Van Aartsen worked as a political consultant for the People 's Party for Freedom and Democracy from 1970 until 1974 and worked as the director of the think tank Telders Foundation from 1974 until 1979 . Van Aartsen worked as a civil servant for the Ministry of the Interior from 1979 until 1994 and as Director-General of the department for Administrative Affairs from 1981 until 1983 and as Deputy Secretary-General of the Ministry of the Interior from 1983 until 1985 and as Secretary-General of the Ministry of the Interior from 15 January 1985 until 22 August 1994 . After the election of 1994 Van Aartsen was appointed as Minister of Agriculture , Nature and Fisheries in the Cabinet Kok I , taking office on 22 August 1994 . Van Aartsen was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives after the election of 1998 , taking office on 19 May 1998 . Following the cabinet formation Jorritsma was appointment as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Cabinet Kok II , taking office on 3 August 1998 . The Cabinet Kok II resigned on 16 April 2002 following the conclusions of the NIOD report into the Srebrenica massacre during the Bosnian War with the cabinet continuing to serve in a demissionary capacity . After the election of 2002 Van Aartsen returned as a Member of the House of Representatives , taking office on 23 May 2002 . Following the cabinet formation Van Aartsen was not giving a ministerial post in the new cabinet . The Cabinet Kok II was replaced by the Cabinet Balkenende I on 22 July 2002 . The new Leader of the People 's Party for Freedom and Democracy and Parliamentary leader of the People 's Party for Freedom and Democracy in the House of Representatives Gerrit Zalm named Van Aartsen as his unofficial Deputy Leader on 23 May 2002 . After the election of 2003 Leader and Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives Gerrit Zalm choose to accept a ministerial post in the new cabinet and endorsed Deputy Leader Van Aartsen as his successor as his Parliamentary leader , taking office on 27 May 2003 . On 27 November 2004 Gerrit Zalm announced that he was stepping down as Leader in favor of Van Aartsen . After the municipal elections of 2006 the People 's Party for Freedom and Democracy suffered big losses and Van Aartsen accepted responsibility for the defeat and sequentially announced he was stepping down as Leader and Parliamentary leader on 8 March 2006 , he was succeeded as Parliamentary leader by Willibrord van Beek until Mark Rutte was elected as Leader and took over as Parliamentary leader on 29 June 2006 . In August 2006 Van Aartsen announced that he would not stand for the election of 2006 and continued to serve as a backbencher until the end of the parliamentary term on 30 November 2006
Srebrenica massacre
Srebrenica massacre
Jozias van Aartsen