Marnix van Rij

In this Dutch name, the surname is Van Rij, not Rij.

Marnix van Rij
File:Marnix van Rij, March 2022.jpg Marnix van Rij in 2022
State Secretary for Finance
In office 10 January 2022 – 2 July 2024 Serving with Aukje de Vries
Prime Minister	Mark Rutte
Preceded by	Hans Vijlbrief Alexandra van Huffelen
Succeeded by	Folkert Idsinga Nora Achahbar
Lieutenant Governor of Sint Eustatius
In office 15 February 2020 – 18 April 2021
Monarch	Willem-Alexander
Preceded by	Marcolino Franco
Succeeded by	Alida Francis
Member of the Senate
In office 9 June 2015 – 11 June 2019
Party Chair of the Christian Democratic Appeal
In office 3 April 2021 – 11 December 2021 Acting
Preceded by	Rutger Ploum
Succeeded by	Hans Huibers
In office 27 February 1999 – 10 October 2001
Preceded by	Hans Helgers
Succeeded by	Bert de Vries (acting)
Personal details
Born	Marnix Leonard Alexander van Rij (1960-10-25) 25 October 1960 Rotterdam, Netherlands
Party	Christian Democratic Appeal (since 1984)
Spouse	Courtney van Rij
Children	6
Alma mater	Leiden University
Occupation	Politician Jurist Management consultant

Marnix Leonard Alexander van Rij (Dutch: [ˈmɑrnɪks fɑn ˈrɛi]; born 25 October 1960) is a Dutch politician.

Life

Van Rij grew up in Wassenaar, and he started his career in 1983 as a tax assistant at a tax firm. In addition, he became a member of the Wassenaar Municipal Council in 1986. He moved to professional services firm Ernst & Young (EY) in 1994, and he became a partner in January 1998. He was party chair of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) from 1999 until 2001. He also served as a Senator, a part-time position in the Netherlands, from 2015 to 2019. As a senator, his portfolio consisted of tax affairs, among other themes. On 15 February 2020, Van Rij was appointed as the Island Governor of Sint-Eustatius, and he left EY. After this, Van Rij was interim party chairman of the CDA from 3 April until 11 December 2021.

On 10 January 2022, Van Rij became State Secretary for Finance in the fourth Rutte cabinet. In an interview with newspaper Trouw, Van Rij told that he had declined to succeed Ronald Plasterk as informateur during the 2023–2024 cabinet formation, partly due to the CDA not being part of the talks. After the new right-wing governing coalition – consisting of the Party for Freedom (PVV), the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), New Social Contract (NSC), and the Farmer–Citizen Movement (BBB) – had agreed that their party leaders would remain in parliament, Van Rij was one of three candidates identified to serve as prime minister in the resulting cabinet. He pulled out after his first interview, and Dick Schoof was eventually chosen. Van Rij's term as state secretary ended on 2 July 2024, when the Schoof cabinet was sworn in.

He started serving as deputy Executive Director of the Dutch-Belgian constituency at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, D.C. on 1 November 2024.

Personal life

Van Rij is in his second marriage with his American-born wife Courtney. The couple kept their house on Sint Eustatius after moving back to the Dutch mainland. Van Rij has six children.

References

• (in Dutch) Parlement.com biography