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.

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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."