Henri "Hans" van den Broek (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɦɛnri ˈɦɑns fɑn də(m) ˈbruk] ⓘ;[b] born 11 December 1936) is a retired Dutch politician and diplomat of the defunct Catholic People's Party (KVP) and later the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist who served as European Commissioner from 6 January 1993 until 16 September 1999.

In November 1992 Van den Broek was nominated as the next European Commissioner in the Third Delors Commission, and was given the heavy portfolios of External Relations and Enlargement taking office on 6 January 1993.

In November 1994 Van den Broek was re-nominated for a second term in the Santer Commission, and kept his previous portfolios with addition of Neighbourhood Policy serving from 25 January 1995 until 16 September 1999.

Following his retirement Van den Broek continued to be active as an advocate and lobbyist for Human rights, nuclear disarmament and for more European integration.

Van den Broek was granted the honorary title of Minister of State on 25 February 2005 and continued to comment on political affairs as a statesman until his retirement in 2010.

He was Netherlands Minister for Foreign Affairs in the governments of Ruud Lubbers three times and in 1991 was one of the EU negotiators of the Brioni Agreement, which ended the ten-day war in Slovenia.

Major aspects of his time in office included massive demonstration in The Hague (1983) against the planned installation in the Netherlands of nuclear-armed U.S. cruise missiles (which was cancelled after all due to arms reduction talks between the US and the Soviet Union).

[3] He worked as a lawyer and prosecutor at Blom & Dutilh in Rotterdam from August 1965 until May 1968 and as a corporate director at the synthetic fiber company ENKA [nl] in Arnhem from May 1968 until 12 October 1976.

Van den Broek retired after spending 23 years in national politics and became active in the private sector and public sector and occupied numerous seats as a corporate director and nonprofit director on several boards of directors and supervisory boards (Institute of International Relations Clingendael, Carnegie Foundation, Radio Netherlands Worldwide and the Schiphol Group) and served as a diplomat and lobbyist for several economic delegations on behalf of the government and as an advocate and activist for Human rights, European integration and Nuclear disarmament.

[citation needed] They have two daughters, one of whom is Princess Marilène, the wife of Prince Maurits of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven and as such a member of the Dutch royal family.