The Government of Rotterdam is the government of the municipality and city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Most of the inhabitants live in the city of Rotterdam, but the municipality also covers a number of small villages, and other parts of the local government, such as Rozenburg, cover an even larger area.
Contents
City council
Results of the elections of 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022, and 2026
¹ In 2022 only CU.
City executive
City executive 2002–2006
Pim Fortuyn of Leefbaar Rotterdam (right-wing populistic) won the elections on 6 March 2002 with 17 seats and formed a new coalition with the CDA (Christian democratic) and VVD (liberal) that unseated the PvdA (labour) which had ruled Rotterdam for decades. Only three months to the day later he was assassinated.
City executive 2006–2010
The coalition mayor and aldermen for the period 2006-2010 was formed by a coalition of the parties PvdA (labour), CDA (Christian democratic), VVD (liberal) and GroenLinks (green left). The college was sworn in on May 18, 2006.
The college since its inauguration in 2006 had a number of cycles. VVD alderman Roelf de Boer retreated from his position in 2007. In 2008, GreenLeft alderman Orhan Kaya was replaced by Rik Grashoff. In April 2009 VVD left the coalition, though it retained a slim majority of 23 of the 45 seats. The two VVD aldermen Jeannette Baljeu and Mark Harbers were replaced by CDA and PvdA aldermen. This left the CDA with three council seats and three aldermen, a remarkable situation. In July 2009 CDA alderman Leonard Geluk joined the coalition but he stepped down prematurely, because of his new position as chairman of ROC Netherlands.
City executive 2010–2014
The city board of mayor and aldermen was formed by four parties: PvdA (labour), VVD (conservative-liberal), D66 (social-liberal), and CDA (Christian-democratic).
Aldermen were: Jeannette Baljeu, Hugo de Jonge, Hamit Karakus, Jantine Kriens, Antoinette Laan and Korrie Louwes (Dominic Schrijer resigned on May 17, 2011).
City executive 2014–2018
The city board of mayor and aldermen was formed by three parties: Leefbaar Rotterdam (right-wing populistic), D66 (social-liberal), and CDA (Christian-democratic).
Aldermen were: Joost Eerdmans, Hugo de Jonge, Pex Langenberg, Ronald Schneider, Maarten Struijvenberg and Adriaan Visser.
City executive 2018–2022
The city board of mayor and aldermen was formed by seven parties: VVD (conservative liberal), D66 (social liberal), GL (green left), PvdA (social democratic), CDA (Christian democratic), and CU-SGP (conservative Christian).
Alder(wo)men were:
Judith Bokhove (GL)
Arno Bonte (GL)
Christine Eskes (CDA) - replacement of Sven de Langen
Arjan van Gils (D66)
Michiel Grauss (CU-SGP)
Vincent Karremans (VVD) - replacement of Bert Wijbenga
Said Kasmi (D66)
Bas Kurvers (VVD)
Richard Moti (PvdA)
Roos Vermeij (PvdA) - replacement of Barbara Kathmann
City executive 2022–2026
In 2022, Leefbaar Rotterdam (right-wing populistic) have again won the elections and have formed a coalition with VVD (conservative liberal), D66 (social liberal) and DENK (multicultural).
City executive 2026-2030
After the 2026 municipal elections, PRO became the largest party in Rotterdam, closely followed by Leefbaar Rotterdam, both winning 11 seats in the Rotterdam Municipal Council. A coalition of PRO (progressivism), D66 (social liberal), VVD (conservative liberal), CDA (christian democratic) and Volt (European federalism) was formed in the aftermath. From 9 July 2026, the college of mayor and aldermen will be as follows:
Mayors
The mayor (of Rotterdam) is part of the city executive and chairs the city council. Current mayor is Carola Schouten (CU).
Mayors since World War II:
Pieter Oud (1945–1952)
Gerard van Walsum (1952–1965)
Wim Thomassen (1965–1974)
André van der Louw (1974–1981)
Bram Peper (1982–1998)
Ivo Opstelten (1999–2009)
Ahmed Aboutaleb (2009–2024)
Carola Schouten (2024–present)
Boroughs
Until 19 March 2014, Rotterdam's fourteen boroughs had the formal status of submunicipalities (deelgemeenten) under the Dutch Municipalities Act. The submunicipalities were responsible for many activities that previously had been run by the central city. The idea was to bring the government closer to the people. All submunicipalities had their own deelgemeenteraad ('submunicipal council'), direct elected by the borough's inhabitants. The district councils enjoyed far-reaching autonomous decisionmaking powers in many policy areas. Only affairs pertaining the whole city such as major infrastructural projects remained within the jurisdiction of by the central municipal council.
In 2014, the submunicipalities were abolished by law, but Rotterdam maintained its boroughs. The district councils were replaced with smaller, but still directly elected gebiedscommissies ('area committees'). The area committees no longer have autonomous powers, but instead act primarily as advisory and participatory bodies for the central municipal council.
The fourteen boroughs of Rotterdam are:
The port areas are governed directly by the central municipality.
Annexations and reclassifications
The city of Rotterdam was especially strong growth since 1850. Initially they tried to accommodate the population within existing municipal boundaries, but this soon proved inadequate. Therefore, sequentially neighboring municipalities annexed or she had to cede territory to Rotterdam. An overview of these annexations and reclassifications:
1816 municipality Cool annexed.
1870 won territory of the municipalities Charlois, IJsselmonde and Katendrecht* serving ports and urban expansion on the current Kop van Zuid.
1886: annexation of the town Delfshaven (13,651 inhabitants)
1895: annexation of municipalities Charlois (12,154 inhabitants) and Kralingen (21,132 inhabitants), also won territory of the municipalities IJsselmonde and Overschie
1903 won territory of the municipality Overschie
1904 won territory of the municipality Hillegersberg
1909 won territory of the municipality of Schiedam
1914 won territory of the municipalities 's-Gravenzande (Hook of Holland village, population 2964), Naaldwijk and Rozenburg
1926 won territory of the municipality of Schiedam
1934: annexation of municipalities Hoogvliet (1331 inhabitants) and Pernis** (4988 inhabitants), also won territory of the municipalities Poortugaal, Rhoon and Schiedam
1939 won territory of the municipalities 's-Gravenzande and Naaldwijk
1940 won territory of the municipalities Schiedam and Overschie
International relations
Rotterdam has the following city and port connections throughout the world:
14 sister cities
13 partner cities
4 sister ports
Twin towns – sister cities
Rotterdam is twinned with: