| Dirk Beljaarts | |
| Birth Name: | Dirk Stefan Beljaarts |
| Birth Place: | Roosendaal, Netherlands |
| Birth Date: | 8 February 1978 |
| Party: | Party for Freedom |
| Office1: | Minister of Economic Affairs |
| Predecessor1: | Micky Adriaansens (as Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy) |
| Primeminister1: | Dick Schoof |
| Termstart1: | 2 July 2024 |
| Citizenship: | Netherlands Hungary (1978–2024) |
| Office2: | Honorary consul of Hungary in the Netherlands |
| Termstart2: | 2015 |
| Termend2: | 2024 |
Dirk Stefan Beljaarts (in Dutch; Flemish dɪrk bɛlˈjaːrts/; born 8 February 1978) is a Dutch hotelier, lobbyist, and politician of the right-wing populist Party for Freedom (PVV). He has served as Minister of Economic Affairs in the Schoof cabinet since July 2024.[1]
Beljaarts was born in Roosendaal, and he studied at the Maastricht Hotel Management School.[2] He became hotel manager of the Loosdrecht location of the Golden Tulip chain in 2007. He later headed several more Golden Tulip locations in the Netherlands and Germany as well as the Amsterdam art'otel and Novotel.[3]
Starting in 2019, he served as general director of Royal Hospitality Netherlands (KHN), a trade association of the hospitality industry.[3] When the sector was impacted by measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic such as lockdowns, Beljaarts called them disproportionate. A subsidiary bookkeeping firm offering services to hospitality businesses was established under his leadership, and Beljaarts served as co-director. After its bankruptcy in May 2023, the trustee announced an investigation into charges for unperformed services. During his cabinet confirmation hearing, Beljaarts declared that he had been a non-executive director until January 2023 and that a criminal complaint had only been filed against the other co-director.[4] [5] Beljaarts announced in early 2024 that he would vacate his position at KHN. de Volkskrant later reported that the association's members council had asked him to resign, partly because of the bankruptcy.[5] Beljaarts held secondary positions as member of the Social and Economic Council starting in 2019 and as member of the Frans Hals Museum's advisory board.[6]
After the PVV, VVD, NSC, and BBB formed the Schoof cabinet, Beljaarts was sworn in as Minister of Economic Affairs on 2 July 2024. Climate policy was simultaneously spun off from the ministry into the Ministry of Climate Policy and Green Growth.[7] [8]
Beljaarts has a Hungarian mother, and he initiated a procedure to renounce his Hungarian citizenship upon his ministerial appointment. He was a honorary consul of the country between 2015 and 2024.[7] [3] [9]