THE Dutch Prime Minister, Mr Wim Kok, personifies all that is considered good in Dutch politics. He may not be particularly charismatic, but his qualities as a builder of deals, a pragmatist, a great compromiser and a politician of trustworthiness are highly prized.
Under Mr Kok's leadership the task of balancing social protection and economic growth in the Netherlands is working to the satisfaction of most. Workers and employers rate him equally highly. The three-party coalition he leads was returned for a second four-year term last year.
The 59-year-old carpenter's son from a Calvinist background worked for more than 20 years in Dutch trade unions, astonishing critics of his "no surrender" style of bargaining by transforming his image on entering politics in the mid-1980s. As finance minister and deputy prime minister, he helped to oversee the most severe social-economic reform package in Dutch history.
Political sources in the Hague are convinced the former Italian Prime Minister, Mr Romano Prodi, who is backed by the Dutch government will be the next Commission President. "The reality of a small country like ours delivering the next EC president is virtually non-existent," said one commentator, "and on a national level the departure of Kok would be disastrous as there is no one else with the same capacity and experience to keep our purple coalition from collapsing."