Luuk van Middelaar

Luuk Johannes van Middelaar (born 9 May 1973) is a Dutch historian and political philosopher. From 2010 to 2014, he was a member of the cabinet of Herman Van Rompuy, the first full-time President of the European Council, serving as an advisor and chief speechwriter. Van Middelaar is best known for his 2009 book *The Passage to Europe*. He studied history and philosophy at the University of Groningen and the Centre Raymond Aron of the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociale in Paris. His master's thesis, *Politicide*, was published in 1999 and received several awards. He also advised Frits Bolkestein and Jozias van Aartsen. He earned his PhD from the University of Amsterdam in 2009. *The Passage to Europe* earned him the European Book Prize and the Prix Louis Martin in 2012, and the Socrates Prize in 2010 for the best philosophy book in Dutch. Since 2015, he has written a weekly column for *NRC Handelsblad* and has held professorships at Leiden University and the Catholic University of Louvain. He co-founded the Brussels Institute for Geopolitics in 2022.