Laurens Jan BRINKHORST is a professor of International and European law and public administration at the University of Leiden. He is also advisor to the Board of Management concerning international relations. He advises the European Commission as European Coordinator for the Trans European Transport Network and is a member of the International Advisory Council of APCO Worldwide. He is chair of the Board of Supervisors of the Siebold House (the Netherlands-Japan Center) in Leiden and also serves as a member of the Board of the Salzburg Global Seminar. Mr. Brinkhorst was vice-prime minister of the Netherlands in 2005-2006. He served as minister of economic affairs from 2003 to 2006 as well as minister of agriculture and was a member of the European Parliament from 1994 to 1999. Mr Brinkhorst was awarded an M.A. in public law and government from Columbia University in New York.