Ruud Lubbers, longest-serving Dutch premier, 78

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Ruud Lubbers, who as the Netherlands’ longest-serving prime minister led his country through economic turmoil to prosperity and helped shape the foundations of the European Union, died Wednesday. He was 78.

The Dutch government announced that Mr. Lubbers died in Rotterdam surrounded by his wife and children. No cause of death was given.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte hailed Mr. Lubbers, who led the Dutch government from 1982 to 1994, as a statesman who dragged the Netherlands through tough economic times.

“With his broad knowledge and experience and his tireless creativity, he knew how to find a solution for every problem,” Rutte said on Facebook.

Mr. Lubbers’ conservative economic policies were in step with his counterparts in Washington and London during the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. He trimmed back the Dutch welfare state, persuaded powerful labor unions to rein in their demands and ushered in years of growth.

Dutch King Willem-Alexander, his wife, Queen Maxima and the king’s mother, Princess Beatrix, paid tribute to his work for economic and social recovery. Beatrix was the Netherlands’ monarch during Mr. Lubbers’ time in office and stepped aside for her son in 2013.

“We remember Ruud Lubbers as a great statesman with an impressive sense of responsibility,” the royals said in a statement.

Mr. Lubbers’ international reputation suffered in 2005 when he was forced to step down as U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in a sexual harassment scandal. He maintained his innocence even as he resigned.

An economist by training, Mr. Lubbers believed the size of the Dutch government had become a hindrance to the country’s economic health.

With the words “Holland is sick,” he argued that generous disability and unemployment benefits had become fiscally unsustainable, and that too many people took advantage of them simply to avoid working.

He was sometimes criticized as too willing to compromise on principles, but to supporters he was a pragmatist and a dealmaker. Carrying the Dutch tradition of consensus politics forward, Mr. Lubbers struck agreements with unions to limit wage growth in exchange for low unemployment, and curtailed government spending.

“More markets, less government” was a favorite campaign slogan of his.

But his accomplishments were overshadowed by the sexual harassment case brought by an American UNHCR employee, Cynthia Brzak, who accused him of improperly touching her after a meeting in December 2003.

Mr. Lubbers denied impropriety, saying he had intended an innocent “friendly gesture.” He fought for more than a year to save his reputation and job, but an internal U.N. investigation in 2004 found a pattern of sexual misconduct.

Although his profile was lower than that of German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and French President Francois Mitterrand, Mr. Lubbers played a key role in European political integration.

He broke logjams at the 1991 summit in the southern Dutch city of Maastricht, which lent its name to the treaty that formed the European Union and laid the groundwork for the shared euro currency.

Mr. Lubbers is survived by his wife, Ria Lubbers, with whom he had three children.

Funeral arrangements were not immediately announced.