Kees Jan René Klompenhouwer

Kees Jan René Klompenhouwer was the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Belgrade from 1999 until 2002. His commitment to bilateral relations continued as ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ukraine from 2013 until 2017. More recently, Klompenhouwer also served as the Dutch ambassador to the Czech Republic from 2017 until 2021. He has since retired from active diplomatic service.

From 2006 until 2008, Klompenhouwer served as the Director of the East and South Eastern Europe Department at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He then served as a Civilian Operations Commander of the European Union from 2008 until 2011, leading external action initiatives such as EULEX Kosovo, EUMM Georgia and EUPOL Afghanistan.

In Ukraine, he worked with civil society organisations (CSOs) to foment democratic processes, rule of law reform and independent media presence especially in the Revolution of Dignity (Maidan) in 2014. Likewise, during his ambassadorship in the Czech Republic, Klompenhouwer aided in the foundation of the European Resilient Democracy Network. The network aims to bring together CSOs from Eastern, Central Europe and the Western Balkans for democracy and independent media development. Klompenhouwer aims to aid the NHC with valuable expertise in the field of democratization, rule of law and institution building in wider Europe.

He holds a Masters degree in Economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam.