When studying as a learner in the primary and secondary school I was student worker during the summer holidays in glass-houses, in a repairshop for mopeds, as a driver for a distiller and in a workshop of a distributor of perfumes. As student at the university I was student worker in a tourist office and also as a clerk in the headquarter of the KLM in The Hague where I was involved in the coding of flight tickets.

After my studies I started my professional career when I was 23 years old. First, I worked for a short period (eight months) in the Ministry for Economic Affairs in The Hague before leaving for Brussels where in September 1964 I started in the Commission. In 1970 I accepted a part-time appointment as lecturer in transport economics at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.