Lubbers, Ruud (Rudolphus Franciscus Marie Lubbers), 1939–2018, Dutch political leader. After the death of his father (1965), he became codirector of the family's engineering firm. A member (from 1964) of the Catholic People's party, which merged in 1980 with two Protestant parties to form the Christian Democratic Appeal, he was economic affairs minister from 1973 to 1977. As prime minister (1982–94), he led three governments whose policies were marked by cuts in public spending, privatization, and deregulation. He also helped shape European economic integration and the European Union's single currency in the negotiations that led to the Maastricht treaty (1992). He taught at Tilburg Univ. in the Netherlands and at Harvard from 1995 to 2000, and then served (2001–5) as UN High Commissioner for Refugees, stepping down after accusations of sexual harrassment.
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