

then 900,000 and threatened to go up to 1 million. The government, of which Koks PvdA was a part, decided to limit the WAO in terms of amount and duration and rigorously re-interview the youngest employees of disability insurance, to the anger of many party members, unions and PvdA voters.

"It was a crazy moment," says Krop. "Because of his failure and his cleansing and because he managed to mobilize the ability to bring back the party behind him no matter how difficult."

Krop thinks that the WAO crisis turned Kok into a real politician. He realized that he could not impose any changes on the part of the cabinet, but had to start with his party and members of the PvdA.

Eighteen Conversations

Krop is working on a political biography covering the main lines, the most important themes and decisive moments in Kok's life and career. Kok fully cooperated after some hesitation. The project started at the end of 2016.

Since then, Krop has had eighteen conversations with Kok. The first four deal with the broad outlines of his life until his departure from politics in 2002. They then delve deeper into the different stages of Kok's life.