Home

Honorary Consul General

Ben Jager

During the upheaval in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989, my attention was drawn to Romania. It turned out to be the only country where the abolition of communism was carried out violently. Over 1,100 people were killed in December 1989. Afterwards, a government was formed that consisted largely of former communists, so reforms failed to materialize. It became clear that this put the country behind other countries in Central and Eastern Europe . In 1992 I went to see for myself the disastrous situation in which the dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu, executed on December 25, 1989, had left the country. It prompted me to serve on the board of the international umbrella organization Operation Villages Roumains, which focused on building up the country with a strong emphasis on rural development and humanitarian assistance. At the same time I was asked as project manager to support the countries Romania and Bulgaria in their political and economic transition and civil society building; these activities made possible by the MATRA program of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Support was provided in various policy areas, such as reorganization of the agricultural sector, health care financing, water management, decentralization of government, functioning of the market economy in relation to competitiveness, minority policy (Roma), food safety, etc. After 2004, the emphasis was placed on accession to the European Union and that also implied intensive lobbying activities in the Netherlands, because Romania was and still is a “white spot” for many politicians and journalists. In September 2005 an official visit took place of the then Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu, during which he asked me to accept the consulship of his country. In 2006 took the initiative to establish the entrepreneurial platform Dutch Romanian Network. Because the magazine Romania Bulletin ceased to exist, I founded the magazine Romania Magazine as an amalgamation of the Curier(publication of OVR) and the discontinued Romania Bulletin. Around 2009 the digital DRN Newsletter was added to it into which the Romania Bulletin was gradually merged. Later appointed honorary consul general of Romania. In 2018 awarded by President Klaus Johannis with the Order of Merit with the rank of Officer for efforts concerning bilateral economic relations between Romania and the Netherlands. Member of Corps Consulaire Noord-Brabant and of Corps Consulaire à Maestricht.

A country has only one embassy in another country. In the Netherlands, a country’s embassy is almost always located in The Hague, because that is where the government is based. Ambassadors are senior diplomats who represent their own government. Consuls perform limited diplomatic acts. If a country recognizes the independence of another country, they establish an embassy there. In addition to the presence of professional consuls – sitting at the embassy, there are honorary consuls.The designation honorary indicates the this position does not generate income and also implies an honorary title this in contrast to the professional consuls attached to the embassy. Large or important consulates are sometimes given the name “consulate general. Such a consulate general often has several ordinary consulates under it. Many small or poor countries have only one honorary consul in the Netherlands because an embassy or consulate is too expensive. Romania has one embassy, three consulates and one consulate general in the Netherlands. Consuls were common as far back as Roman times and were the highest magistrates in the Roman Empire. Every year two prominent senators were elected to this position by the Roman people, who were supposed to check each other. The Roman consulate existed for over a thousand years from 509 B.C. to 541 A.D. when it was abolished by Emperor Justinian. Of course today’s (honorary) consuls have a completely different function in terms of content than in earlier times. Unlike “professional” diplomats, the Honorary Consul does not enjoy a full, but a limited form of diplomatic immunity. The distinction can also be seen in the plates on the cars. CD (Corps Diplomatique) for professionals and CC (Corps Consulaire) for Honorary Consuls.
The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (also known as the Vienna Convention or Vienna Convention) lays down the rules of diplomatic relations. These include the privileges and inviolability (“immunity”) of diplomats and diplomatic missions. The Netherlands and Romania are two of the 179 countries that are parties to the Vienna Convention. In addition to this treaty, there is also the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, among others.

What does an honorary consul do?
The duties of an honorary consul may vary from country to country and from consul to consul(see elsewhere on this website). The embassy is responsible for issuing travel documents (passports for citizens of the country of origin and visas for citizens of the host country), including emergency documents, civil status formalities (marriage, divorce, birth, death), the law of persons and family law and notary’s office, issuing various consular certificates, issuing driving licenses, identity cards, assistance in transporting mortal remains(laissez-passer), information for businesses and information on legislation. Based on the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, the task of a consul can be described as:

• the protection of the interests of the state he represents and its nationals;
• promotion of trade and economic, cultural and scientific relations;
• observing and reporting on economic, commercial and cultural life;
• representation of nationals of the sending state (Romania) before judicial and other authorities in case of absence of those nationals;
• protection of the interests of nationals of the sending state who are minors or otherwise incapacitated;
• signing documents;
• representative functions in the absence of the ambassador;
• providing assistance to sea and inland waterway vessels as well as aircraft of the nationality of the sending state and their crews.