Isabel Pedrejon
Updated Monday, February 12, 2024-16:25
Together in eternity.
Dries van Agt
, former Prime Minister of the
Netherlands
between 1977 and 1982 under the reigns of Juliana and Beatrice, and his wife
Eugenie Krekelberg
have died together
under the control
of being
euthanized
. Despite their
Catholicism
, the couple decided how and when they wanted their end due to the
progressive deterioration
of their health.
The events occurred
on Monday, February 5,
just three days after the former politician's birthday, at the
family residence
in Nijmegen. His family has decided to make
the news public
a week later. They were
both
93 years old
and had just celebrated their titanium wedding, that is,
70 years of marriage.
Affectionately, the former politician always called the love of his life
"my girl."
Committed and loyal
They could not be without each other and since Dries suffered
a brain hemorrhage
while giving a speech from which he recovered minimally, their home has never been the same. The couple
has three children,
Eugenie, Frans and Caroline, who has given them seven grandchildren, among them, the professional cyclist Eva van Agt (26), a participant in the Women's Tour de France, among other important competitions.
The politician, diplomat and professor was also
passionate about bicycles,
with which he traveled dozens of kilometers a day until five years ago when
he was forced to give them up
after a fall. A
committed and loyal
man ,
he always stood out for having a grandiloquent verb and making use of archaic references for which he earned the
respect of the entire country.
His trip to Israel in 1999, which he described as a "conversion", caused
him to openly sympathize with the Palestinian people from that moment on.
See this post on Instagram
Since 2002, euthanasia and assisted suicide
have been legal in the Netherlands
as long as they are carried out under the supervision of relevant specialists. Dying as a couple is little by little becoming common in this northwestern European country since, according to statistics,
26 died in 2020,
the following year the number increased to
32
and in 2022 the record was broken with
58.
In a public statement,
the Dutch royal family
made it clear that Dries van Agt "took on administrative responsibility
in a turbulent time
and managed to inspire many with his striking personality and colorful style."