Former CDA leader Sybrand Buma named Vice President of Council of State

Sybrand Buma, a senior CDA politician, has been appointed Vice President of the Council of State. He will take over from Thom de Graaf (D66) on July 1. Buma, who is currently mayor of Leeuwarden, previously led the CDA and acted as an informateur in the latest Cabinet negotiations.

Buma will be the 21st person to hold the post of Vice President of the Council of State. The role is sometimes referred to informally as the “viceroy of the Netherlands,” reflecting the Vice President’s de facto leadership of the government’s primary advisory institution.

“I am honoured by the nomination,” Buma said in a statement published on the Leeuwarden municipal website. He described it as “a privilege” to have served the city of Leeuwarden. The Council of State says it looks forward to “a good cooperation” with Buma. “The Council of State has every confidence that Sybrand van Haersma Buma and the Council will be able to find common ground in a fruitful collaboration,” said outgoing Vice President De Graaf.

Buma studied law in Groningen and Cambridge and later worked as a legal expert at the Council of State’s Administrative Jurisdiction Division in the 90s. During his time in parliament, he specialised in justice affairs. In his new role as Vice President of the Council of State, he will head the cabinet’s principal advisory institution.

De Graaf, 68, has served in the role since 2018 and announced last year that he would step down. He said the decision was based on “purely personal considerations.”

With his departure from Friesland, he concludes a mayoral term that continues a long family tradition: both his father and grandfather served as mayors in the province of Friesland, although in different municipalities.

The Council of State was established in 1531 by Emperor Charles V and is one of the oldest still-existing advisory institutions in Europe. The position of Vice President has grown in significance within the modern Dutch constitutional system. Buma follows in the footsteps of prominent predecessors such as Herman Tjeenk Willink and Piet Hein Donner.