He continued to comment on political affairs until his retirement in 2017 and holds the distinction as the longest-serving Mayor of Amsterdam after World War II with 10 years.

[1] On 4 October 1992, while van Thijn was Amsterdam Mayor, El Al Flight 1862 crashed into the Groeneveen and Klein-Kruitberg flats in the Bijlmermeer (colloquially "Bijlmer") neighbourhood (part of the Amsterdam-Zuidoost district).

Hundreds of people were left homeless by the crash; the city's municipal buses were used to transport survivors to emergency shelters.

[2] Van Thijn was appointed again as Minister of the Interior in the Cabinet Lubbers III following the death of Ien Dales, taking office on 18 January 1994.

On 27 May 1994, van Thijn and Minister of Justice Ernst Hirsch Ballin resigned following the conclusions of a parliamentary inquiry report into illegal interrogation techniques used by the police.

In February 2007 van Thijn announced his retirement from national politics and that he wouldn't stand for the Senate election of 2007 and continued to serve until the end of the parliamentary term on 12 June 2007.